The NFL Conference Championships are in the books and we take a look at 8 winners and losers from this weekend.
Winner: Tails
One week after heads stopped the Bills permanently this season, the Bengals thought they had things figured out and picked heads… only for tail to go and do something like this and TOTALLY REDEEM ITSELF. Tails never fails almost half the time. The Chiefs on the other hand…
Loser: Patrick Mahomes
Up until this weekend, Patrick Mahomes was pretty unimpeachable. Did he have the occasional bad game? Sure. But when it came to the playoffs, his resume was virtually untouched. The playoff games he had lost had been widely viewed as not being his fault. His first time in the playoffs, the Chiefs coughed up a huge lead to the Patriots in his first playoffs, and in the Super Bowl he lost, his offensive line fell completely apart. Well, this weekend, I think it was safe to chalk this one up to him. He made a number of errors, including two bad interceptions, a huge mistake going into halftime, and a complete meltdown at the goal-line at the end of the 4th quarter that almost ended the game there before his OT meltdown. He had a bad game. Maybe his first true playoff dud. He has finally hit the point of being able to do wrong.
Winner: The Dreamers
If you were wondering what teams like the Texans, Jaguars, or Lions tells their seasons ticket holders when they call them in the offseason, wonder no longer. They will simply tell them to watch the Super Bowl. The Bengals went from abysmally terrible just 2 years ago to being in the Super Bowl. Basically, it’s every terrible team’s fever dream. Even the mediocre teams can help themselves with this arrangement, because the Rams were stuck in mediocrity with Jared Goff and tight against the cap until one miraculous trade changed them into a sudden contender again. The NFL panders hope like no other league and this season’s Super Bowl is a lesson that your dreams can come true, if you just end up with an elite QB.
Loser: The Over
If you love to play the over, you were in for a rough weekend. Neither game covered, nor was it particularly close. While I have spent a lot of time lauding QB play and offensive minded head coaches, let’s not pretend like defense doesn’t matter. A great defense is still a needed part of a Super Bowl team. The Rams and Bengals defenses both played critical roles in getting their team to this point. After a slow start, Aaron Donald got his team fired up and the defense stuffed the 49ers down the stretch. The same thing happened in Kansas City, as the Bengals destroyed the calls for a new overtime process by showing that you are allowed to play defense in overtime. Their interception saved the game and is the reason the Bengals are here.
Winners: The Miami Dolphins
This might be an odd thing to have here, but the 49ers loss was big for the Dolphins who saw their draft pick slip from about 16 all the way down to 28 thanks to a bad quarter of football the Rams played in the last week of the season. That pick finally stopped falling yesterday, and my pick/prediction for the next Dolphins head coach became available in 49ers OC Mike McDaniel. Both of these things were important for the Dolphins as they look to solidify their offseason plans.
Loser: Jimmy Garoppolo
Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t a bad quarterback. Unfortunately for the 49ers, he isn’t a good quarterback either. Garoppolo plays well for the 49ers when he can play within the balance of their run/pass offense. The problem for him is when anything disrupts that. Whether that is pressure, needing to exclusively throw because they are behind, or when his first option or two is taken away. When that happens, he starts to crumble. So they should probably go with their highly touted draft pick right? I have no idea if Trey Lance will be ready to be a starter next year, but probably. The 49ers essentially threw away the chance at a Super Bowl this season (what if they had taken Ja’Marr Chase?) to move forward with Lance, and that is what I expect them to do. Thankfully for them, there are way fewer decent QBs than teams, and I fully expect them to get a 1st for Jimmy (hello Carolina).
Winner: Los Angeles “fans”
In the least surprising development since the Jaguars botched their extremely obvious and good head coaching candidate, the Los Angeles “fans” didn’t show up for their “team’s” big game. Instead, they simply bought all the tickets and sold them to 49ers fans, who have been fans of their team for more than 4 years. This comes as no surprise, as a market which has never viably sustained even one NFL team, suddenly has two to not provide support to. Since most of these tickets were gobbled up by local opportunists who then made a killing on the secondary market, I would say they are the real winners here. 49ers fans paid a premium to watch their team lose, and the Rams got to enjoy being a road team at home like the Chargers do every week.
Loser: Adam Schefter
Adam Schefter “reported” that Tom Brady was retiring this weekend, only to discover that Tom Brady hadn’t decided yet if Tom Brady was retiring. This is a little awkward for a man who we discovered this year lets teams write stories for him. First he lets people do all the work for him, then he forgets to check with them at all. My hunch is that Tom has decided and is just waiting to announce the news when it is most profitable (like say during Super Bowl media week), but that doesn’t change the fact that Schefter once again humiliated himself during this season of humiliations. Maybe take a break this offseason, Adam.