1. I must admit, I’m a little shocked at how much everyone is praising the Chicago Bears for losing so competitively to the Green Bay Packers. Of course, I agree the Bears played well, especially in the second
half. But eventually, we have to get to a point where we expect the Bears to win and not just “lose decently.” There are no moral victories in the NFL, especially not when it comes to taking the North and never giving it back. Hopefully, the outcome is better in two weeks.
2. Kevin Stefanski must really not like Shedeur Sanders, because what the hell was that last play for the two-point conversion? Who did you think you were fooling with that? Whether or not you think Sanders is the franchise quarterback long-term or not, he’s the quarterback you have right now. How often do teams take their starting quarterback completely off the field when they need one more play to win a game? Because I don’t think I’ve seen it.
3. There’s something so aesthetically pleasing about football in the snow, and Orchard Park seems to deliver at least one beautiful snow game a year. For that reason alone, I’m glad the Bills are figuring things out so they can still make the playoffs in this strange NFL season. Maybe this is their year, because…
4. I’ve never seen this Kansas City Chiefs squad look so irretrievably broken. They can’t run the ball. They can’t catch it. They can’t protect Patrick Mahomes consistently. And Mahomes himself can’t Superman this operation to an automatic Super Bowl berth anymore. Eventually, the game humbles even the greatest players. Unless they’re Tom Brady, who kept humbling the game for 20+ years and retired while he could still drop 276 passing yards a game. What was that dude on? (And don’t tell me the TB12 diet.)
5. While we’re on the subject of teams being washed…the Eagles are a shell of themselves, and their quarterback deserves a lot of the blame. Jalen Hurts looked pathetic against the Chargers, including the single-worst play a QB has had all year: throwing a terrible interception, then fumbling the ball away again after recovering a Peanut Punch by his teammate. I don’t know what’s going on in those offensive meeting rooms during the week, but it doesn’t look like any prep work is getting done, the way they’re playing.
6. Pete Carroll’s decision to kick a field goal down 10 points with five seconds left in Las Vegas’ latest loss is the perfect encapsulation of why old-head football thinking is stupid. Sure, you have about a 0.000001% chance of winning at that point, so it really doesn’t matter what you do. But “taking the points” instead of trying to score a touchdown in that situation accomplishes…what, exactly? Making the game seem closer than it was? Lame. In the end, all of these debates about going for two down nine points or going for every 4th down and less-than-five boils down to one thing: are you waiting for the other team to lose, or are you trying to win? Too many people in the NFL seemingly don’t know the difference.
7. Of all the candidates for a once-in-a-generation defense we’re getting this NFL season, the Houston Texans are my favorite. They basically just line up in whatever they’re going to run each play and dare you to beat them. Most of the time, you can’t. If you do, either Kamari Lassiter or Jalen Pitre is going to hit you so hard, you’re going to wish you hadn’t. They’re basically if Kendrick Lamar’s “Squabble Up” was an NFL defense.
8. I am cackling that the Indianapolis Colts brought back 44-year-old Philip Rivers. I hope he gets a start. That man’s a grandfather now, so that’s a lot of Christmas presents he has to buy this year. Plus, he’s living the middle-aged dad’s dream. One of us! One of us!
9. On a more serious note: I despise what happened to Daniel Jones. Allowing him to play on a broken fibula was already an accident waiting to happen, and it ended up costing him next season as well as the end of this one. I get that this was a tough year to let go of because Jones had the Colts in position to contend, and you don’t know when you’ll get another. But sometimes, you have to protect players from themselves. Plus, Jones’ future is even more uncertain now because of this. Sucks for him.
10. I realize the NFL’s catch rule is meant to eliminate interpretation from the process as much as possible. That’s why they don’t make exceptions to the “survive the process of the catch” rule (not intentionally, anyway). But you’re not going to convince me Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely didn’t catch that ball for a touchdown. Argue with your mom. Ravens got robbed.
