We have made it to the championship week in the 2020 football season. Between all of the COVID absences and injuries it’s a minor miracle we have been able to keep on schedule for Championship week. Let’s dive into our final four teams and take a time to pour one for the four teams who were just eliminated with the offseason narratives for them as well, fun stuff let’s dive in!!
RAMS (Is Jared Goff the guy)
The Rams were beat by the Packers 32-18 Saturday afternoon in a game that wasn’t as close as the score would indicate. The Rams go into the offseason with more questions than answers. Is Jared Goff the dude? Jared Goff was just in the Super Bowl two years ago and signed a mega sized contract extension before the 2019 season. Goff and the Rams took a step back in 2019 with a 9-7 record and missing the playoffs. However, in 2020 the Rams bounced back to get into the playoff party but Goff was even more shaky than the 2019 season with 14 turnovers, which was second most in the league. Sean McVay showed so little confidence in Goff Johnny Wolford started the wildcard game against the Seahawks before getting injured in the first half. Goff has a 31 million dollar cap hit so he will almost certainly be back for the 2021 season. But Sean McVay has as much confidence in Goff as a person has in their puppy not urinating on the floor, will be an interesting offseason in the city of angels.
RAVENS (Can Lamar Jackson win a Super Bowl)
We know Justin Tucker had a case of the doinks (hitting both upright’s in first half missed field goals) in Saturday’s 17-3 loss to the Bills but the real story was Lamar Jackson. Jackson was 14-24 for 162 yards and had the biggest game changing play in any game of the playoffs thus far. Down 10-3 late in the third quarter Lamar Jackson and the Ravens had a third and goal at the Bills 7. Lamar threw a pass over the middle that Bills cornerback Taron Johnson jumped and ran back for a 101 yard pick six that broke the internet in Western New York. Lamar has been fantastic in the regular season in his young career with a 30-7 regular season record and a 2019 MVP award in his trophy case to go with his Heisman Trophy in his days at Louisville. But Lamar is 1-3 in the playoffs with the Ravens only averaging 13 points a game. The question isn’t whether Lamar is an upper tier QB or a transcendent talent. But can Lamar win the big games against the best teams.
BROWNS (Are they the new kings of the AFC North or an also ran)
The Browns are feeling the best of any of these four teams who lost going into the offseason. After a 22-17 loss to the Chiefs in a game that Baker Mayfield played better than the 17 points would indicate the Browns are going into the offseason with some momentum. The biggest challenge for the Browns who will have most of their nucleus returning in 2021 is how do they handle success. The old story goes in American pop culture when the underdog has his day the success gets to their heads and they fall into their old self-sabotaging ways and the story becomes an American tragedy. The Browns have one of the best rosters in the AFC and are possibly the favorites to win their division next year and possibly challenge the Chiefs again in the playoffs (Lamar Jackson and the Ravens may say hold our beers). The key for the Browns this offseason is to not be overly progressive in reading their press clippings (a little Baker Mayfield joke for you all).
SAINTS (Jameis, Taysom or who)
With Drew Brees likely retiring the Saints go into the offseason with a lot of uncertainly. The biggest question of many that comes with a team that is almost 100 million over the cap is who is their signal caller in 2021. Sean Peyton went with what I call their swiss army knife in Mr. do it all Taysom Hill for four games instead of the experience Jameis Winston when Drew Brees missed time with 11 broken ribs. Taysom Hill played okay with the Saints going 3-1 in those four games but Hill was far from an elite passer in the Saints being a middle of the road offense in those games. Jameis Winston got a little bit of mini revenge on his old teammates in a 56 yard touchdown pass to Tre’Quan Smith on a trick play that everyone but the Bucs secondary saw coming in yesterday’s game. With the Saints being in such dire straits I’ll take an educated guess and say Winston will get a chance to revive his career getting the keys to the car for the bayou gang in 2021.
Now the narratives of the four remaining teams!
BUCS (Can Tom win lucky number 7)
Wouldn’t it be fitting for Tom Brady to win three road games to make it home for the Super Bowl. The Vikings three seasons ago were the closest team to ever playing a home super bowl game but got spanked by Nick Foles and the Eagles 38-7 in the NFC Championship game. Tom Brady will have to beat a red hot Packers team in snowy Green Bay to get the Bucs to the big game but if there is anyone to do their jobs (Pats jokes!) and get the road win it would be Captain Tom and his pirate gang. Speaking of Pats jokes a popular punchline in twitter is the Pats failures at QB this season and how it was all Tom Brady (Tom threw 40 td’s this year while the Pats QBs threw 10). Let’s agree it’s more Tom than the system but both were responsible for the longest dynasty in my lifetime. If Tom can win the title in his first year in Tampa it may be the greatest feat yet for Tommy Boy.
PACKERS (Can Aaron Rodgers land on top again)
The Packers went 13-3 for the second straight season but this season felt very different. The Packers won 9 games by one score in 2019, but only 4 games by one score in 2020 showing a much more dominant team. Aaron Rodgers threw for 4,002 yards and 26 touchdown passes in 2019. In 2020, Rodgers threw for 4,299 yards which isn’t a ton of more yardage from last season but the 48 touchdown passes is a massive jump and a new career high from number 12. Last week the Cheese packs offense didn’t slow down with 484 yards of offense and 6.5 yards per play against the number one defense in the league in the 32-18 win over the Rams. With Rodgers and the Packers being hotter than that bright star in the sky this may be the best chance Rodgers has to join the elite QB class and get that ever elusive second super bowl trophy.
BILLS (Can the Bills exorcise the demons of generations past)
The Bills are in a place that any Bills fan under the age of 30 isn’t familiar with. The Bills are one win away from going to the Super Bowl with their 17-3 win in a beautifully ugly game on a frigid windy night in Western New York. Josh Allen and the Bills offense were very underwhelming with only 220 total yards but the defense carried the day headlined by Taron Johnson’s pick six. Next the Bills go to Kansas City with a possibly wounded Patrick Mahomes behind center for the Chiefs with a golden opportunity for the Bills to get back to the big game after a 27 year absence. Of the four teams the Bills are the team playing most with house money right now and even losing would not ruin what was a magical season and bright future for the buffalo helmets. But as Bills fans know you never know what tomorrow brings so Sean McDermott’s group needs to have a carpe diem moment this weekend. Anyone who’s a football fan knows what happened to the Bills in the early 90’s. So the Bills can only hope for the privilege to have that opportunity to exorcise the demons of their generations past. The Bills are only one win away from getting that opportunity.
CHIEFS (Is the Chiefs football’s new dynsasty)
We thought the Seahawks were the new dynasty but Russell Wilson threw an interception at the Pats one in the 2014 Super Bowl and haven’t been back to even the championship game since. We thought the Eagles could be a dynasty after the Philly special having a rising star in Carson Wentz and a creative head coach in Doug Pederson. Only three years later coach Pederson is out and Wentz soon may follow. The Chiefs are the next team to stand at the podium. The Chiefs are the first AFC team to ever host three consecutive championship games (even the Pats never did that!). The Chiefs survived a scare from the Browns last week when Patrick Mahomes missed most of the second half with a concussion. The Chiefs hope Mahomes can pass protocols to play this week in what should be a very exciting and emotional game against the Bills on Sunday night. If the Chiefs can win that game it’s either Mahomes in a road Super Bowl at Tom Brady’s Bucs or the best quarterback matchup in the history of the super bowl (Peyton Manning and Drew Brees may say hold my beer), Patrick Mahomes Vs Aaron Rodgers!! If that doesn’t get you fired up then you probably don’t like football or a Bills or Bucs fan.