The NFL season is drawing to a close and right now it’s all about who’s hot and who’s not. Some teams are collapsing at the finish line while others are heating up. We’re going to go through some of those teams and the stories within them this week in the written form, as Sean and I are unable to record. Fear not dear listeners, we will be back with an episode soon, but for now let’s try and move the chains!

First Down

Pay That Man His Money: That’s what Sam Darnold’s agent is saying right now! As the red hot Vikings won again Monday night over the lowly Bears 30-12. Darnold is playing the best football of his NFL career with 29 touchdown passes while throwing for over three thousand yards. As we’ve talked about before, it’s a nice story for a beleaguered player in the wake of JJ McCarthy’s injury, but it’s becoming much more than that. With Darnold now once again heading towards free agency, the debate over whether or not to pay him is raging on. At 12-2, it’d hard to knock him or the Vikings and frankly I wouldn’t blame them for sticking with him and moving on from McCarthy. Darnold has always had the talent, and now he’s in the right spot with the right coach and weapons, perhaps he’ll be this era’s Jim Plunkett…he just needs to show the Vikings front office Rounders and Teddy KGB to get his deal!

Second Down

Dropping the Ball, And the Playoffs: Ahhhh the Colts. A franchise that much like Charlie Brown, seems to always miss the moment. Take this week for example as the once hot Colts went Mile High with hopes of drawing closer to the Broncos in the playoff race. A win would have pulled them to within a game of Denver, who have a much tougher schedule the rest of the way than Indy. They led the game 13-7 in the third quarter when Jonathan Taylor broke a big run for a touchdown to make it a 20-7 game…there was just one problem. Upon review (as you see above) as Taylor went to cross the goal line, he flipped the ball away in celebration, wiping out the score and giving possession to Denver. From there the Broncos would rally while the Colts imploded, final score Denver 31 Colts 13. The Colts playoff hopes are now all but dead and the Broncos look to be home free. Oh what could have been Colts, you were this close, yet again.

Third Down

The Walking Wounded: We may have found the tragic tale of the season. The once red hot Lions finally lost a game…which really isn’t the issue. The events within that loss are the problem as Detroit lost star players David Montgomery, Alim McNeil, and Carlton Davis for the season. They were already ravaged by injury with Aiden Hutchinson and Alex Anzalone both out for most of the year, but this is probably too much to overcome. Yes they can still be the number one seed, yes they still have lots of elite players, but it feels like the Motor City’s dream of a Super Bowl may have died this weekend against the Bills.

Fourth Down

Raise the Jolly Roger: A team who can keep dreaming of winning it all is the now scorching hot Buccaneers. Tampa was once 4-6 but they have rallied around the flag here to win four in a row and now sit atop the NFC South at 8-6. Their latest win, a 40-17 beatdown of the Chargers, was the crescendo of an offensive build up by Baker Mayfield and company. Baker deserves MVP votes as he is carrying this team, throwing for 32 touchdown passes and over 3,600 yards on the year, with some of his top targets missing significant time. While the job is not done yet with games against Dallas, the Panthers and Saints left, it seems like this will be the second year in a row that Tampa comes back to make the playoffs late. A credit to their players and coaches for being resilient!

On Twitter you can find Mike @Mike_Sheerin, Tyler @TMon_19 and Sean @SeanMartinNFL. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Our podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon!