What now?
As we head to the midpoint of the NFL regular season, I have lots of questions.
As any reader of this Substack knows, I’m a diehard 49ers fan, which comes with more pain than I’d like to admit. They haven’t won a Super Bowl in literally 30 years, and went through a truly terrible streak which many fans of other teams seemingly forget when they hate on the club for it’s recent successes (which have always just fallen short of a title).
Yesterday, the team lost - badly - yet again to the Kansas City Chiefs, which resulted in a plethora of bad sports takes (such as that Brock Purdy, Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch and others should lose their jobs, and so forth). While it would be easy to defend the loss as it happened without Christian McCaffrey (who has been out all season), Deebo Samuel (who was so sick he had trouble breathing before the game), Javon Hargrave (lost for the season) and mostly Brandon Aiyuk, who suffered what turned out to be a season-ending knee injury midgame … the Chiefs have also lost key critical offensive players. They just beat the 49ers and it didn’t look good. At. All.
But shit happens. The team is certainly not looking good, and had a weird off-season with Aiyuk and Trent Williams holding out until the last possible moment. (That said, I think Aiyuk is fairly happy he secured that bag before an injury like this happened, and it did so while he made a phenomenal catch, it’s worth stating.) CMC’s injury is mysterious and utterly devastating to the offense. And what’s more, there’s still time to get into the playoffs and then see what happens.
But it doesn’t FEEL good. It feels very bad.
On the other hand, there are franchises like the Panthers, Jets and Browns, which have zero hope. The Browns fans cheered when their franchise QB tore his Achilles yesterday because they just wanted him (Deshaun Watson, a credibly accused serial rapist and seemingly incompetent quarterback) off the field. The Jets fired their head coach, traded more of their future for a receiver towards the end of his career and find themselves at 2-5. And the Panthers are so bad in every possible way it feels mean to point it out.
There are other franchises like the Miami Dolphins, who absolutely befuddle me. Last season, they scored 70 points in a single game, and starting QB Tua Tagovailoa stayed healthy, a serious concern as the prior season he’d had yet another scary concussion which both threatened his playing future and exposed the team as having no legitimate backup. So, this off-season, the team made sure to back up Tua with … (checks notes, checks notes again) … the exact same bad backups from 2022. In Week 2, Tua took off running and did NOT slide, meaning he exposed himself to be tackled. It was a solid hit, but nothing we don’t see every week - and Tua was immediately out of the game and hasn’t been seen since. The Dolphins have collapsed without him, making it more of a question how they could be so cavalier - especially after they gave Tua a massive contract extension. Tua is hoping to return in a week, and one hopes he’s doing everything possible to protect himself.
The Guardian Cap, for those who don’t know, is an extra padded helmet that offers some more protection against brain injury. It’s not a failsafe, it’s extra protection. If the above quote from Tua is giving you big “I did my own research, and I’m not getting a fake vaccine” energy, then … same.
This is an example of the Guardian Cap. I’m not here to tell you it doesn’t look ridiculous. It does. But Tua’s explanation was that there is a grey area on how much it works, it’s a “personal choice” and he loves the sport “to the death of me.” I mean, fair play to you. But … really? The only real explanation that makes sense is that Tua and other NFL players are just comfortable enough to know they WILL get traumatic brain injuries regardless so why not enjoy the game more. And that makes no sense to me, which is the ONLY reason I’m not also a professional NFL player, I’m sure.
There are other teams that like the Dolphins aren’t hopeless, but … things are not great. The Las Vegas Raiders, for instance, did nothing to improve their team at quarterback this offseason, and entered with Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell as their two top choices. Minshew struggled for about a month and then “AOC” came in, with just as poor results. The team traded away its only good wide receiver to the Jets because Davante Adams pretended he had a hamstring injury and refused to play. Meanwhile, their coach Antonio Pierce has mismanaged the clock so poorly and cowardly over the last few games that he’s made it almost impossible for any fan left to think the team is truly trying to win.
What I’m saying is, I think, as bad as we 49ers fans feel, it can get worse.
One nice thing yesterday was seeing rookie WR Ricky Pearsall - who’d been SHOT IN THE CHEST just 50 days prior - make his season debut and catch three passes and look fairly competent. It’s a great story and a way to help this team rally together.
With the Browns, the glass half-full story is that they no longer have to suffer watching Watson play awful football, and RB Nick Chubb is back and even scored yesterday. (We can set aside the quotes from Myles Garrett and Jameis Winston about how Watson as “mostly” been a model citizen in the NFL and folks should go easy on him.)
I type all of this before I sit down to watch Monday Night Football, which just speaks to how in the pocket I am for this sport. It’s brutal, it’s crushing, and it’s still oddly important.
Go sports.
This: "If the above quote from Tua is giving you big “I did my own research, and I’m not getting a fake vaccine” energy, then … same."
That's Truth's Chris right there