Everyone else is playing for second.
This is the online version of our morning newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning.
The Pittsburgh Steelers entered Monday night’s game with the Washington Football Team as the only unbeaten team in the NFL. A few hours later they were handed their first loss of the season and one thing was made very clear – there’s only one really good team in the NFL and that is the defending-champion Kansas City Chiefs.
I mean, no matter what team we cheer for we all know by now how the season is going to end – with Patrick Mahomes hoisting the Lombardi Trophy for a second straight year.
The Chiefs have something that no other team in the league has – one of the most special players to play in the league for quite some time. And luckily for them, that man plays quarterback and is playing it like no other.
Mahomes is what sets the Chiefs apart from any other team in the league. Did the Chiefs look great against the Broncos on Sunday night? No, not exactly. But whenever they needed something special to happen Mahomes was there to step up and get it done.
Having all the weapons that he has helps, absolutely, but Mahomes is on another level right now and he’s only going to get better as the Super Bowl approaches. Remember how he could basically do whatever he wanted in the playoffs last year? Yeah, expect more of that coming up.
There are some good teams around the rest of the league, but I wouldn’t take any of them in a single game with the Chiefs.
The Steelers are 11-1 but haven’t been the sexiest 11-1 team that I’ve ever seen. Is their defense really good? Yup. Would the Chiefs figure them out? Absolutely.
The Saints are atop the NFC even though Taysom Hill has been their QB while Drew Brees has been out. The Chiefs beat either of those QBs with ease.
Aaron Rodgers and the Packers could be the team to emerge from the NFC and a showdown with Mahomes would be fun, but the Chiefs would win.
Russell Wilson and the Seahawks can be really good… but they lost to Colt McCoy on Sunday, which just can’t happen.
Let’s all be honest here on a Tuesday in December – the Chiefs will be the champs again and everyone else is just playing for second.
Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Staff
– NFL fans were not happy to find out that FOX was airing “Judge Judy” over the Washington-Pittsburgh game.
– Alex Smith had a questionable reason for why he ran off the field with the ball before a big field goal before halftime. To me it felt like a veteran pulling off a crafty move.
– Here’s a complete list of pop culture references Baker Mayfield has slipped into press conferences this year, including Sunday when he quoted Dwight Schrute.
– Mario Lopez is going to be Colonel Sanders in a KFC-inspired Lifetime movie thing. For real. No, I’m being serious. Charles Curtis explains.
– Pro surfer Tyler Wright made history Monday with a Pride flag on her shoulder in Maui.
