We almost made it a full season without any interruptions from Covid, but not so much this week. With the omicron variant spreading rampantly, many teams were left without many of their starters this week. On a positive note, we got football almost every day this week with many games having to be rescheduled. With the regular season quickly approaching the end, here is a look at who has a real contending chance and who is just waiting to get knocked out of the playoff picture.
Contenders
Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City never looked terrible, but Patrick Mahomes started to look human and many people began to panic. Now on a seven-game winnig streak and sitting atop the AFC, they are everyone’s Super Bowl favorites once again. More impressive this season is that Kansas City has won “ugly”. Mahomes has not thrown for 450 yards and four touchdowns a game and they still managed to find ways to walk away with a win. Kansas City controls its own destiny as the number one seed for the remainder of the season.
Dallas Cowboys
For the last few seasons, the Dallas offense has made all the headlines. This season, however, it’s the defense that has really impressed this season. It has mostly been due to the outstanding play of Micah Parsons and Trevon Diggs. Diggs, the league’s interception leader, has put every quarterback on notice to think twice before throwing his direction. The team has a real pass rush led by team-leading sack leader Parsons along with Randy Gregory and DeMarcus Lawrence. It’s quite an improvement from last season when Dallas ranked near the bottom in most defensive stats.
New England Patriots
Dspite coming off an ugly loss to Indy where Jonathan Taylor ran all over their defense, the Patriots have become one of the top teams in football. Bill Belichick may have offiially found the heir to the Tom Brady throne in Mac Jones. With a huge divisional game scheduled for this weekend against the Buffalo Bills, it will show whether or not New England is a contender this season or just in the hear future. After defeating the Bills in a crazy weather game in which Jones only had three passing attempts, Buffalo will definitely be looking to prove that was a fluke. As always, New England’s defense has been solid.
Pretenders
Cincinnati Bengals
Their win against the Denver Broncos put them in a great position. I still believe the Ravens are the best team in the AFC North, however, we will find out this weekend when these two teams face off in a crucial game for both teams. The Bengals sit atop the AFC North after Green Bay defeated Baltimore. Even if the Bengals don’t win the division, they can still make the playoffs.
Tennessee Titans
This is not all that surprising. I already had doubts about this Tenneessee team without Derrick Henry in my second-quarter check in. Coming off an embarrassing loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Titans lead in the AFC south is starting to shrink with the Colts surging. There is some good news for the Titans. Wide reeiver A.J. Brown could return to the field as early as this Thursday.
San Francisco 49ers
Unlike Tennessee, the 49ers are trending in a positive direction. San Francisco is red hot right now, winning five of their last six wins. Some of those wins include the Bears, Jaguars, Vikings, and Falcons none of which are playoff teams. It is nice to see San Franciso playing hard especially players like Deebo Samuel and George Kittle, but it just isn’t their time. It’s no secret the team is planning to move on from QB Jimmy Garoppolo to first round draft pick Trey Lance. The running game continues to be the strength of this team, but there are some really strong run defenses inthe playoffs. They are going to need a QB to elevate their offense and they don’t show that they have the confidence in Garoppolo so why should we?
