Week 18 Results 2021

Well, for all of my griping over how useless a 18th week is, that was pretty epic. Ugh.

• Chiefs over Broncos
  What a fitting end to the Fangio era: play the Chiefs competitively and yet it still feels like we never really had a chance because the offense was so inconsistent. Awful.
  
• Cowboys over Eagles
  Inconsequential.
  
• Lions over Packers backups
  Good for him (Dan Campbell)!
  
• Vikings over Bears
  This was the real Packers win.
  
• Brown over Bengals backups
  Inconsequential.
  
• Jaguars cause CHAOS!!
  Every division has its parity quirks, but the Colts being completely incapable of keeping their heads on their shoulders in Jacksonville is one of the wilder ones. The Colts winning was the lynchpin of a peaceful end to the AFC wild card race, but they just couldn’t. It’s wild to think the season they just had is not going to result in finishing in the playoffs in the 7-seed pool.
  
• Steelers cause MORE CHAOS!!
  The Jaguars win left the door open for the Steelers, who took advantage of it by coming back on the Ravens to win in OT. Meaning not only did we get another extra quarter of Ben’s shitty career, but a whole additional playoff game, presuming the Chargers and Raiders didn’t tie, which of course they would never do. TJ Watt tied the sack record but didn’t break it.
  
• Titans hold on over Texans
  The second half was a little rocky but the Titans did what they needed to do to keep the top seed in the AFC. Now they get another week to rest Derrick Henry before bringing him back to shake off the rust against whatever poor sap manages an upset in wild card week.
  
• Washington over Giants
  What a shitshow.
  
• Niners are mean
  All they had to do was lose to the Rams and the Saints would be in the playoffs. But instead they pull a Steelers: come back in regulation, then twist the dagger in OT. Are they the more worthy playoff team? Unquestionably. Don’t care. This was Sean McVay’s first career loss when leading at halftime.
  
• Bills over Jets
  It wasn’t easy. Is that because the Bills are not a top-shelf team, or because Robert Saleh has coached this Jets team up better than their abysmal record? Probably both.
  
• Buccs over Panthers
  Eew.
  
• Saints over Falcons but it doesn’t mean anything
  I mean, beating the Falcons always means something, but with the Niners winning we still have to think about what could have been in one of the Saints’ many close losses this season, most notably the home chapter of the series against Atlanta.
  
• Seahawks over Cardinals
  Seattle has perfected the art of getting hot at the wrong time. At least the Carroll/Wilson era ends with a spirited victory, one that will put the Cards on the road for the playoffs, which given their home/away splits might be a blessing in disguise.
  
• Dolphins over Pats but somehow BriFlo still gets canned??
  Miami put up a legitimate effort and made it 3 in a row against Bill Belichick. And yet Brian Flores, one of the NFL’s 4 Black head coaches this season, gets fired for not having chemistry with the mediocre GM or mediocre QB. Wild.
  
• Raiders cause EVEN MORE CHAOS but we were SO CLOSE TO MAXIMUM CHAOS!!!!!
  Y’all, I was more invested in this gem of a game ending in a tie than I have been in any Broncos game this season. We were so close!!!! If the Chargers run defense was worth anything close to a damn we would have witnessed NFL Peak Chaos, it would have been so beautiful. But instead the Raiders just barely make the yardage to kick a game-winning FG as time expires. Tragic. Now they drag their interim coach into the playoffs, where they’ll start off against the Bengals, who have been so inconsistent one can actually imagine the Raiders have a chance.