Wild Card contenders and pretenders in the NFL playoffs

Yesterday at 12:37 PM

It is time to figure out who will succeed in the NFL playoffs.

Sunday marked the end of the NFL regular season which is fine and all of that jazz (funny enough seeing as Chicago authored that line and is central to all things offseason), but that means that the playoffs are officially here and we can tee off (lots of offseason participants will be golfing soon, surely).

Fourteen teams are set to do battle and 13 of them will fall victim to this, that or the other. The best part about the next few weeks is that we are going to see this defined, that and the other is here are at The Skinny Post we (Michael Peterson and RJ Ochoa) are telling you ahead of time.

Let's talk playoffs.

If you have to pick one playoff team to rally around, who is it and why?

RJ:

My heart wants to go with the Buffalo Bills, but I think that I simply have to choose the Baltimore Ravens. I recognize that the Chiefs are the most inevitable team left standing and am fine operating under the premise that they are going to win it all anyway, but Baltimore just seems to be peaking at the absolute right time.

Again, all due respect to Buffalo, I just don't see a quarterback in the playoffs at the moment who is playing the way that Lamar Jackson is. He has seemingly mastered all of his powers and that makes the Ravens an incredibly dangerous team.

Amazingly, we are on track for a Ravens and Bills showdown in the Divisional Round.

Michael:

I think I'm going with the Detroit Lions here. After seeing what they did to the Vikings on Sunday night, I just don't feel right betting against Ben Johnson and what he can do with that offense.

Seriously, he's got such good players at key positions and the sick part is how well he knows how to get the best out of his guys. Jahmyr Gibbs looks like a literal cheat code out there after ending the regular season with 20 touchdowns. Amon-Ra St.Brown is a walking reception when you need it and Sam LaPorta is just so dang good for being only in Year 2.

I truly don't care what's going on with the defense and all their injuries. This offense can win any track meet-type game by themselves and that's not unlike the Chiefs during the early parts of their dynasty where they simply knew they could out-score just about everyone in the NFL.

Which of the six Wild Card teams has the best chance to make it to the Super Bowl?

Michael:

The Vikings seem like the easy one but after Sunday night's debacle by Sam Darnold, I am not confident he'll be able to overcome any larger moment that that. The amount of blown touchdown passes I watched over and over despite the Vikings objectively dominating the Lions in the first half was truly astounding.

Instead, I'm going with the Commanders. Even as a rookie, Jayden Daniels seems bigger than any moment. That's not to say he's come through in all of them, but he's never looked like a rookie when I've watched him play. I think they make a surprising run this year, regardless of making it to the big game in February.

RJ:

Let me be say (more on this in a bit) that I could not disagree with the Commanders as the choice more. I don't think the Commanders are even the Wild Card team with a rookie quarterback who has the best chance of reaching the Super Bowl.

On some level I thought about going with the Green Bay Packers, but their inability to beat top teams has me concerned. I cannot believe I am about to say this.

My vote for Wild Card team most likely to reach the Super Bowl is the Los Angeles Chargers. They have a head coach who has done it and a quarterback who is capable of making big-time throws in big-time moments. Drawing the Texans in the first round certainly helps and they obviously have familiarity with the Chiefs if it comes to that.

What a world.

Who is the biggest fraud in the playoffs?

RJ:

There are a lot of years in which we diminish playoff appearances by teams and act like they are hollow. I don't mean to do that here, but we have to be honest with ourselves.

The Houston Texans feel like low-hanging fruit so I am going to zig a little bit differently and offer the Washington Commanders. They are fine, don't get me wrong, but they struggled against a really bad Dallas Cowboys team in the season finale and they were actually trying. Again, not trying to knock them, but they were quite poor when rookie sensation Jayden Daniels was playing.

I'd imagine Sunday night will go well for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Michael:

Maybe I'm going out on a limb here (and for the sake of diversity) but I think it's secretly the Packers. They were a quiet 11-6 which is not a bad thing, but their schedule shows me a team who simply beat who they should have and lost to any other playoff team who was considered a "contender" during the week of their contest.

Their win column is filled with the AFC South and the NFC North. Wins against the Jaguars, Titans, Colts, Niners, along with the Patriots and Dolphins, do not impress me all that much. With losses to the Vikings (twice), Lions (twice), and Eagles, I just don't see this team beating anyone who currently holds a better record than they do. Their Wild Card matchup is against the Eagles and I fully expect them to end the season the way they started it (with a loss to Philly).

Who will win NFL Coach of the Year and who should ACTUALLY win Coach of the Year?

Michael:

So I'm going full bias here.

The NFL Coach of the Year will likely be Minnesota's Kevin O'Connell or Washington's Dan Quinn. In my opinion, it should absolutely be Jim Harbaugh of the Chargers.

First off, he took a five-win team and turned them into an 11-win playoff squad while also exorcising a good amount of the "Chargering" the franchise has been known for in recent years.

His hire of Jesse Minter as defensive coordinator cannot be understated. Harbaugh, himself, did a lot under his own daily influence to change parts of the team. But, his decision to bring Minter with him from Michigan turned the Chargers defense into one of he worst in the NFL into the No. 1 unit in points allowed by the end of his first season.

Not only has Harbaugh been front-and-center in changing the culture of the franchise, but he brought along guys who have been outstanding in their roles.

Give this man the award already.

RJ:

The answer to both of these questions is absolutely Kevin O'Connell.

While we are at it... I demand that people apologize to him and the Vikings for discrediting their 2022 season. This is one of the best teams in the NFL in recent history and they have been that way with Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold as their quarterbacks. Think about that.

KOC rocks and anybody saying anything else is completely wrong.