NFL: Down The Stretch They Come

As NFL week 14 begins tonight with a massive game between Dallas and Detroit – Are the Cowboys for real? Can the Lions salvage their season? – it reminds me I’m due for my monthly collection of thoughts on the league.

Sadly the NFL remains as inscrutable as it has been all season.

Two weeks ago it seemed like Philadelphia had finally stopped fucking around and were ready to romp through the last third of their schedule. Then they lost back-to-back games and once again present as a team that can’t find a way to make their many excellent parts work together.

Going into last week, the Rams seemed to have replaced the Eagles as the NFC’s Super Bowl favorite. Then they lost to Carolina.

Which left Chicago as the #1 seed, for the moment. I’m not sure even the most ardent Bears fan genuinely believes their team is the best in the conference.

The Cowboys are hot, but there is a flukey feel to them. It will take a lot of work just to make the playoffs, with no room for error.

My preseason Super Bowl pick Green Bay is fighting injuries so I can’t say I have a lot of confidence in them at the moment.

Gun to my head, if you forced me to pick an NFC favorite at the moment, I think I would take LA. Knowing one hard hit on Matthew Stafford means their chances are toast.

Maybe someone will get hot over the next month and take control of the NFC.

The AFC isn’t any clearer.

New England is the current #1 seed. If not for a week one loss to the Raiders, perhaps the worst loss in the league this year, they would be 12–1 and all but clinched the top seed. As quickly as you can turn teams around in the modern NFL, I refuse to believe you can go from missing the playoffs multiple years to the Super Bowl in one season. Yet who do you trust to go into Foxborough and beat them in January?

Maybe Denver, because of their defense. But Bo Nix is going to do some dumb shit and make it hard for the Broncos to win more than one playoff game.

The Colts? A month ago I would say yes. But today? Zero chance. Hell, the Colts might not even make the playoffs now.

Houston might have the best chance, as they have the most fearsome defense in the league and a quarterback who isn’t spectacular but, when healthy, finds ways to win. In fact, I think CJ Stroud is everything people think Jalen Hurts is, or, rather, want him to be. The problem with Houston is they are currently the first team out of the playoffs and go to Kansas City this week.

Maybe Pats fans should be concerned about Buffalo the most, even if they complete the regular season sweep of the Bills next week. One of these years it’s going to work out for Josh Allen, and the Patriots are starting to rack up some significant injuries.

Actually, I would be most worried about the Chiefs. KC might not make the playoffs, but if they do every team in their path will be in fear of Patrick Mahomes figuring it out and the defense doing enough to win multiple road games and return to the Super Bowl. I bet every other team in the AFC is rooting hard for the Texans to basically end the Chiefs season this weekend.

That’s 500-ish wishy washy words about a wishy washy league. I’d love to go out on a limb and make a bold statement. The NFL in 2025, though, makes that impossible, as there are no dominant teams, too many players in major roles on contenders are hurt, and too many teams are one key injury away from having no chance.

I will make an updated Super Bowl pick, though. I’m not going to like it, but I will do it. Rams vs Bills.