By Woodrow Carroll
It is difficult to believe, and even more difficult to contemplate, yet, the Minnesota Vikings are eight games ahead of the Chicago Bears in the National Football Conference (NFC) North.
The Vikings, who rallied from a 33-0 halftime deficit to beat the Indianapolis Colts, 39-36, in overtime Saturday, Dec. 17, are 11-3 after their comeback victory. The Bears, who were viewed in preseason as a threat for top NFC North honors, if not the favorite, are 3-11 after suffering a 25-20 setback at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday, Dec. 18. The defeat left the Bears looking to next season.
Take nothing away from the Eagles who possess the best record in the National Football League (NFL), 13-1. However, the loss suffered by the Bears, was the team’s seventh consecutive defeat. The Bears have been taking it on the chin at the hands of teams both good and bad.
Many observers had been saying that this year might be a good for Bears. Could the Packers, who were 13-4 a year ago and easy winners in the NFC North race falter? The answer to that query has to be yes, however, the Bears were not the team to profit from the Packers’ struggles after Green Bay defeated the Bears home and away this season. The Packers, however, lost to teams that the Packers would have handled in previous seasons. The Packers improved to 6-8 Monday, Dec. 19, with a 24-12 victory against the visiting Los Angeles Rams (4-10). Three weekends remain in the regular season.
• Only 7-7 going down the stretch, the Detroit Lions are one of the NFL’s positive surprises. The Lions’ season opened 1-6. For a franchise that has struggled for several decades, the Lions’ slow start came as no surprise. Keep in mind that the Lions are one of the NFL’s rare franchises yet to play in the Super Bowl. With the first Super Bowl, February 15, 1967, the Lions were well established.
Four NFL franchises, the Lions, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Houston Texans, have never played in the Super Bowl. Jacksonville and Houston did not exist at the first Super Bowl. The Cleveland Browns are what one would call a reconstituted franchise.
The Baltimore Ravens were once the Cleveland Browns. With an eye towards increased revenue the Cleveland franchise moved to Baltimore. Springing into existence in 1996, the Ravens captured Super Bowl XXXV in 2000, and Super Bowl XLVII in 2012 and have been solid most years.
With the original Browns moved, Cleveland was without a professional football franchise, 1995-1999. Enter the reconstituted Browns as an expansion team. The reformulated Browns were easy picking for most NFL teams.
The original Browns terrorized the All-American Football League, 1946 -1949, then, upon joining the NFL in 1950, were one of the teams to beat in the decade of the 1950s. Strange as it may seem, the one NFL team that made life miserable for Cleveland in the 1950s was the Detroit Lions. Four times, in 1952, 1953, 1954, and 1957, the Lions and Browns played in the NFL championship game. Once in 1954 the Browns were victorious.
The present Browns’ franchise has struggled, to say the least. The Browns have been joined by the Lions as the NFL’s 21th Century stragglers.
• Can you name the NFL’s 0-16 teams? One of the negatives that go with an expanded schedule is that a bad team gets beat up all the more. In 2008 it was the Lions who finished 0-16. In 2017 the Browns clocked out with a 0-16 record.
• Final thoughts! There are 32 teams in the NFL. Only four, Houston, Denver, Arizona, and the Bears, have been mathematically eliminated from Super Bowl contention.. The Lions, 7-7, and Browns, 6-8, are still viable, although the heartbeat is faint.