The 103rd installment of the NFL, what happened.

Every year between the months of September to February, the American public is blessed with the sport of American football.  The 20 week season comprises of many surprises, shocking moments, and ups and downs that highlight the greatness of sports.  We learned many things, some we knew, some we didn’t and there were certain things that happened that nobody would have predicted.  We hello to the new faces, and goodbye to the old ones as is customary every year, never doubt the ups-and-downs of the NFL season.

The NFC West may have been the most surprising division all season.  The defending NFL champion Rams struggled the entire season and won five games.  On the other hand, the “rebuilding” Seahawks won 10 games, behind Geno Smith, and made the playoffs before losing to the 49ers who were perhaps the weirdest story in the entire league.  The 49ers had four QBs play meaningful time during the season.  They won 10 straight games being the combination of Jimmy Garoppolo and…..Brock Purdy the 2022 NFL Drafts last overall pick. The cinderella run may be over for ever for Purdy, he unfortunately tore his UCL against the Philadelphia Eagles and he is on the long road back to recovery.

As much as things changed in the NFC some things stayed the same.  The Cowboys still choked in the playoffs in comedic fashion, the Bears are still hot garbage, and the Packers didn’t win the Superbowl despite off-season hype.  However the Lions were for once better than average, the New York Giants won a playoff game, and people were actually excited to watch the Carolina Panthers play for roughly two weeks until people realized that Christian McCaffrey had been traded.  Tom Brady, AJ Green, and JJ Watt both retired about a month apart from one another and the game says goodbye to three of the best players in the modern generation of the NFL

The AFC was different than the NFC.  The usual suspects made the playoffs with the exception of the resurgent Jacksonville Jaguars making the divisional round. The Kansas City Chiefs rolled their division with ease, especially after the Denver Broncos’ “Let’s Ride” campaign had the wheels fall off around week 3 and the Las Vegas Raiders have a monumentally disappointing season that saw one of the most disappointing endings to a single game in NFL history. The Buffalo Bills encountered resistance from the Miami Dolphins during the front part of the season before coming out on top, but the biggest surprise out of that division was the New York Jets. The Jets appeared to be a playoff team for roughly two or three weeks, led by rookie phenoms Sauce Gardner and Garett Wilson, but then the world woke up and realized that Zach Wilson was their QB and the once-promising season finished at 7-10.  The Cincinnati Bengals looked like a Super Bowl threat for a large portion of the season, but they were eliminated in the AFC Championship game due to some rather questionable officiating.

Sadly, the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl.  They defeated the Philadelphia Eagles by the final score of 38-35.  So unfortunately the more things change, the more things stay the same.  It pains me to say that Kansas City’s reign has just begun.