Patriots, Steelers only AFC teams worth watching

The AFC is incredibly bad this season (Besides the Patriots). To the point that one must wonder if the NFL had an option, would it completely bypass the Wild Card round on that side of the bracket and go straight into the Divisionals?

The New England Patriots are terrific as always, winning seven straight to run their record to 9-2. New England is trying to get to an eighth Super Bowl under Bill Belichick. This would be hard to do on the easy mode of Madden.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are also 9-2 after handling the Green Bay Packers, another team with a seven-game win streak. Pittsburgh is playing some of the best defense around and has a tremendous trio of weapons in Le’Veon Bell, Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown.

Other than that, the AFC is one of the worst conferences in some time.

The Kansas City Chiefs once seemed like the best team in football, but that seems like a different season. After beginning 5-0 with wins over the Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City has cratered with a 1-5 mark, only finding a way to beat the lowly Denver Broncos. The last two weeks have seen ugly losses to the New York Giants and Buffalo Bills, two teams that could not fin a way to save their lives until they met Alex Smith and the Chiefs.

The AFC South is also atrocious, due to a combination of both injuries and horrid quarterback play. The Houston Texans appeared to have it all going when Deshaun Watson was at the controls, but then J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus went out for the season on the same drive. Then, incredibly, Watson tore his ACL in a non-contact practice, putting him on Injured Reserve.

Wild Cards

Meanwhile, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans are trying to win the division, but it’s a slog to the end. Jacksonville lost to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, mostly because the incompetence of Blake Bortles and some of the worst late-game time management you’ll ever seen. As for the Titans, they were able to beat the listless Indianapolis Colts 20-16, but not before Marcus Mariota continued to do his best Bortles impression with two interceptions. For the year, Mariota has nine touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

We can talk about the other wild card participants, but why? The Los Angeles Chargers are everybody’s darling, but they have to prove they can beat good teams. So far, Los Angeles has beaten the Broncos, Raiders, Giants, Cowboys and Bills (with Nathan Peterman). Not a winning record in the bunch.

Barring a miracle, the Steelers and Patriots will be in the AFC Championship Game. Everything else is academic.