10 takeaways from Divisional Playoff weekend

Seattle, L.A., Denver and New England advance...

By Matthew Coller

Hope you all had a good time watching compelling football over the weekend. Let’s dive into some takes from the games….

The Bears did not keep getting away with it but their future is scary

It sure looked like the Chicago Bears were going to pull off another miracle after Caleb Williams ran backward 26 yards and still threw a dime to the back of the end zone for a game-tying touchdown to force overtime against the Los Angeles Rams.

But in overtime, Chicago was driving when there was some type of miscommunication between Williams and receiver DJ Moore and the Rams picked off the second-year quarterback. Matthew Stafford did not need an invitation at that point to lead a game-winning drive.

The Rams came away with the OT victory but not before the Bears gave them everything they could handle. Their defense, which had struggled for most of the season, created pressure on Stafford and the Rams’ elite wide receivers were slowed down for a big chunk of the game. Chicago’s run D held strong and didn’t allow the Rams to control the game or pick up easy first downs on the ground. While the weather certainly helped them look much closer to the classic Bears teams than they deserved, they also had key pieces on the team going forward come up with plays in big spots.

And Williams showed in the regular season and postseason that he’s an absolute force. Players with the arm talent and mobility that he possesses along with a coach who has pushed him to become a much more complete quarterback have often turned into regular postseason performers. And the thing that was most impressive was his poise and leadership throughout — something that he previously hadn’t shown at USC or as a rookie.

You can say that his circus act won’t continue to work and you’d be right. He must improve the consistency of his accuracy and he can’t play from behind all the time or he won’t get away with it as often as he did this year. The late-game regression finally got him on Sunday. But his jump from Year 1 to Year 2 looks more like it’s going to be the norm than an exception and the Bears have every opportunity to continue to build around him and Johnson in the coming years and potentially own the top of the NFC North.

Is it a guarantee? Nothing is. Jayden Daniels got hurt and Washington’s D fell apart after looking like they were on top of the world. Is it possible that Williams is the player we should be comparing to Josh Allen with the Year 3 jump in technical throwing ability to go along with astonishing athleticism? Probably.

Vikings fans won’t want to hear it because the thought of finally getting rid of Aaron Rodgers from the division only to welcome in the next great NFC quarterback is daunting. It seems realistic though. This is what Williams was expected to be when he was drafted and Chicago has already done a lot of sharp things around him since Johnson arrived.

Sam Darnold going to the NFC Championship game is proof that the QB isn’t always the reason a team succeeds or fails in the playoffs

Turns out judging Sam Darnold based on 2024’s Week 18 and Wild Card round was a bad idea, huh.

Next week he will face off with the Rams at home with a chance to play in the Super Bowl one year after being labeled a choker.

The ironic thing is that Darnold didn’t have to do much to beat the 49ers. He made a great throw running to his left that resulted in an early touchdown to Jaxon Smith-Njigba that put San Fran on ice but otherwise he could have pulled a Jimmy G and thrown eight passes and still won the game easily. The banged-up 49ers had no shot after losing George Kittle and then Christian McCaffrey.

But doesn’t that tell us everything about playoff QB narratives? Last year, the Vikings won 14 but somehow didn’t get a home playoff game, which was totally unprecedented (and unfair, in my opinion). They had to play in that ultra-physical road game vs. the Lions while the Rams sat their starters and then travel to Glendale, Arizona, to play the team that was a matchup nightmare due to the edge in the trenches.

Had the Vikings lost one game earlier in the 2024 season, they would have ended up playing Tampa Bay and probably beaten them. Who knows how it goes from there. Instead the well-rested Rams crushed Darnold, whose pass protection was horrendous, running game was non-existent, coaching was sub-par and defense was average at best.

Yet it was treated like it was all his fault and total, unequivocal proof to most of the population (and apparently the team) that he couldn’t do it. Even though Patrick Mahomes had the same thing happen in the Super Bowl vs. the Eagles, it was all placed on Sam’s shoulders.

Now the Vikings have to watch as he plays in the NFC Championship game, a place that they have only reached twice since Randy Moss’s breakout debut in 1998.

Let it be a lesson: The playoffs have a lot of crazy things happen. The matchups and seedings aren’t fair. The travel isn’t fair. The timing isn’t fair. And sometimes you end up going against a team that has your number. But if bad playoff games were evidence that a QB could never get it done, then Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino and many, many other good/great QBs wouldn’t have gotten another shot after their postseason debuts.

Good thing Darnold did get another shot. It just happens to not be in the place where he truly proved he wasn’t the “seeing ghosts” QB that everyone said before.

Oh, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The only take on Darnold from Vikings fans should be that it’s great for him. He handled everything in Minnesota, including his exit, like a pro. He gave them a great season and they made the choice to let him leave by not franchise tagging him.

And if he does win the Super Bowl, it will go down as one of the most colossal mistakes of all time in the NFL to let him walk.

Los Angeles is good enough but have it much harder than Seattle

The Rams and Seahawks went to battle just a few weeks ago and it was an instant classic. Darnold led a game-winning drive in overtime to cap off an insane comeback where the Rams gave up a punt return, a two-point conversion off somebody’s helmet and missed a late field goal.

That game really should have been won by L.A., who seemed like the stronger team still at the time. Over the last few weeks, however, that has not looked like the case. The Rams barely survived the mediocre Carolina Panthers, then had to strain in overtime to get past Chicago, while the Seahawks sat home for a week and then cruised to victory. It might be one of the largest advantages in circumstances that we’ve seen in recent memory.

That doesn’t mean it’s any type of guarantee for Seattle. They may have the nastiest defense in the NFL and everything Darnold needs on offense but the Rams lit them up in their last matchup and Darnold struggled for the majority of the game with Los Angeles’s brutal defensive line. Plus he is dealing with an injury.

We do have to appreciate that the matchup is Rams-Seahawks. These two teams were by far the best top-to-bottom clubs in the NFC all year. They played the best regular season game in the NFL all season. Football fans everywhere deserve this. The Bears wouldn’t have stood a chance against Seattle’s defense.

Bo Nix’s success highlights Vikings 2024 draft decision

You won’t find anybody who dislikes the “coulda drafted this guy instead!” analysis in the NFL. Yes, the Vikings could have taken Kyle Hamilton. Yes, they could have picked Michael Thomas other Laquon Treadwell. They had a half dozen shots at Tom Brady, too. What are we supposed to do with that? Every team has a history of missing on great players who were picked later.

However, the Vikings had a choice in the 2024 draft. JJ McCarthy or Bo Nix. They picked the much more raw, inexperienced prospect with college numbers that didn’t even begin to approach those of Nix. They must have felt that Nix’s tools limited his upside or his offense was cartoony or that his flat-top looked too much like Ivan Drago. Who knows what they thought but they thought wrong.

McCarthy may someday become a great quarterback but the Vikings’ timeline required a QB that was ready to play ASAP and that was much more Nix than McCarthy.

Over the last two years, he’s been in the postseason twice and put together an excellent overall performance with a massive clutch deep touchdown to give the Broncos a shot to win the game against Buffalo.

His “game-winning drive” may have been aided by pass interference calls but his scrambling ability, key throws to mostly meh wide receivers and leadership/toughness has been on point since about midway through his first season.

Nix may not be special like Maye or Williams but he was good enough to take advantage of the rookie QB contract edge and lead his team to where the Vikings expected to be.

It’s a bucket of salt in the Vikings’ wounds that he put together a playoff game like that against the Bills.

Unfortunately Nix suffered an ankle injury that will not allow him to play in the NFC Championship game or the Super Bowl. Jarrett Stidham takes his place. Maybe another Nick Foles situation?

Oh, more salt. The Foles flashbacks will be aplenty. Prepare yourselves.

We need to demand better of the NFL with this replay nonsense

One call can make or break a legacy and it feels like that is the case with the Brandin Cooks no-catch for the Bills vs. Denver.

I’ve watched the play 500 times and read 500 different folks’ interpretations, including the former ref illuminati, who agrees with their former colleagues about 99.5 percent of the time. My conclusion: I’m not really sure. I don’t see how the ball is still moving when he’s grabbed it and landed with his entire body on the ground. He was supposed to do a third football-y thing? You can say that the ball was still moving but we can’t ever see it still moving. It looks like the Broncos dude just plucked it away after he was down.

At the same time, you could say: How did the Broncos DB get the ball so easily away from him if he had it in total control? The defender didn’t use the jaws of life, he simply pulled it away. I’d also sympathize with the “call on the field” thing. If there isn’t definitive evidence to overturn something, I think we all agree that you have to roll with what you’ve got.

Here’s my problem: Transparency. In the UFL and ACC, broadcasts show the entire discussion between the replay officials and the on-field officials. We fully understand why a call was made and what they were looking at. Why in the name of Rodger Freaking Goodell can’t we have that in the NFL?

Who are these people in New York and how much are they impacting games? What are they seeing? When are they buzzing down? How did the Bills no-catch take 32 seconds when sometimes obvious fumbles take 12 minutes?

Rog, we just want to know what’s going on. If we don’t like the results, OK, but why keep it a mystery if it’s on the up and up?

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