The postseason is fast approaching, clearing the picture of the teams that have a shot at the playoffs in the final months of the season. This week’s Four Vert begins with a team that, perhaps surprisingly, has fallen quickly down the standings after a month-long skid.
Falcons Peak Falcons Blow Divisional Race
of course It’s not going to be easy. After a 6-3 start with a stranglehold on the NFC South, the Falcons’ season ended at 6-7 with a four-game losing streak and currently out of the playoff picture. The slump has stuck with this team like a sickness, and its latest battle with the disease ended with 21 fourth-quarter points in a 42-21 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Kirk Cousins’ investment quickly went from a great move that stabilized the franchise to a disaster that already has his future with the team in doubt.
Nothing is actually working with this team at the moment. The Falcons didn’t have the offensive prowess that won them games earlier in the season, they stunk in the red zone and the defense is still the Falcons defense. Atlanta is capable, beyond the Broncos game, of combining a long stretch of skill. They move the ball well into the 20s and have a good offensive line, with a very good running back duo in Bejon Robinson and Tyler Algier. A good team structure is here, but not the substance. As the season went on, Cousins’ lack of mobility became a huge strain on an offense that seemed to be running out of answers.
The Falcons don’t really have anything on their call sheet that can pressure a defense, despite having one of the best rushing games in the league. According to Trumedia, they run the least amount of play-action in the league (7.9%) and scramble 0.4% of their dropbacks this season, good for 31st. Their passing game consists solely of getting behind Cousins and firing at the defense while his feet are stuck in the pocket. An offense that can’t transition to a quarterback is going to be so hard to defend for so long, unless they’re like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. Cousins has become a turnover machine as margins are small.
Now that Atlanta is staring at the playoffs, the future of the franchise is undoubtedly going to be a topic. The Falcons made the controversial move to draft University of Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth pick in April and were prepared to bench him for multiple seasons if circumstances allowed. Well, maybe it won’t be if Cousins is the main reason for the late season pull and missing the playoffs.
It wasn’t all bad, but there was no way the 6-3 Falcons were going to leave the season intact. As usual they stumbled and fell and now have to fight hard to save the season. In some ways that’s why Cousins was the perfect quarterback to take over for the Falcons spiritually. Enough to keep people intrigued and hooked, but ultimately not quite what people need.
The Bears had 4 yards of offense in the half
At some point, bears will stop being a punch line in this column. Today is not that day.
The Bears’ latest misstep came in a 38-13 loss to the 49ers with Thomas Brown as interim head coach. Brown’s rapid ascension from interim head coach to offensive coordinator to game coordinator may have been a bit too early, but there’s no excuse for what the Bears did in the first half against the 49ers.
four yards The Bears managed two full quarters of four yards of football. They had 2 yards on 14 plays on their final drive (0.1 yards per play). They gained 8 yards on the first two plays of their final drive, before Caleb Williams was sacked for a loss on third down. four yards 30 minutes of football! That’s 0.2 yards per play, -0.3 net yards per pass attempt, 0% rushing success rate, 30.8% sack rate and 0% third down in the first half. According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, the Bears’ 4 yards in the first half were the fewest of any team since the 2000 season. They also rushed for 315 yards in the first half, their worst since 2000.
The score was 24-0, yet somehow felt significantly worse than that. They had no chance with so many mistakes and sloppy play that had the feel of this game before the end of the first quarter. This team doesn’t seem like it should be this bad, but it is, leaving the Bears in a dangerous position as the season, thankfully, comes to an end. The Bears were far from 5-2 before the infamous Hail Mary effort in Washington, but now sit at 4-9 and a new coaching staff is guaranteed to walk through the door. It’s unfortunate for Brown, who has had some nice moments as a play-caller in the NFL, but the game is the game.
Oh, good. Maybe next year. At least start looking worthy before the end of the season, because they have the pieces to do it. Or maybe they don’t and that’s what always doomed the Bears.
ok Let me start by saying: I am not sick of Kansas City. I really enjoy the NFL as a team with such high caliber and quarterbacks that have always been a pillar of league-wide relevance. I’m not worried about them going 12-1, or their chances of representing the AFC again in the Super Bowl. Dominance can be impressive, especially when it’s quarterbacked by Patrick Mahomes. However, there needs to be a discussion of what happens at the end of some recent games – the future of the universe may be at stake.
When the Chiefs beat the Broncos on a blocked field goal, it was easy to chalk it up to “the same old Chiefs.” Luck plays a huge role in winning, so even teams we know are great are going to have lucky moments for sure. it happens It takes luck to win all these one-score games, and this was another such moment.
Then, the Black Friday game against the Raiders. The Chiefs were in a dogfight against one of the worst teams in the league, Brock Bowers looked like the next Tony Gonzalez, and the Raiders had a chance to win at the end of the game. When the Raiders found themselves in field-goal range, they somehow forgot how to function as a real offense and ended the game without a chance to kick. Okay, that’s a little weird — but it’s the rider, right? They act dumb all the time, and maybe the Chiefs got lucky with a terribly incompetent opponent.
However, what happened against the Chargers can only be described as some form of phantasmal interference. Will the end game win? a task victory? Now we have to investigate, why that There was a bridge far away. It’s becoming clearer and clearer that the Chiefs have sold all that’s left of their souls to a demonic force – and sacrificed the rest of the world to do it.
Sure, you can point to Mahomes or having a higher rating in several offensive stats to explain the record, but that doesn’t explain those specific finishes. Only invisible forces could allow all this to happen so briefly. With the rapture beginning in New Orleans following the upcoming Super Bowl, now is a good time to make sure you’re right with the higher or lower power you believe in. You have been warned. Don’t be unprepared for the beginning of the end.
Seattle’s defense is pushing the limits for the playoffs
The Seahawks have made a nice mid-season turnaround, currently boasting an 8-5 record after a 4-5 start. For much of this season, quarterback Geno Smith has done a lot of the heavy lifting, lifting a team with an inconsistent offensive line and play-by-play defense. Lately, it’s been a group effort as new head coach Mike McDonald’s defense has finally started to take shape and look like the unit everyone hoped for when they arrived in Seattle this offseason. With recent defensive performances, the Seahawks have taken control of the NFC West and look like a team that will be a pain in the ass to play in January.
The start of the season makes the last month of the game even more impressive. The Seahawks, like the Ravens at the start of McDonald’s tenure in Baltimore, struggled to play effective defense on a down-to-down basis. They were almost a middle-of-the-pack defense. According to TruMedia, the Seahawks’ defense ranked 18th in expected points allowed per game (-0.02), 22nd in success rate (42.3%), 14th in points per drive (1.91) and third-down conversion rate (37.4%) on their week. 10 byes in nine games prior.
Seattle made a great in-season trade for linebacker Ernest Jones that helped shore up its front seven and has been one of the best defenses in football since its departure. Through Week 11, the Seahawks are second in points per drive (1.31), third in net yards in passing attempts (5.6), first in expected points added per game (-0.16), sixth in success rate (39.9%) and fifth in yards per play (5.0) that season. In time, they played the 49ers, the Cardinals twice and the Jets. The Jets may not be the cream of the offense this year, but the 49ers and Cardinals have been good offensive units.
The Seahawks’ four-game winning streak that tops their division wouldn’t be possible without this defensive overhaul. The offense has largely fluctuated between average and above-average seasons, but Smith’s performance gives them a high floor on their side of the ball. If the defense can play like this, Seattle could get a home game for the wild card, and then, who knows what could happen?
This is an exciting development for the Seahawks and their fan base. This unit was the worst in the league a year ago, and in just one season with MacDonald, it has turned into a strong unit. He’s doing what he was brought in and advertised to do, giving the Seahawks an incredibly bright immediate future. Their performance to end the season, and potentially into January, will provide much insight into where their future lies in the new era.
