And suddenly the 2018 NFL season isn't what we thought it would be.
The first sign of Upset Weekend was San Diego's upset of the Kansas City Chiefs, the Chargers' first win over the Chiefs since 2013, and coming when San Diego at almost no point of the game seemed capable of a comeback, especially after Philip Rivers' atrocious INT in the endzone in the second quarter.
Easily the worst loss for a division leader was New England's horrific effort at Pittsburgh. The Steelers gagged up two more INTs and managed just 17 points, but Tom Brady's overreliance on a binky in Julian Edelman cost his team again with the INT, then the fourth down failure where Cordarrelle Patterson (three catches) was open entering the endzone yet Brady ignored him for the binky - an atrocious myopia especially considering Brady's unprecedented career success yet disturbingly repeated over Brady's career at inopportune times, notably 2014 at Kansas City and earlier this season at Tennessee - worth remembering is that in 2005 Belichick began riding Brady to get away from Deion Branch (his first binky); also it should be remembered that when Belichick has challenged Brady on the receiving corps - 2006, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2014 - Brady responded.
Indianapolis and Tennessee are now in a three-way fight wth Baltimore for the last AFC playoff spot with shutout wins over NFC East teams. Derrick Henry's eruption continued with 33 runs and 170 yards and two scores.
Dallas' loss aided the Eagles, who had to change quarterbacks again and suddenly Nick Foles may not be just a backup going forward even beyond 2018, as he led the Eagles to a 30-23 win at LA.
The Bears cinched the NFC North by putting the Packers out of everyone's misery, yet another Aaron Rodgers loss down two scores.
So now the last two weeks beckon and some teams better hurry up and clinch something -
Titans over Redskins - Tennessee keeps on keeping on and the Redskins clawed out the win at Jacksonville but overall once again don't have it for a playoff effort.
Chargers over Ravens - The Ravens are getting the wins with Lamar Jackson, but a pedestrian 82 passer rating (lower than that of Joe Flacco, now certain to be gone from the Ravens by season's end) and now being the team's leading rusher (566 yards and five yards per carry; Gus Edwards is second at 550 yards, also 5 YPC) simply are not sustainable results for success; at some point Jackson has to become a better passer - and ratings of 100 and 91 his last two games are an encouraging beginning there. And a Chargers team that now has the AFC West and a playoff bye to play for won't roll over for the Ravens, whose own division chances were harmed by Pittsburgh's upset win.
Browns over Bengals - The Browns have motivation to keep winning, and Gregg Williams may have played his way into the full-time coaching job, while the Bengals' season is shot. Jeff Driskel got a needed win against the Raiders yet was awful in doing so at a worthless 51.3 in passer rating.
Vikings over Lions - The recent history has turned against the Lions in this rivalry with two straight losses to a Vikings team that showed shocking rejuvenation after changing offensive coordinators, a doubly bad sign given the Lions season became irrelevant weeks back and is a poor beginning for Matt Patricia. It's also time to reconsider Matthew Stafford, finishing his tenth season with his fifth losing record and just two seasons above nine wins.
Packers over NY Jets - The lack of hustle at the very end of the Jets' loss to Houston says everything about the Jets and Sam Darnold, this as they welcome a Packers squad that itself is arguably in worse shape with a locker-room-cancer of a quarterback and a lame-duck interim coach.
Eagles over Texans - Superbowl hero Nick Foles is back and the Eagles look like a stronger team with him. What to do with him and Carson Wentz are issues for another time; right now the Eagles' playoff lives are at stake and they have a 10-0 lifetime record against Houston NFL teams. Given the fight of the Texans this year, though, expect a competitive game.
Falcons over Panthers - The Panthers are now irrelevant with six straight losses. Cam Newton's arm is shot. The Falcons finally showed real firepower last week. Forget it, Carolina.
Colts over NY Giants - The Colts are surging and the Giants are 1-2 against AFC South teams after their late-season surge got steamrolled by Derrick Henry last week. Forgotten in this whole thing is the Colts started 1-5 and have all but clinched a winning record for the year.
Cowboys over Buccaneers - Remember when this used to be a rivalry? That was all of one or two games. The Bucs despite 4,677 yards and 31 touchdowns from their quarterbacks are just 5-9 with a 92.85 passer rating and 25 interceptions. The Cowboys got embarrassed last week and this is the kind of opponent needed to regain momentum.
Dolphins over Jaguars - Surprisingly, Doug Marrone may stay on as Jaguars coach despite the utter collapse of their season, 30th in scoring and minus-12 in turnover differential vs. Miami's plus-9.
Patriots over Bills - No doubt disgusted over losing to a Steelers team they own, the Patriots return home with a 3-5 road record and their worst season since 2009. No pattern has emerged to explain the Patriots' road struggles and the importance of winning the last two games has only grown. They get in Josh Allen a quarterback unable to reach 55% completion and stuck at 65 in passer rating.
Bears over 49ers - Nick Mullens has played well with passer ratings above 102 the last two games, but the surging Bears want to keep up momentum for their first playoff run since 2010.
Rams over Cardinals - Losing to the Eagles was a double blow to the Rams, whose chance at the top NFC seed is now gone, and since their bye week they've scored just 20 points a game with nine turnovers. Jared Goff ironically broke out of a recent slump against the Eagles, going from 48
Saints over Steelers - The Steelers somehow escaped with a win, and now they go to a banged-up Saints team averaging just seventeen points per game their last three contests. We think, though, the Saints will grind out the win as they've been doing lately.
Chiefs over Seahawks - As strong as the Seahawks have been the loss at San Francisco takes some starch out of them as the Chiefs, who've begun to win ugly with some more frequency lately, want to bounce back from losing to the Chargers.
Broncos over Raiders - Not much here with the Raiders at 3-10 and the Broncos now out of the playoffs at 6-8.
So it goes into Week 16.
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