HOW MANY TEAMS CAN WIN A SUPER BOWL? PARITY IS FUN WHEN PARODY IS LOOMING
I’ve given up predictions for two championship teams — the Packers and Chiefs lost — so at this point, I like the Bills and Seahawks until they lose, when I’ll flip to the Patriots and ... Bears (no!)
Why wouldn’t Roger Goodell maximize the tremors of NFL diehards? Why not unleash them into bigger freaks and gamblers? We’ve only reached November and he says, “I don’t think there has been a better time to be a fan. The quality of the games and the enjoyment that comes from that, I hear it from the fans all the time.” He cannot stop raving about the excitement and random competitiveness.
It’s the job of a commissioner to make the most of a season when nothing, absolutely nothing, seems real. Last week, I’d have suggested the Chiefs and Packers made the most sense for the Super Bowl. This week, the Bills and Seahawks have taken over. Next week, the Patriots and Bears — did I say the Chicago Bears without a nose tickler — might win out. The tension is exasperating. On Halloween, a reporter asked Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur a question. You will not believe the answer.
“It’s Halloween, huh? I had a big discussion about this with my assistant, Daryl. I was like, ‘I don’t give a s— if it’s Halloween, all right?’ ’’ LaFleur said. “We are trying to win a game. Period. It’s a Friday in the National Football League. That’s what day it is.”
He lost Sunday, at Lambeau Field, to the Carolina Panthers. What happened to Patrick Mahomes, who was supposed to be turning around the Chiefs but played one of his worst games ever against Buffalo? “We’ve had great moments, we’ve had bad moments. We have to be more consistent,” he said, losing for the fifth straight time to Josh Allen. “I have to be more consistent as a quarterback. And we have to be able to battle.” They have regressed and won’t return to the big game. And forget about Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts, who were starting to fantasize about MVP awards and AFC titles until Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers beat them.
“It’s a fine line between drinking wine and squashing grapes in this business,” said Mike Tomlin, who said nothing about drinking ayahuasca in Pittsburgh.
What else? The Vikings beat the Lions behind a revived J.J. McCarthy. He replaced Sam Darnold, who signed in Seattle and threw four first-half touchdown passes as he whipped Washington, which lost quarterback Jayden Daniels with a vicious elbow injury. C.J. Stroud left with a concussion, making it more impressive that 37-year-old Matthew Stafford has thrown 21 touchdown passes for the Rams. Sean McVay was not so absorbed with football that he missed the Dodgers winning the World Series.
“We’ll see if we can continue to do some good stuff like they did,” the coach said. “I like the fact that we’re getting better. There’s just a good vibe.”
Somehow, the Bears have won five games, gaining 576 yards in a 47-42 screamer in Cincinnati. They won with Kyle Monangai, who rushed for 176 yards. And they won with more trick plays from Ben Johnson, such as Hot Potato. It’s where Caleb Williams finds Rome Odunze, who pitches the ball to DJ Moore, who throws to Williams in the end zone. “It looks like you’re Hot Potato’ing the ball around to different people — one to Rome, one to DJ, and then back to me,” Williams said. “It was something we’ve been practicing for two weeks, and finally it showed up on game day. It was a big play.”
But not bigger than Williams locating tight end Colston Loveland for a 58-yard game-winner, after the Bears blew a late 14-point lead. Johnson is thrilling fans with his savant mentality, not to mention balls-out enthusiasm, such as what was needed before the killer play. Did George McCaskey and Ryan Poles finally pinpoint a good coach? “I was hunting one coverage there before halftime and the end of the game, in two-minute scenarios. I couldn’t get it, I couldn’t get it,” Johnson said.
He found it. With 25 seconds left, Williams saw Loveland slip into an opening. “I’m seeing basically split safety,” the rookie said. “I’m thinking I’ve got a pretty good chance of getting the ball.” He caught it, bounced off a defender and rambled for a score. It’s the finest example yet of Williams thriving when needed in the NFL.
‘‘Here’s what I know: He threw some touchdowns, he didn’t throw any interceptions and he used his legs to help us extend drives,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘So I was pleased.’’
Teammate Kevin Byard agrees with, well, Goodell. “It’s like taking years off my life,” he said. “It’s super special. This is the greatest game, greatest sport in the world, just the emotions up and down. For the fans that stayed, they definitely got their money’s worth.”
Do I believe in New England? I believe in Drake Maye, who is developing into an MVP candidate at a Tom Brady pace. I believe in coach Mike Vrabel, who upset Atlanta coach Raheem Morris amid a theory that the Patriots illegally simulated the Falcons’ snap count. Do I believe in Seattle? I believe in Darnold, who threw for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns in Minnesota and hasn’t missed a beat. And I believe in Mike Macdonald’s defense, which doesn’t need a capital D like the head coach.
Most of all, I’m sort of believing in the Bills and their pressure defense. If they claim home advantage in the playoffs, who’s beating them in the AFC? Allen sounded prepared to supplant the Chiefs, after more than 30 million viewers watched the game. “They’re the pinnacle of what you want your franchise to be. They’ve been that for the last eight years,” Allen said. “Any time you get a chance to play the best and you can come away with a victory, you’re going to be feeling pretty good.”
And then we had the longest field goal in league history. The kicker’s name is Cam Little. His attempt was from 68 yards in Las Vegas. “We made that decision very quickly,” said Jaguars coach Liam Coen, referring to special teams coordinator Heath Farwell. “Heath was like, ‘Let’s go.’ I’m like, ‘Let’s go, man. What are we going to do? Throw a Hail Mary?’ I mean, we’ve seen him do it before and we’re indoors, we’re in a great space for it, and he was hitting it pretty good in pregame. I ran right on the field as soon as he hit it, and I ran right at him. It was like we won the Super Bowl.”
Don’t tell Little and Coen that Jacksonville won’t be winning a championship. Let them dream, like so many others. “You kick it long enough and you kick it straight enough, it’s going to go in,” Little said. “I said, ‘I’m going to hit this ball as hard as I can.’ Usually when I tell myself that, I find success. So I went out there and just let it loose.”
Loose also means we have no favorites right now. Fifteen teams could play for the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
I must say Chicago is one of them.
Just for now, twerps.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.