There have been plenty of deflating injuries during the 2020 season. The latest came on Sunday when Joe Burrow – Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and the number one overall pick in the 2020 draft – suffered a season-ending knee injury on Sunday.

THE LONG ROAD BACK:

WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM 20, BENGALS 9: The Joe Burrow injury is brutal to watch but somehow, his tweet after the game is even more depressing in a way:

Burrow was diagnosed with a torn ACL and MCL with structural damage as well to his right knee. He is expected to possibly miss the next 9-12 months. While the injury is stunning, it is far from surprising considering the lack of offensive line protection he had all season long.

SECOND VERSE, SAME AS THE FIRST:

TITANS 30, RAVENS 24 (OT): The Tennessee Titans did it again to the Baltimore Ravens on their home turf. Just as they did in January during the AFC Divisional playoffs, Tennessee’s defense did just enough to subdue Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense.

Derrick Henry’s game-winning touchdown run in overtime sealed it for the Titans but the real fireworks happened before and after the game. Titans cornerback Malcolm Butler got into argument with Ravens head coach John Harbaugh at midfield during pregame.

Then, after the game was over, it appeared Harbaugh snubbed Titans head coach Mike Vrabel. However, Harbaugh stated afterwards no such snub occurred.

Whatever. I will choose to believe there is beef. Anyhow, one season after going 14-2 in the regular season, the Ravens are 6-4 and currently on the outside of the playoff picture.

PEOPLE ARE TERRIBLE:

COLTS 34, PACKERS 31 (OT): Soon after Sunday’s loss to the Colts, Green Bay wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling revealed he received death threats due to his fumble in overtime that led to Indianapolis winning the game.

I love football. Yet, I’m never going to work myself into a frenzy to threaten someone’s life over it. That is flat out stupid. No game is that important. Sorry.

Nonetheless, the Packers saw a 28-14 halftime lead disappear and only managed to score three points in the second half and overtime.

Green Bay lost but at least fans of Aaron Rodgers will have this throw to go bananas over:

Kudos to the Colts for pulling this game out. I didn’t think they could make it happen but they did and still sit atop the AFC South.

THE MVP:

CHIEFS 35, RAIDERS 31: On a podcast last week, I said Kyler Murray was the NFL’s MVP. Boy, was that a stupid statement. The Most Valuable Player of the National Football League is Patrick Lavon Mahomes II. I apologize for making any other assertions.

Mahomes threw for 348 yards and two touchdowns while leading the Chiefs to a last-minute victory. Mahomes drove the Chiefs 75 yards in just over a minute to score and secure their ninth win of the season.

Up next for the Chiefs is a matchup with old nemesis Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Good job, good effort by the Raiders.

THE QUARTERBACK OF WOE:

BROWNS 22, EAGLES 17: Sadly, I watched nearly every snap of this game. Cleveland was ripe for the picking without star defensive end Myles Garrett but Philadelphia was not the team to complete the mission.

The Eagles were terrible on Sunday but they have a bigger problem….they are in denial. It appears the Eagles are keenly aware things aren’t going well at the moment. Yet, they appeared to have learned very little during this season from loss to loss.

Carson Wentz has wildly regressed for a quarterback in his fifth season. Things don’t seem to be on the uptick anytime soon for him either.

Sunday’s game can be summed up with two pictures. In the first, Wentz is set to throw out the end zone. Instead of finding a wide open receiver streaking downfield, he holds on to the ball too long and takes a safety.

Then, there was this…

When a Browns fan shows up dressed as Macho Man Randy Savage, what chance did you really have to win the game?

The Browns improved to 7-3 and now have a good shot at reaching the playoffs. Meanwhile, the 3-6-1 Eagles head into the most difficult stretch of their season. They will see the Seahawks, Packers, Saints, and Cardinals in their next four games.

The NFC East will correct itself. If the Eagles are continuously this poor, they are not going to the playoffs.

SPEAKING OF MISSING THE PLAYOFFS…:

TEXANS 27, PATRIOTS 20: New England caught a partial break this week from the slew of 6-3 AFC teams losing but make no mistake about it. They have little room for error at this point.

The Patriots fell further behind other wild card teams in Cleveland and Tennessee. Plus, they still remain two games behind Miami, Baltimore, and Las Vegas. Also, don’t forget, the Denver Broncos hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Patriots. So, giving up 380 yards of total offense and three scores to Deshaun Watson is not a formula to reach the playoffs.

THE 1972 DOLPHINS COUNTDOWN IS ON:

STEELERS 27, JAGUARS 3: The Jaguars are a plucky team but the Steelers are the NFL’s best team at the moment. The 10-0 Steelers flexed their defensive muscle by holding the lowly Jaguars to just 206 yards of total offense.

Here are the final six games for the Steelers:

vs. Ravens (Thanksgiving)

vs. Washington Football Team

at Bills

at Bengals

vs. Colts

at Browns

I don’t think they’ll get to 16-0 but they might make it interesting. This is at worst 14-2. However, it might take 15-1 to get home-field advantage in the AFC this year.

RAMS 27, BUCCANEERS 24 (MONDAY NIGHT): Brady and the Buccaneers can’t get right on national TV. Once again, they fell in prime time at home but this time to the newly-minted NFC West leading Los Angeles Rams. Jared Goff threw for over 300 yards and three touchdowns.

Brady threw two touchdowns but two costly interceptions including the final one with under two minutes left that officially sealed Tampa’s chances of winning the game.

The Bucs are going to be a wild card team in all likelihood. I sure hope they like cold weather. Their first playoff game is likely to be in chilly weather in Green Bay or possibly in Philadelphia or New Jersey.

THE REST:

SAINTS 24, FALCONS 9: The Taysom Hill Experience is underway and in successful fashion. Hill threw for 233 yards and scored on a pair of touchdown runs. Sean Payton might have some interesting decisions on his hands regarding when to bring back Drew Brees this season.

BRONCOS 20, DOLPHINS 13: Denver ended Miami’s five-game winning streak and helped give Tua Tagovailoa a ticket to the bench late in the fourth quarter of the Broncos win.

CHARGERS 34, JETS 28: It would appear Justin Herbert is the foil sent to the AFC West to slow down the Patrick Mahomes Runaway Freight Train. Yet, the Chargers need to put a better team around Herbert. They don’t need much. Just a defense that will not give up 28 points to the Jets.

PANTHERS 20, LIONS 0: Seriously Detroit. SERIOUSLY?

COWBOYS 31, VIKINGS 28: All hail the 2020 NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys! Print those caps and t-shirts! Actually, I’m serious, sort of. The Giants are the best team….but the Cowboys have WFT, Bengals, Eagles, and Giants remaining.