A super Sunday for NFL matchups
Plenty of critical games slated for Week 15
NEW YORK — Days like last Sunday happen occasionally in the National Football League — usually at least once a season — and when they do, it feels as if a shift has taken place. This Sunday’s schedule is loaded with critical matchups and will be perhaps the best viewing day of the season, with at least eight games freighted with postseason implications.
But the league’s dream day was set up by a series of sometimes stunning results that exposed some teams that had seemed assured of playoff runs — and one that led to the shocking firing of the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive co-ordinator, Cam Cameron, on Monday — and elevated others that had been viewed as too flawed just a few weeks ago.
The Atlanta Falcons, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears had embarrassing losses that at the very least undermined their confidence as playoff teams, if the Bears and the Steelers get there at all.
The Falcons are already in the postseason, but their desultory game against the Carolina Panthers — they trailed at one point by 23-0 to a four-win team — will do nothing to allay concerns that the Falcons’ 11 victories are the product of an easy schedule more than a well-rounded team that is ready to make a longawaited playoff run.
Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez told reporters he could hear fans jumping off the team’s bandwagon and, well, he’s right. Atlanta will have a chance to get them back next week in one of the marquee games, against the Giants.
The Bears were run into the ground by the Vikings’ Adrian Peterson — there is little shame in that, given that he is approaching 2,000 yards — but the greater issue is the way they are trending. They have lost four out of five after starting 7-1.
They, too, look like a team that benefited from an easy first-half schedule. Chicago has fallen a game behind the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North and — this is scheduling nirvana, right? — the teams play Sunday. With the Vikings on the rise, the Bears are at risk of plummeting further into an excruciatingly tight NFC wild-card race.
Ten days ago, the former Pittsburgh receiver Hines Ward, who is now an analyst for NBC’s Football Night in America, wondered about the Steelers’ leadership on the offence and who might guide the team through a tough stretch. And that was before the Steelers dropped their home game Sunday, in the return of Ben Roethlisberger from rib and shoulder injuries, to the San Diego Chargers, a team with no chance to make the playoffs and one that, The San Diego Union Tribune reported last week, is preparing to fire its coach and its general manager.
The Steelers were flat and never led, undercutting the progress they seemed to have made last week when they beat the Ravens in Baltimore with Charlie Batch at quarterback.
Ward had predicted this would be a tough game for the Steelers to win, but what he said about the makeup of the team may be more telling as the season nears its end. At 7-6, the Steelers remain in the playoff mix because of Sunday losses by the Cincinnati Bengals and the Ravens, but four of Pittsburgh’s losses have been to AFC bottom feeders, raising questions about its focus and consistency.
More bad news for the Steelers: they play at Dallas on Sunday. Dallas came back to beat the Bengals on the last play last Sunday, a day after a traffic accident that left one Cowboys player dead and another charged with intoxication manslaughter. The Cowboys are just one game behind the Giants in the NFC East race.
“The year we won a Super Bowl, we had to win the last four games to make the playoffs, and then we went in as one of the hottest teams,” Ward said. “They have a lot of guys on the defensive side that experienced that. I don’t think many on the offence — other than Heath Miller and Ben — have. You would think Ben would be the natural leader, but he’s been injured. Who else is in the huddle that if something goes bad, who is the calm before the storm? That plays a major factor.”