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The offseason is a long and testing period of time, especially for writers and content creators. For a brief few minutes in the Kansas City Chiefs’ game against the Cleveland Browns, it looked like the offseason was starting much earlier than anticipated for us at Arrowhead Pride.
Thankfully, the Chiefs saved us and also reminded the world that there is a reason why they won Super Bowl LIV — and that is that their collective mental strength is unrivaled. Of course, it helps when you’ve got someone like Andy Reid calling pass plays on fourth-and-1 to seal the game. I still can’t believe he called that play, by the way.
This week’s voters were Kent Swanson, Matt Stagner, Pete Sweeney, Ron Kopp and myself.
1. Kansas City Chiefs (1st)
Nothing is ever easy, is it? Why can’t our team just be one of those that dominate from start to finish? There always has to be drama. Well Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and anyone else from the Chiefs reading this, I would like to see my 33rd birthday. At this rate, I’ll be lucky to see Monday morning.
2. Green Bay Packers (2nd)
This team is really good, Chiefs fans. The way they dismantled the Rams must have sent warning signs to the other members of the final four. The thought of Aaron Rodgers vs. Tom Brady as an undercard to Patrick Mahomes vs. Josh Allen is a football geek’s dream. Rodgers really needs this victory over Brady for his own legacy.
3. Buffalo Bills (4th)
Low-scoring matches in the playoffs normally mean there have been some excellent defenses on display. Whilst there were some flashes from the Bills defense, the Ravens' offense stunk, and to be honest, the Bills' offense didn’t fair much better. They’ll need to improve a lot to make the Super Bowl.
Side note: Any Bills fan that says he or she wants Mahomes to play on Sunday is flat out lying.
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6th)
Y’all are going to hate me for this, but I am a Tom Brady guy. Although he wasn’t the reason the Bucs won on Sunday, I just have to bring up the fact that he is playing in his 14th conference championship game on Sunday. That is absurd. He will forever be the measuring stick for which we use to rank Mahomes as one of the game’s greats.
5. New Orleans Saints (3rd)
Oh, the Saints. Their Super Bowl window has been open for what seems like an eternity yet they’ve come up nearly empty-handed. The problem is how they’ve handled the quarterback room. Drew Brees probably hung around for a year or two longer than he should have, they have way too much money tied up in Taysom Hill and they don’t really trust Jameis Winston. It’ll be interesting to watch how they handle the post-Brees era.
6. Baltimore Ravens (5th)
Did the Ravens really get over their playoff hump by beating the Titans? Maybe if they had played well against the Bills. All I saw was a team that came crashing down to earth after a highly emotional win in Nashville. It will be interesting to see if they offer Lamar a new deal in the summer.
7. Cleveland Browns (7th)
They might have come away from Arrowhead with the moral victory — after all, it has still been a highly successful season for the Browns. They should, however, be coming away from Arrowhead feeling pig sick. When Mahomes went down, the Browns should have kicked on and won this game. They let Kansas City get away with one.
8. Los Angeles Rams (8th)
For the Rams to stand a chance on Saturday, their defense had to do their best impression of the 1985 Bears. Unfortunately, the Packers offense made them look more like the 2018 Chiefs. With the defense giving up so many yards and points, the chances of Jared Goff leading them to victory was slim. Let’s get Sean McVay a real quarterback in the offseason.
9. Seattle Seahawks (8th)
10. Tennessee Titans (7th)
11. Indianapolis Colts (11th)
12. Pittsburgh Steelers (9th)
13. Washington Football Team (13th)
14. Chicago Bears (14th)
15. Miami Dolphins
18. New York Giants
23. Atlanta Falcons
24. Dallas Cowboys
25. Houston Texans
28. Denver Broncos
31. New York Jets
32. Detroit Lions