AFC:
Super Bowl LV is so looking like "Kansas City 41 -- Insert Fill In The Blank 17", it's not even funny.
There's a reason that Kansas City, as of right now, is +180 (9-5) to win the Super Bowl, and the next team, Green Bay, is +450 (9-2).
The reason they are so prohibitive of favorites is one narrative -- The New Man, Patrick Mahomes.
I don't need to tell you that the league has now spent THREE seasons basically installing this guy as probably the next Brady, perhaps even more than that. I think it's clear that, barring an injury, an incident, or a change in the narrative, the Chiefs are winning five Super Bowls at some point in the next 8-10 years, counting last year as the first.
I think they are so prohibitive of political favorites that you may actually consider the unthinkable -- that the Chiefs are going to be prohibitive favorites to be the first team EVER to win three in a row. And that might be just the beginning.
But there's two major hitches: First, Kansas City, though it's fan base is growing with the bandwagoners, does NOT have a national following. This Super Bowl is likely to be the least-watched in 30 years. Though Mahomes and KC are a Hell of a story (only eight times has the Lombardi Trophy been successfully defended in the first place), it just doesn't seem Chiefs Nation has the reach of even Raider Nation, much less Cowboy or Packer Nation.
The second is the White Right. You look up and down the list of teams in these playoffs. How many Black quarterbacks starting? Hell, New Orleans passed up the guy they just picked up in the offseason to go with an unproven talent because he was White. Yeah, I'll say it, I believe it.
Get through those two hitches, though, and this is a fait accompli of massive proportions.
Next game: January 16 or 17, TBD.
2. I guess you have to go Buffalo here, but that gives you an idea of just how far down you have to go from one to the next.
Pittsburgh is flat on it's back. Cleveland isn't ready and I'm not sure the league wants to showcase them anyway. One of Baltimore and Tennessee, who would otherwise probably be contending for #2, will be out after the first weekend.
So Buffalo, who inherits the Earth the departure of Tom Brady from the AFC East, takes the mantle of "Any Given Sunday", which would give even the least of teams hope in the NFL going forward.
But is that the QUIETEST 13-3 in NFL history? Not necessarily quiet because of fraud, like, say, the Pack last year. More quiet because of irrelevance.
Next game: Home against Indianapolis, first game Saturday. CBS
3. Tennessee, smidge over Baltimore for the White Right angle.
Tennessee has always has kind of a sleeper this year, with the running game being the forefront.
They're a very good team, but I think it's clear they are a step (or more) below Kansas City, and I'm not sure they have an up on Buffalo either. That Green Bay game could've spoken wonders, but...
Next game: Home to Baltimore, first game Sunday. ABC/ESPN.
4) Baltimore
You know there's always one game where it seems two teams which should be in Divisional Weekend are playing each other on Wild Card Weekend.
Though I think Baltimore has the bigger star, I think Tennessee has the narrative here. I could very easily see Lamar Jackson as that junior quarterback (a Peyton Manning or the like) who doesn't quite get to the top as much as he is seen to as "should" -- and this is for the same reason I see the second problem with KC.
Next game: At Tennessee, first game Sunday, ABC/ESPN.
5) Cleveland
Oh, but for a couple earlier weeks in the season for Pittsburgh to fall flat on ass.
Next game: At Pittsburgh, Sunday nightcap NBC family
6) Pittsburgh
11-0 to frauds, basically overnight.
Next game: Home to Cleveland, Sunday nightcap, NBC family
7) Indianapolis
That win over Green Bay looks like a distant memory now.
Next game: At Buffalo, first game Saturday, CBS.
Predictions, as I see the narrative now:
Buffalo over Indy
Cleveland over Pittsburgh
Tennessee over Baltimore in a tight game
Kansas City over Cleveland
Buffalo over Tennessee
Kansas City destroys Buffalo to win the AFC easily.
NFC:
1) I'm still going with Tom Brady here.
I really think Green Bay at #1 is a SURROGATE. There was one team, and one alone, which destroyed the Packers in the regular season. The Indy win was an overtime GotW, the loss to Minnesota a flat performance, completely unexpected.
Green Bay was the highest scoring team in the NFL this year, held to ten points in a 38-10 romp. No other team held the Pack under 22 (and that was the loss to Minnesota!).
You know what that reminds me of??? San Francisco, last year.
And with everything appearing to go toward Mahomes, you really have two angles here if they go with Tampa: Does Tom Brady get #7 as the White Right quarterback? Or does he pass the torch truly as The Next Man to Mahomes?
As a result, I think, even though with the extra game and road movement, I do think Tampa Bay has the narrative here.
Next game: At Washington, Saturday nightcap, NBC
2) As much as I hem and haw, and as much I don't think they're making it out of Divisional Weekend because they're going to be beaten by Tampa, I have to go Green Bay here, basically for lack of other options.
Especially if they are going to play the race card here, Russell Wilson is a question mark. The Rams and the whole LA Experiment are as fraudulent as they were two years ago. You still have to convince me the league won't screw New Orleans a third time, as well as can Brees' rib cases hold up. Washington? Please... And the Bears... still suck.
And there's one more very important angle which really will not have me dispute any Packer fan, even with difference of belief regarding the legitimacy of the games, about the Packers playing in the Super Bowl with two wins at Lambeau: Packer Nation. Again, this is going to be the least watched Super Bowl in circa 30 years. This game, this league, NEEDS a stalwart fanbase who's going to cushion the losses.
Next game: January 16 or 17, TBD.
The league has, really, two options here to save the ratings -- this is one...
3) Seattle is the other. But, again, can the league afford two Black quarterbacks in a Super Bowl in which a large part of White America has functionally turned it's back on the National Religion?
It certainly has the biggest cult fanbase in the NFL in the 12th Man, but is that going to be enough?
Next game: Home to the Rams, Saturday middle game, FOX
4) New Orleans COULD, very easily, get to the Super Bowl. It would make all the sense in the world, and be an effective replay of Super Bowl XXXVII, where the team that got screwed (now, twice!) is basically there to play patsy for the NFL's narrative.
That said, two major concerns: The fix plays into the kayfabe: The biggest thing about New Orleans is: "Don't tell me, show me."
And, secondly, does Drew Brees have enough ribcage left to get to Tampa for the Super Bowl?
Next game: Home to Chicago, Sunday middle game, CBS/Amazon/Nickolodeon kid's based broadcast
5) The LA Rams are a product that the league still would want the LA Experiment to APPEAR to work.
There are three MAJOR problems, however:
a) The Chargers are done as a going concern. They exist simply as a printing press for about the money of the six fans the team has left. The NFL needs to chuck the Chargers and Spanos, create an expansion franchise someplace else, and cut losses.
b) You still have major questions about the future of LA in general, especially as the city and region continue to deteriorate. You think you had it bad coming to Raider games in Oakland and in that part of the Bay Area? That may be nothing to what Inglewood might look like if and when fans are allowed to return...
c) ... and when are fans going to be allowed to return? I mean, if they don't recall Newsom, and especially with the second strain now becoming apparent in the States, are we looking 2023 before crowds can come back? If the "freedumb" Covidiots out here have their way, 2024?
Of what good is a shiny new stadium no one is going to be allowed into going to be, for the city and for the NFL?
Next game: At Seattle, Saturday middle game, FOX
6) Chicago just kind of is... there as the last team really standing of "everybody else" in the NFC.
Next game: At New Orleans, Sunday middle game, CBS/Amazon/Nickelodeon kid's based broadcast
7) And Washington and that entire division need separate investigations. The league needs rid of Daniel Snyder and needs rid of him yesterday.
Next game: Home to Tampa Bay, Saturday nightcap, NBC
Predictions:
Tampa over Washington
Seattle over LA Rams
New Orleans over Chicago
Tampa over Green Bay
Seattle over New Orleans through screwjon
Tampa over Seattle
Kansas City 41- Tampa Bay 17
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