One of the most exciting aspects of the NFL season are the undefeated starts by some teams. The longer a team goes unbeaten, the more exciting it gets, and that is far more true with the NFL than it is in the other North American major sports, because there are significantly fewer games. So, a team that can win their first four or five games already has gone a significant part of the season in excellent condition, and a team that can win their first ten or eleven games has gone the majority of the season without any serious blemishes. I remember the 1984 Miami Dolphins and the 1985 Chicago Bears being the first teams that went quite far in a regular season without losing a game. Some years later in the 1990 season, the defending champion San Francisco 49ers and my New York Giants both raced out to a perfect 10-0 start, and everyone expected a clash of perfect teams on Monday Night Football. It was very exciting, and kind of deflating when both teams lost the weekend prior.
But unbeaten starts make a young season feel much more exciting. Just three seasons ago, it felt like we had a ridiculous amount of teams who started off unbeaten. The Carolina Panthers started off 14-0, the New England Patriots started off 10-0, the Cincinnati Bengals started off 8-0, the Denver Broncos started off 7-0, and the Green Bay Packers started off 6-0. That was five franchises that still were undefeated after six games, which has to be a record of some sort. Three teams were still undefeated after half of the regular season games were played. That made it unique, and quite exciting.
Here it is, just three weeks played in the young NFL season, and there are only three remaining unbeaten teams in the NFL: the Rams, the Chiefs, and the Dolphins. They are all 3-0, and they are all in action, and putting those undefeated records on the line. The first are the high and mighty Rams, who look virtually unstoppable so far. They host the Vikings on Thursday. The other two undefeated teams will have tough times trying to stay perfect, as the Dolphins travel to New England to take on the Patriots, while the Chiefs go to Denver to try and tackle the Broncos.
So, let's see how many, if any, of those teams can survive week 4 still undefeated. I believe at least one will, and perhaps two. But it is doubtful that more than two teams remain unbeaten after this coming weekend.
Let's take a closer look at all of the upcoming games for week 4:
Thursday Night Football
Minnesota (1-1-1) at L.A. Rams (3-0) - I thought that this would be more of a feature match, but the Vikings current winless streak of two games, while not monstrous or anything, still leaves more questions regarding the Vikings, than answers. Tying the Packers at Lambeau is not bad, but not just losing, but getting blown out at home to the Bills? Really? And now, they have to go to Los Angeles to face the Rams, and that feels like a really tall order. This season has been one full of upsets, though. The Vikings, who were victims this past weekend in one of those big upsets, know that better than anyone. But the Rams look very strong, particularly on offense, and it will be difficult, to say the least, for Minnesota to try to keep up. Hard to predict anything but a Rams win here. My pick: L.A. Rams
Sorry, I am away for this weekend and have limited access to the internet. Will try to complete these predictions later.
No comments:
Post a Comment