Week 16 Post-Vikings elimination

Saturday games:

Tampa lit up the Lions, who managed to actually give a worse defensive effort than we did. If Tampa didn't call off the dogs they score 60 easily.

Of course Arizona loses to the 49ers with their 3rd string QB. That would have kept us alive if we had won ANY of our last 3. Now Arizona is on the outside.

The last few minutes of Dolphins-Raiders was crazy. Daniel Carlson shanked a PAT, but also got the would be winning field goal, until the Raiders commit one of the all time chokes by giving up a huge pass and facemask simultaneously. They also blew the time management by refusing to score the touchdown but not running the clock all the way down. So bye bye Vegas.

Sunday games:

Redzone wasn't really available to me most of the day, so I went old school and watched whatever the networks offered me.

Initially I was focused on Bears-Jaguars, but that game quickly went south because suddenly Trubisky is unstoppable.

So I mostly watched Chiefs-Falcons, which was surprisingly close. I feel like the Chiefs are in cruise mode, not really trying that hard and saving their max efforts for January. It almost cost them today. Laquon Treadwell caught the go ahead TD late. They had a game ending Mahomes pick in their grasp but dropped it. The next play he throws a TD. Then the Falcons get in close field goal range but their kicker misses it. What a year for the Falcons with blown leads and close defeats. Chiefs clinched home field.

So then I catch the end of the Steelers big comeback win over the Colts to clinch the AFC north. The Steelers looked to be absolutely dead down 24-7 but righted themselves just in time.

Although they would have clinched the division anyway, cause out in New York the Browns somehow managed to lose to the Jets in a most Browns-ian way. My god, what if after all this the Browns miss the playoffs?

And in the late window I saw a lot of the Seahawks beating the Rams to clinch the west. Wilson still looks bizarrely bad at times, but Seattle's defense has really stepped it up lately. If Wilson can kind of rediscover his early season self they are my pick to win the NFC. 

I checked out of SNF pretty quick. The combo of a poor Titans effort and some laughably biased ref ball led to a Packers rout. Rodgers is probably going to be MVP now too, even though it should be Mahomes for going 14-1 so far against a much tougher schedule.

The laughable NFC East got even worse, as Washington was relegated to using Vikings legend Taylor Heinicke late in a loss to Team Teddy. The Giants got crushed by Baltimore. And Dallas blew out and eliminated the Eagles. Unless the ex-Skins have a quick answer at QB the division is gonna go to either the Cowboys or Giants.

So after a Bills-Hatriots MNF game that means little besides seeding, we head into a week 17 that actually has a lot of drama.

In the NFC, the east "winner" and the last 2 wild cards are up for grabs. The Rams will probably not have Jared Goff, which could be a killer for them (although Arizona just lost to CJ Beathard so who knows). The Bears-Packers game is a "whoever wins we lose" kind of game. Bears win they are a wild card. Packers win they get the bye.

In the AFC, 4 slots remain. The south winner, which the Titans are still in the lead for, and all 3 wild card spots. Currently the 3 are, in order, Miami, Baltimore and Cleveland, with the 10-5 Colts needing a win and help. Plus the Titans could possibly lose the division but be a wild card (not sure on that one). Cleveland has the toughest game against the Steelers. The Colts get the Jaguars, so those teams ahead of them all are in deep trouble if they lose.

There's a possibility btw that the 6-10 Giants could win a division and host a playoff game, while an 11-5 Colts team misses the playoffs entirely. 

And the Vikings will play one of the day's few meaningless games. Oh what might have been.