The NFL’s self-proclaimed Super Wild Card Weekend is coming down the homestretch having been more stupor than super.
Yes, most of the games have been close as I write this ahead of the Baltimore-Cincinnati game Sunday night, but have they been well-played? Not in my opinion.
The San Francisco-Seattle game got it all started Saturday with the 49ers sprinting to a 10-0 lead, managing to blow that and trail 17-16 at halftime, but eventually pulling away to win, 41-23.
Seattle, which concluded the season at 9-9, showed in the second half of this game the many reasons theirs was a questionable playoff team, having gotten into the postseason based on a win to finish the season in what one source quoted by ESPN described as the “worst officiated game of the year.”
You can lead a bad team to the playoffs, but you can’t make it win.
Later on Saturday, the LA Chargers managed to blow a 27-0 lead to lose 31-30 in come-from-ahead fashion. Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw not one, not two, not three, but four interceptions and the Jaguars lost a fumble, yet still won.
Chargers coach Brandon Staley described the inexplicable loss as “a killer.”
Somehow, the 10-8 Jaguars move on to divisional round play.
Sunday’s first game, a 34-31 win by the Buffalo Bills, was more improbable floundering by both teams.
Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen threw a couple of interceptions and suffered a strip sack that went for a touchdown.
The second seed Bills were doing all they could to blow this game against injury-riddled Miami, playing its third-string quarterback.
Yet Miami seemed never before to have seen a play clock and suffered repeated penalties for delay, or had to burn timeouts to avoid penalties because they simply couldn’t get the snap off in time.
If you opened your window, you could smell the stench coming off this game. But someone had to win, or, more correctly, someone had to lose and the Dolphins came through on the losing front.
Wild Card stupor moved west to Minnesota, where the horseshoe finally fell out of the collective butt of the Vikings.
This Minnesota team, with the absolute worst pass defense in the league statistically, and a penchant for falling behind – often big – somehow had won 13 games.
Perhaps the Vikings’ mistake in this one was taking the opening drive to a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. The New York Giants rallied and went up 17-7, dominating the game on the strength of the running and passing of quarterback Daniel Jones.
The Vikings came back, but so did the Giants to win 31-24.
In the end, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins lived up to his reputation for coming up small when the chips were down in big games. Late in the contest, facing fourth-and-long, Cousins threw a pass that while complete, was well short of the sticks, handing the ball and the game to the Giants.
This Vikings-Giants game was replete with apparent officiating errors, too, from a missed false start on a Giants score, to a missed offensive hold on a big play for the Vikings, and a very questionable personal foul call late vs. the Giants on a pass rush that gave the Vikings hope for another horseshoe game.
On the bright side, the Vikings cemented their claim to being the worst 13-win team in NFL history.
The nightcap between Baltimore and Cincinnati has just kicked off, but I’m expecting more of the same, that being wildly inconsistent football not usually associated with the playoffs. Ditto for Monday’s Dallas-Tampa Bay game.
This “Super” weekend has not been the NFL’s finest hour. Close final scores don’t necessarily denote quality.
Sam Ross Jr's site 