4. Minnesota Vikings (11-2)
How about the Minnesota Vikings? A blowout win in Week 14 over the Atlanta Falcons now gives them six wins in a row, and very quietly keeps them alive in the NFC North. I think we’re all kind of guilty of talking about the Detroit Lions that we’re forgetting that Minnesota is just one game behind them, and they’re doing it with Sam Darnold at QB.
The one thing that we keep mentioning with this team as the season goes on is whether this team is going to re-sign Darnold. I mean, they are 11-2 and Darnold is still playing lights-out. How could the Vikings be so sure that their rookie QB, who has already had two knee surgeries, would be able to do what Darnold is doing?
If you ask me, it’s probably wise to bring Darnold back on a deal similar to what Baker Mayfield got, and structure it so Darnold could be cut after two years, which still gives them a possibility to move on easily. That would not hamper them financially for the long-term in the event that Sam Darnold forgets how to play football.
3. Buffalo Bills (10-3)
This was a game that the Buffalo Bills absolutely did not need to lose. Buffalo drops to 10-3 on the season and could drop to two games below the Kansas City Chiefs depending on how their Sunday Night Football game against the Los Angeles Chargers goes. Buffalo beat the Chiefs a few weeks ago, so the only way that KC could earn a better seed than Buffalo is if the Chiefs finish with the better record.
Buffalo sometimes can’t get out of their own way, as their defense was atrocious in this loss to the LA Rams. Josh Allen had the first six-touchdown game of his career, and they lost! This type of loss, to me, is kind of why I have believed for some time now that Buffalo isn’t going to win a Super Bowl in this current era.
We’ll see if the postseason brings anything different, but it’s shaping up to be a situation where Buffalo may again have to go into Kansas City to try and beat the Chiefs, which is something they have not done in the postseason in the Josh Allen era. Buffalo is still a very good team, but this loss was just ugly and not something this team with Super Bowl hopes needed to have this late in the season.