The Extra Point

I can’t believe how many teams spit the bit this past week.  From playoff teams just utterly crapping the bed to bad teams (see Cowboys, Dallas and Bears, Chicago), to teams just needing to win at home to stay in the playoff picture or go to the playoffs (see Bengals, Cincinnati and Broncos, Denver), this weekend was painful to watch. 

I am trying to absolve the Bears a bit (hey, I’m a Chicagoan).  Football is a hard enough sport to play - play it without any motivation, and it becomes much, much harder.  Let’s face it, the Bears could have lost by 100 and it wouldn’t have mattered, and the Pack was playing for the last hurrah of Favre.

Easy to forget about the Bears when you have the Cowboys though!  Still in it to win the division when their game started, and they just totally shat themselves in front of the home fans.  What makes this particularly galling though, is that it was vs. the Lions!  The freakin’ LIONS!!??  The Lions of the 2nd worst 6-season stretch in NFL history?!  The Lions who can’t even lock up the #1 pick correctly!  See what the Cowboys fans are saying today.

And then we move to the real chokers!!

Cincinnati should be in the playoffs right now.  They easily could have beaten the Broncos last weekend (should have at least gotten into OT), but still only had to beat the Steelers at home to get in (thanks again to the Broncos!).  But what happened???   They

 !!!!!  (See what their fans are saying about them!)

Then, we have the Broncos.  After that bit of luck against the aforementioned Bengals, all they have to do is beat the 49′ers at home to get in.  Most people would view that as a makeable putt.  Plus, in Denver?!!  Aren’t they supposed to be incredible in Denver - cold, lack of oxygen, loud fans, etc.?  But whoops!!!

As my man Ozzie would say - !!!

Should make for some interesting playoff picks, since about half the teams in the playoffs this year don’t look like they belong.