Chaos reigns! It’s pretty tough to figure out who’s really good and who’s not this year. There’s no obvious front-runner because every team has had at least one bad stretch at one time or another. The latest teams to struggle unexpectedly are the Eagles, every team in the B tier other than the Browns, and the Packers and the Steelers. The Eagles losing to Dallas isn’t stunning, but the manner in which they lost is. Hard to feel too positive if you’re a Philly fan considering the two best teams you’ve faced (Cowboys and 49ers) completely dominated you. Yes, the first Dallas game went well, but Cowboys fans can take solace from a narrow loss and an utter dismantling. Detroit keeps playing like shit, and it cost them again. Jacksonville is fading down the stretch with consecutive losses to AFC North opposition (to be fair, the Bengals and Browns are pretty good). Now they’ve drifted back to the pack, with the Colts and Texans nipping at their heels despite both losing last week. Even Tennessee is still alive at 5-8 after a big win over Miami, who somehow lost a game in which ESPN’s model gave them a 99.7% chance of victory with four minutes to go.
The Dolphins still haven’t beaten anybody good (early season Denver does NOT count), and now they’ve lost to a not so good team as well. They’d better beat the Jets this weekend, because the Cowboys/Ravens/Bills platter to finish the year might not contain any wins. We’ll give just a little slack to K.C. There may have been definitely was a missed pass interference call against Green Bay two weeks ago. And then the weirdness last week with the offside call. It was a correct call, but there’s some discussion about whether the refs should have warned him, which they apparently often do. This is classic NFL refereeing inconsistency, like play clock violations and offensive holding calls. And tackles lining up well behind the center’s ass. And intentional grounding. And on and on. I’m sure every team has a few awful calls their fans remember from this year; I’m a Lions fan, so these are a couple of mine. Now, it’s a tough game to call, but maybe having full-time officials who can study and work together to create more consistency on judgement calls can improve the product a little. Also, put a fucking sensor in the ball! No more chains, no more zebras running up to the scrum after a play and guessing where to spot the ball. Soccer and tennis have managed it, and so can the wealthiest sport in the wealthiest country in the world.
The Lions are still not playing well, and this time the Bears didn’t blow it. Another bad start (after a one week break), but then Detroit seemed to right the ship. Then the second half started, and the Bears reeled off 18 straight points. Two second half turnovers (to go with the INT in the first), two fourth down failures, and an inability to stop the opponent when you really need to do not make for winning football. The Packers lost, which is good, but the Vikings scraped together three late points to win 3-0 over the Raiders, so the epic collapse is still in the cards. It won’t get easier with the resurgent Broncos up next. At least it’s a home game? I’m not sure if this collapse from a nearly unassailable position will be worse than years of mediocrity, but I suspect I may find out shortly. This felt a little ahead of schedule early in the year, so maybe winning ten games and sneaking into the playoffs will be just fine. The defense can be further addressed in the off-season and the Goff question will no doubt be re-examined. Just need to keep in mind which team you’re rooting for when you follow the Detroit Lions, that’s all.
