Fact last season but folly this season

Momentum doesn’t carry over from one season to the next in the NFL.

If you didn’t believe it before, then you have to believe it now when you look at the AFC North standings with two games left in the regular season.

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The team that got lit up like a Christmas tree by the Cincinnati Bengals last Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens, is the same one that marched into the playoffs last season and was predicted to possibly march into the Super Bowl this year. Yet the Ravens are in second place and hanging by a thread to a postseason berth.

The team that also got lit up like a Christmas tree last Sunday, this time by the Kansas City Chiefs, the Pittsburgh Steelers, is the same one that won the division title last season and was expected to do well again. But the Steelers are in third place and, as far as the playoffs are concerned, they are on the outside looking in.

The team that last Saturday lost yet another game by a close margin, this time to the Green Bay Packers, the Browns, came into this season as the darling of the prognosticators, being expected to quite possibly make it to the Super Bowl. But they are in last place.

And the team that, as mentioned, blistered the Ravens last Saturday and is leading the division, the Bengals, finished in last place last season and was projected to do the same this year.

Who would have thought any of this was even possible, let alone would actually happen? It seemed completely inconceivable.

But it is a reality because of unforeseen injuries, unforeseen poor play by players who performed well last year and unforeseen good play by players who performed poorly last season.

Why? I’m not sure. You’d have to ask the football gods.

You do believe in the football gods, don’t you? Well, don’t you?

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By Steve King