NFL (2025 Season)

[NWI_Irish96]

Pretty much all of Denver's games so far were deciden within the last 5 minutes of the game.

That's about 4 minutes before all the Bears' games get decided.

[JayhawkCO]

... and the beloved Chiefs, who can do no wrong in the eyes of many, and are surely 0-5 in close games due to luck this year despite being 11-0 in close games due to skill and talent last year.

[jgb191]

The Houston Texans are showing signs of life; they are 5-2 since losing their first three games.  All five losses combine for a whopping 24 points. 

Davis Mills remains undefeated in Nashville winning all of his starts; but now he has to go from one extreme to the other extreme as the Bills come visiting into Reliant/NRG Stadium tomorrow night; the best that I can hope for is another very close, competitive loss against the Bills (while covering for CJ) but that's probably going to be wishful thinking -- last time Davis Mills faced the Bills ended up a 40-0 shutout at Buffalo.

We're currently tied with KC (reigning three-time AFC Champions) and Baltimore at 5-5.

[webny99]

We're currently tied with KC (reigning three-time AFC Champions) and Baltimore at 5-5.

And all three are out of the current playoff picture, as the Bills, Jaguars, and Chargers currently occupy the Wild Card slots.

I wouldn't be surprised to see any of those 10 teams (including the division leaders) in the playoffs, but the other 6 AFC teams are done for the season.

[thspfc]

I cannot wait to bet against the Broncos in the playoffs.

Broncos have beaten:

- The 3-6 Jake Browning led Bengals
- The 2-7 Geno Smith led Raiders by 3 points
- The 3-5 Davis Mills led Texans by 3 points
- The 1-7 Justin Fields led Jets 13-11
- The 2-7 Jaxson Dart led Giants by 1 point
- The 1-8 Cam Ward led Titans by 1 score

Yet they also beat the Eagles...

... and the beloved Chiefs, who can do no wrong in the eyes of many, and are surely 0-5 in close games due to luck this year despite being 11-0 in close games due to skill and talent last year.

No hypocrisy here. They're not making the plays to win the games like they won last year. I still don't care how much they're beating bad teams by - didn't care when it was 7, still don't care when it's 30. I have them clinging to the #10 spot in my power rankings merely because I'm unapologetically slow to teabag the team that has won the conference 3 years in a row.

You understand that the vice versa of the hypocrisy you're pointing out is just as hypocritical, right?

Their record is what it is, if they make the postseason they'll need to win three road games in a row. One team has done that in the last 15 years - Tom Brady's loaded Bucs team, in empty stadiums. Regardless of the logo or the narratives or the recent history, when you don't make plays to win close games this is what you get.

[webny99]

... and the beloved Chiefs, who can do no wrong in the eyes of many, and are surely 0-5 in close games due to luck this year despite being 11-0 in close games due to skill and talent last year.

...

You understand that the vice versa of the hypocrisy you're pointing out is just as hypocritical, right?

Of course. The vice versa would be "it's pure luck that they were 11-0 in close games last year, and its purely because they're awful (aka lacking skill and talent) that they're 0-5 this year".

I tend to agree with the first half of that statement (not for every individual win, but for going 11-0 on the season), but I attribute 0-5 this season much more to bad luck/"regression" than a fundamental lack of skill or talent considering they're basically the same team.

[Max Rockatansky]

It isn't uncommon for Super Bowl losing teams to do badly the following season. The Chiefs so far have not been an exception.  If anything they got exposed last year by the Eagles and now every team has the same blueprint.  The Chiefs roster has been aging having for a while now on top of everything else.

[JayhawkCO]

The Chiefs roster has been having fun for a while now on top of everything else.

Fixed it for you.

[Max Rockatansky]

The Chiefs roster has been having fun for a while now on top of everything else.

Fixed it for you.

Yes, this also.  Although one of the big players (Kelce) certainly seems to be focusing more on being an off field celebrity more than the others. 

[JayhawkCO]

The Chiefs roster has been aging into having funfor a while now on top of everything else.

Fixed it for you again.

I don't think Kelce's relationship is really affecting his play. He's just getting older. Natural progression.

[Max Rockatansky]

The Chiefs roster has been aging into having funfor a while now on top of everything else.

Fixed it for you again.

I don't think Kelce's relationship is really affecting his play. He's just getting older. Natural progression.

I tend to see it has a bit of both.  Athletes get older, lose psychical ability and start gravitating towards new things like wanting a life away from sports.

[JayhawkCO]

The Chiefs roster has been aging into having funfor a while now on top of everything else.

Fixed it for you again.

I don't think Kelce's relationship is really affecting his play. He's just getting older. Natural progression.

I tend to see it has a bit of both.  Athletes get older, lose psychical ability and start gravitating towards new things like wanting a life away from sports.

Sure, but he's a football dude through and through. He's not like some athletes that don't love the game and just do it because they're good at it and make money.

[Max Rockatansky]

The Chiefs roster has been aging into having funfor a while now on top of everything else.

Fixed it for you again.

I don't think Kelce's relationship is really affecting his play. He's just getting older. Natural progression.

I tend to see it has a bit of both.  Athletes get older, lose psychical ability and start gravitating towards new things like wanting a life away from sports.

Sure, but he's a football dude through and through. He's not like some athletes that don't love the game and just do it because they're good at it and make money.

And a lot of those athletes don't know when to quit.  A lot of them end up becoming a shell of the former player they were by hanging way too long. 

Yeah sure, I guess you could argue money plays a huge factor.  There certainly is a well documented issue with professional athletes and money management issues.  I don't think that would necessarily apply to Travis Kelce though.  He obviously has opportunities to be marketable outside of football. 

[JayhawkCO]

The Chiefs roster has been aging into having funfor a while now on top of everything else.

Fixed it for you again.

I don't think Kelce's relationship is really affecting his play. He's just getting older. Natural progression.

I tend to see it has a bit of both.  Athletes get older, lose psychical ability and start gravitating towards new things like wanting a life away from sports.

Sure, but he's a football dude through and through. He's not like some athletes that don't love the game and just do it because they're good at it and make money.

And a lot of those athletes don't know when to quit.  A lot of them end up becoming a shell of the former player they were by hanging way too long. 

Yeah sure, I guess you could argue money plays a huge factor.  There certainly is a well documented issue with professional athletes and money management issues.  I don't think that would necessarily apply to Travis Kelce though.  He obviously has opportunities to be marketable outside of football. 

And is marrying a billionaire.

[webny99]

Davis Mills remains undefeated in Nashville winning all of his starts; but now he has to go from one extreme to the other extreme as the Bills come visiting into Reliant/NRG Stadium tomorrow night; the best that I can hope for is another very close, competitive loss against the Bills (while covering for CJ) but that's probably going to be wishful thinking -- last time Davis Mills faced the Bills ended up a 40-0 shutout at Buffalo.

You forgot one small but important thing though: NRG Stadium is a house of horrors for the Bills and especially Josh Allen. 8 sacks for the Texans defense tonight sets a new career high for Allen.

The Bills loss doesn't actually impact the standings much (division odds went from ~0... to ~0) and actually hurts the other teams in the wild card race because now the Texans are back in the mix.

[thspfc]

File that under least shocking upsets of all time. This phrase is overblown, but if there's ever a use case for it: Buffalo would genuinely win about 5 games this season with an average QB.

The Packers constantly get dragged for "wasting" Aaron Rodgers career, because they only won one Super Bowl. If Brandon Beane or whoever replaces him can't figure it out in the next 5-8 years, take the criticism of the Packers and multiply it by 50 because Josh won't even get to a Super Bowl. Really sad.

[Ted$8roadFan]

I wonder if Sean McDermott is feeling his seat warm......

[thspfc]

I wonder if Sean McDermott is feeling his seat warm......

Just saw a stat: 6 coaches have been in their current position since 2017 or earlier.

Andy Reid - 3x SB champion, 5x conference champion
Sean McVay - 1x SB champion, 2x conference champion
Mike Tomlin - 1x SB champion, 2x conference champion
John Harbaugh - 1x SB champion, 1x conference champion
Kyle Shanahan - 2x conference champion
Sean McDermott -

[epzik8]

At this point, the AFC East may belong to the Patriots and the Bills may limp into the playoffs at best.

[hotdogPi]

Do divisions even matter? It's essentially "top seven get in".

[jeffandnicole]

Do divisions even matter? It's essentially "top seven get in".

The Division winner gets in, regardless of their record.  If they get in with a 9-8 record, a 2nd or 3rd place 10-7 team could miss out.

[thspfc]

Do divisions even matter?

Yes

[SEWIGuy]

Do divisions even matter? It's essentially "top seven get in".

1. Division winners still get home field in the first round.

2. There is a chance that a division winner will get into the playoffs with a worse record than the 4th best wild card. This obviously doesn't happen every year, but it did back in 2022 when a 8-9 Tampa won its division and got into the playoffs ahead of a 8-8-1 Commanders team.

[jmacswimmer]

Do divisions even matter? It's essentially "top seven get in".

1. Division winners still get home field in the first round.

2. There is a chance that a division winner will get into the playoffs with a worse record than the 4th best wild card. This obviously doesn't happen every year, but it did back in 2022 when a 8-9 Tampa won its division and got into the playoffs ahead of a 8-8-1 Commanders team.

The most egregious example of this I can remember was the 2010-11 playoffs when the 7-9 Seahawks won the NFC West and secured the 4th seed, hosted a wild-card game against the 11-5 Saints (the 5th seed and defending champions that year), and wound up upsetting the Saints (The "Beast Quake" game).

[ET21]

Pretty much all of Denver's games so far were deciden within the last 5 minutes of the game.

That's about 4 minutes before all the Bears' games get decided.

I would like the heart attacks to stop please