Over the next week or so, we're going to hear all sorts of nonsense about the playoff-worthiness of the San Diego Padres, who won the NL West with an underwhelming record of 82-80, a record that would have earned them 4th place in the NL East (and even then, only a game lead over the last place team).
You think the Padres don't deserve it? Just wait. One quarter of the way into the NFL season, and the standings for the NFC North are as follows:
Chicago, 1-2
Detroit, 1-2
Minnesota, 1-3
Green Bay, 0-3
And just so we're clear, the division's 3-10 record includes 2 intradivisional games, which means that the NFC North is actually 1-8 against the rest of the league. It's really difficult to imagine that any of these teams will win more than 6 or 7 games this year. We may actually have a team in the NFL win their division while earning themselves a top-10 draft pick for the following year. 10 out of the other 12 NFC teams would be in first place in the North.
And so on. So before you jump all over the Padres, who have done a really nice job of rebuilding as a mid-market team, take a look at the definition of suck that is the NFL North. And I say that as a lifelong Bears fan.
That's all.
Six of these (now 11) losses have come at the hands of three of the four undefeated teams in the NFL: Tampa Bay (3), Cincinnati (2), and Washington. So while the "Norris" has stunk it up, they've been playing a tough slate.
That, or Tampa and Cincy ain't as good as they seem.
Detroit *almost* won this weekend. For a brief moment, I thought that last touchdown would count.
Sigh.
I'm willing to buy into Cincy, since I think they've been close for a couple of years now, and seem poised to break back through. TB, though, has benefitted from their Norris-heavy schedule probably a little more than they should have...