Midwest Sports

Apparently the Buffalo Bills are interviewing Phillip Rivers for their head coach opening.  Ask the Indianapolis Colts how having Jeff Saturday as their head coach worked out for them.

Talk about a poorly run franchise, the Cleveland Browns can't even get someone to interview for their head coach vacancy.  Mike McDaniels who was the head coach for the Dolphins decided not to interview for the Browns head coaching job. He would rather be the offensive coordinator for the Chargers than be the head coach of the Browns. 

Are the Buffalo Bills that poorly run? They fired Sean McDermott who was 98-50 in his 9 years as the head coach. I get it, he was 8-8 in the postseason, but McDermott won a playoff game this year and lost in the Divisional Round in overtime to the top seeded Broncos.  Then Buffalo Bills owner promoted General Manager, Brandon Beane to GM and President of Football Operations.  The Bills are a mess. I wouldn't be surprised if Josh Allen asked for a trade this offseason. 

Do you think Aaron Rodgers would come back to Pittsburgh for another year of they hired Mike McCarthy as the next head coach? Adam Thielen might reconsider retirement if Rodgers comes back. McCarthy and Rodgers won a Superbowl in Green Bay together. 

At first glance you would see a sixth seed traveling to the top seed in the Divisional Round of the playoffs and think the ine seed has it. But this six seeded Buffalo Bills are better than most sixth seeds. Josh Allen has much more playoff experience than Bo Nix. Allen is 8-6 in his career in the playoffs while Nix only has one loss for his young playoff career.  The Buffalo Bills are 3-4 against teams with winning records this year including beating the Jacksonville Jaguars last week in the first round of the playoffs. The Denver Broncos are 4-2 against teams with winning records this year. Denver is led by second year rookie quarterback, Bo Nix who only had 11 interceptions all season. They have a runningback by committee with Dobbins, Harvey, and McLaughlin. Their wide outs are Sutton who topped 1,000 yards receiving and Franklin.  Buffalo was led by runningback, James Cook and quarterback, Josh Allen who had over 2,000 yards and 26 touchdowns rushing.  Denver defense...

The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears have played against each other twice already this season. They split those games with the home team winning both times. In week 14 the Packers won by 7 points. Green Bay was 1 for 1 in the red zone, gave up a sack, threw an interception, and were 8 of 12 on third down.  Chicago was 2 for 4 in the red zone, gave up a sack, threw an interception, were 8 of 16 on third down, and 1 of 2 on fourth down. In week 16 they met again and the Bears won in overtime. Green Bay was 0 for 5 in the red zone, didn't have a sack, were 6 of 12 on third down, and 1 of 3 on fourth down. Chicago was 1 of 2 in the red zone, had 10 penalties, was 2 of 11 on third down, and 2 of 3 on fourth down. Looks like the key takeaway from the first two games is the team that was most efficient in the red zone won the game. It should be a very good division wild card game tonight. 

The Chicago Bears entering the post season as the two seed and play their division rival the Green Bay Packers tonight in the Wild Card Round.  First year head coach, Ben Johnson really turned things around for the Bears. On offense the team ranked third in the NFL with 2,456 rushing yards behind D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai. The offense also only turned the ball 11 times this year. The Bears defense on the other hand had 23 interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries. That gave the Bears a league high of a +22 turnover differential.  That is a winning formula of rushing the ball well, not turning the ball over on offense, and a defense that takes the ball away.

The Green Bay Packers are on a four game losing streak entering the playoffs. They are the fourth team to do that. The last three teams to do that didn't make much noise in the playoffs.  2024 Steelers were 10-7 entering the playoffs losing four straight. They lost in the first round. 1999 Lions were 8-8 entering the playoffs losing four straight. They lost in the first round. 1986 Jets were 10-6 entering the playoffs losing five straight. They won one game in the playoffs.  Let's see if the Packers can do what the 1986 Jets did and win in the first round of the playoffs coming off at least a four game losing streak to end the regular season. They are healthy entering the playoffs. The last game of the season they rested most of their starters against the Vikings since they couldn't improve their seeding so it's almost like they had a bye. They play their division rival the Chicago Bears for the third time in a month tonight in the Wild Card Round. 

How will the Cincinnati Bengals keep Joe Burrow happy? Or will they trade him for a package that could include three first round picks?  The Bengals need to keep Joe Burrow at all costs. He is one of couple quarterbacks that have beaten Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs.