2023 NFL Conference Championship Political Rankings

That did NOT go as I expected.

I do, however, expect a bloodletting in Dallas tomorrow.  Coach and QB out the door -- if not tomorrow, this offseason.  When the real blame needs to be laid at the culture of Jerry Jones, and nothing is changing until his house is cleaned out, probably including HIM.  And that's not happening, so...

And I want to address something our resident nobody put out there:  Why do I no longer make reference to the Matt Araiza arrest in the preseason?  Well, I do think that would've been a factor if it had not been superseded.

Consider:  A man died on the field three weeks ago.  He died again on the way to the hospital.

If it had been possible for him to be hale enough and upright to be at the Super Bowl coin toss with his Buffalo Bills teammates, do you not think this NFL would've gladly scripted a Super Bowl championship to honor him and claim him a hero going forward?

They know -- and word started leaking out this week.  Damar Hamlin is FUCKED.  If he's even still alive now, Damar Hamlin will be in permanent recuperative care.  And I have serious doubts as to the former, especially after seeing one video where it was clear the NFL security did NOT want a view of anything near "Damar"'s face.

If you had to have me bet money right now, I would bet that Damar Hamlin is no longer with us and may never have made it to the hospital in Cincy alive.  Reason?  You can have the vaccine angle, and I've already told you what happens if that is correct.  But there's another ominous situation here:  If that clean of a hit set off a fatal heart attack on Monday Night Football, would that not basically portend the material end of the sport?

But, until someone can actually prove otherwise (and I'm not sure how you could at this point), the man in those two videos was NOT Damar Hamlin -- and I think the NFL knows that, one way or another, they are in deep deep deep fucking shit.

And I get the feeling, as a result, that this weekend was a large-scale towel-throw on the NFL season.

You are left with Kansas City hosting Cincinnati, KC with a banged-up Mahomes and Cincy riding high, 10 in a row now.

And Philadelphia hosts San Fran.  San Fran has won 11 in a row.

My rankings now:

1) Cincinnati

2) San Francisco

3) Philadelphia

4) Kansas City

I have both road teams winning next week.  Cincy has won 10 in a row, San Fran 11.  These are probably the two most-riggable teams left (and even THAT is a bit of a stretch), mainly due to Services Rendered and recent Super Bowls in which both were ordered to Do The Job and did.

Would I be shocked if KC won and then, say, Reid retired?  No, but there's still all the other different angles out there regarding Reid's complete inability to keep a house in order.  Jerry Jones of the AFC, if you will.

Would Philly be that much of a problem for the NFL?  Maybe the rank-and-file fandom -- we all know their reputation.  Philadelphia may not have much going against it -- which would give it a puncher's shot.  But what (other than nothing against it) would they have going FOR themselves?

So, right now, my political guess is:  Ride the hot hands and Services Rendered.