Oy. The lack of analysis hurts on this one. Where to start? The Bengals went into the playoff game against the Bills with a Plan A on defense, ready to switch to Plans B through X when needed. The need never arose. The Bills made Zero Adjustments On Offense All Game Long. It's just a matter of time before everyone else gets as sick of this lack of leadership as Stefon Diggs already is. They leaned on Allen even after he got injured. Similarly, Sirianni is in WAY over his head & it's just a matter of time before more people than me notice it. He _also_ gets confused & freezes when overloaded which doesn't take much. The Eagles are still top-10, but it's due to on-field talent in the o-line & WRs. _Not_ Hurts who, in The Best QB Situation in the league only tossed 5 more TDs than the guy in possibly The Worst QB situation, Justin Fields. The Chargers may get there in numbers, but they're still the Chargers. & they're still coached by The Most-Self-Defeating coach in the NFL today. The 49ers still should make it even though Kyle Shanahan still shuts the offense down completely if he is ahead by two scores in the second half. (It's _astounding_ no one sees this. Pretty much *all* their losses last year but one are due to this). It's really only the Bills that I think don't belong here, & maybe the Vikings. I'd put the Ravens in not because of OBJ but simply because Greg Roman was fired. I'll elaborate only if asked. My outlier is the Bears for the Vikings. It depends on a couple of things. Their *starting* o-line might be great. But o-lines are like chains. The weakest link breaks the whole thing & they are One Injury Away from being a sieve like last year. The other thing is having a #2 receiver _or_ a committee of ones who get open aside from D.J. Moore. Moore gets open deep. But not on every play. Two years ago, Mooney occasionally got open anywhere. Not sure he can return to that form. We already know that being the Only Receiver on his team limits Moore. _But_ Mooney isn't The Only other possibility, just the best one on their team. They got Tonyan to double the receiving threat of the TEs. But I don't think the rookie WR is going to get that many snaps & if Claypool _would_ live up to his potential, the Steelers wouldn't have traded him for so little when they have no depth at the position. If anyone can get open regularly mid to deep, what defense can possibly cover that mid to deep WR, _AND_ Moore _AND_ the TE who will be mid to short _AND_ watch out for runs by the deep RB room &/or Fields himself. _How_ will anyone be able to blitz this team when they can have receivers _behind_ the line of scrimmage as Roschon Johnson is an excellent blocker? They may become élite on O (not on defense) _without_ that, but I doubt it. Without someone to distract from Moore, if (when) Moore doesn't get open, the offense can stall even with Fields' running ability. He can't run like that & not get tired to the point that he can't throw _every game._ But if they get even _some_ open receivers besides Moore regularly, then they're not merely élite; They're Unstoppable! Depending on the play-calling.
