Game of the Week: Green Bay (9-4-1) vs. Chicago (10-4)
Another week as the NFL wraps up the postseason offers a new look at the contenders vying for a Super Bowl championship. Jacksonville vs. Denver, yes please. Baltimore vs. New England, bingo. Pittsburgh vs. Detroit, well… well. Still not satisfied? Saturday night’s strange lights in the NFC North should do the trick with a sepia-toned showdown between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field. A win for either and a defeat for Detroit confirms a playoff slot while a win for the Bears puts them one step closer to locking up the division (even with a loss, the Packers would still be ahead of the seventh seed). The gaping hole left by Micah Parsons in Green Bay’s defensive front may have Chicago fans side-stepping the expectation that their Bears team could put together a deep playoff run if home-court advantage is on their side.
What does Green Bay need to do to win? Control acquisition time. The longer Green Bay keeps the ball on offense, the better as they try to adjust to the significant hole left in their pass rush now that Parsons has landed on injured reserve. Confidence must remain high that quarterback Jordan Love and company, with as much of the ball as possible, will continue to climb the scoreboard to cover any sluggishness on defense despite the slide against Denver last week. Love showed some familiar struggles throwing two interceptions. The picks should be credited to the Broncos pressuring him at a career-high rate of 52% rather than falling back on Love’s play. The season as a whole has been great, especially his deep passes to Christian Watson who didn’t easily suffer a serious injury at Mile High. Throw in a skewed game for Green Bay between bruising running back Josh Jacobs averaging over 90 receiving yards in his past three games with Chicago’s mediocre run shut down and the Packers have the offensive firepower to sweep the Bears aside.
What Chicago must do to win There is no escaping how one-sided this rivalry has become over the past 15 years. Since 2010, Green Bay has gone 27-5 against Chicago in the regular season while the Bears have had just two of their five wins at Soldier Field. Ancient history, so what does it matter when Chicago is on top at 10-4? Well, it looked familiar starting 0-2 after losing to Detroit 52-21, another lost season in the making. Meanwhile, Ben Johnson was merely clearing away the rubble of years of failure. Quarterback Caleb Williams is still a work in progress but is no longer a liability under the offensive-minded coach. The lead is what will deliver a big win for Chicago on Sunday. Johnson needs to pull every positive out of the second-half comeback that failed at Lambeau Field, leaving the Packers 28-21 winners. Wear down the Packers’ wounded defense with the impressive tandem of DeAndre Swift and Kyle Monangai, open up play-action and leave the Packers guessing. It might get ugly and Williams might upset his lines here and there, but Johnson showed he has the knowledge and tools to record an earth-shattering win.
Advancement: buffalo
A complete victory over New England puts Buffalo on the verge of clinch a spot in the postseason. The scenario is pretty straightforward: a win over Cleveland and an Indianapolis loss to San Francisco does the trick. A win on Sunday and Houston’s less likely loss to Las Vegas could also work out. Realistically, they’ll make it no matter what, so the win/lose sport is redundant. Buffalo making the playoffs is commonplace, but it’s the way they’re bursting into life with Josh Allen’s strong back-to-back comeback that has caught the eye. Allen’s six touchdown passes while relying on finely tuned communications with his tight ends rather than his less-than-stellar receivers put the Bills back into being a powerhouse. In doing so, they still have an outside chance of beating the Patriots for the AFC East title while ensuring that no team or leadership is too big for the Bills to overcome. The Denver Broncos are the only team that has built anything close to an aura of invincibility this season, but for now, would you rule Allen out of the championship game against the Bo Knicks? At worst, this is a game of coin flip. The biggest boost for Allen is that there will be no meeting with Patrick Mahomes next January. There are no old wounds. No reminders that bosses own you when it matters. Just a clear shot to bring Buffalo’s first Super Bowl title back.
Fall: Carolina
Neither Tampa Bay nor Carolina appear to be able to handle the pressure of making the playoffs after snatching defeat and completely taking control of the division from the jaws of victory. The Bucs let the Falcons lead 28-14 at the top of the fourth quarter while Carolina went on a scoreless run from the top of the third quarter to erase a 17-7 lead on the rudderless Saints. Carolina will kick itself after wilting with a chance to win and a chance on Sunday against…you guessed it, Tampa Bay. Victory will still give them a great chance to win the title. But if you can’t beat the Saints with two weeks off after recording an earth-shattering win over the current No. 1 seed in the NFC, the dice may be cast for the Buccaneers to take over from here.
The race for the No. 1 pick
The race to the bottom continues with the cursed illusion of Tennessee, Las Vegas and Cleveland combining to go 2-12. On last week’s showings, the Raiders and Browns appear to be the ones most likely to crush him at the end of the season. Vegas has no hope of who will start at quarterback against Houston on Sunday. If the Eagles can run the ball, the Texans’ brutal defense will easily handle Kenny Pickett or Geno Smith. Cleveland welcomes Buffalo’s rise to the city. This is blasphemy. But what a difference seven days make in the NFL, where Tennessee hosts a Kansas City Chiefs team that is without Patrick Mahomes after getting a good grip on things in a loss to the 49ers. Rookie Titans QB Cam Ward may quietly be aiming for a complete win over the downed Titans to maintain control of the offense next season.
The season ended today
Asian Federation 1) Denver 12-2; 2) New England 11-3; 3) Jacksonville 10-4; 4) Pittsburgh 8-6; 5) LA Chargers 10-4; 6) Buffalo 10-4; 7) Houston 9-5. Bubble: Indianapolis 8-6
NFC 1) Seattle 12-3; 2) Chicago 10-4; 3) Philadelphia 9-5; 4) Tampa Bay 7-7; 5) No Rams 11-4; 6) San Francisco 10-4; 7) Green Bay 9-4-1. Bubble: Detroit 8-6