Week 1 – Browns 24 – 3

Week 2 – Ravens 27 – 24

The Problem – The Bengals find themselves in a hole due to realistically one reason and one reason only. The health of Joe Burrow. If you had told them that they would open the season 0-2 and Joe Burrow would still be ailing from a calf injury that kept him out of the pre-season, they probably would have highly considered putting him on IR to open the season, getting him healed up, and living with whatever the first 4 weeks held for them. Instead, they put him out there in week 1 and he had the worst game of his career (all be it in an absolute rain storm). Week 2 saw a better Burrow statistically, but they failed to score an offensive touchdown until 2:34 left in the 3rd quarter. This offense shouldn’t have an issue putting up points and yet they didn’t have their first touchdown until almost 7 quarters into the 2023 season.

The Solution – Its is easy. Get. Burrow. Healthy. A healthy Joe Burrow is a top 5 QB in the league. That calf injury is the only thing holding this team back. Unfortunately now they have delayed his healing process by 2 weeks and realistically can’t afford to sit him 2-4 weeks to really get back on his feet. Still the Bengals should be just fine and rebound to making the playoffs as this division is still very much in reach.

Playoff Chances – 90%

Week 1 – Dolphins 36 – 34

Week 2 – Titans 27 – 24

The Problem – This Defense is terrible. In week one they gave up over 500 yards of offense to the Dolphins and then followed it up by being outdone by a lowly Titans team with aging veterans. Now Ekeler is hurt and this is starting to feel like the same old Chargers. The injuries you can’t control, but this defense should not be this bad. There are to many stars and high profile players on that side of the ball to be consistently getting taken advantage of. A part of me is wanting to blame Brandon Staley and I may be justified there (he has definitely been holding them back in some respects) but he isn’t a defensive guy. No, this all falls on the Defensive Coordinator Derrick Ansley. Granted he has only been the coordinator for 2 games so I can’t blame him entirely. Still, you knew that you had to limit SOMEBODY on the Dolphins, and you didn’t even do that. Hill went for over 200 yards, and they had 5 other receivers with over 40 yards. The only reason they didn’t run the ball was cause it was a shootout. That just reeks of being unprepared and out of your depth.

The Solution – At this point there is nowhere to go but up on the defensive side. The offense is good enough to win and keep you in games. It honestly might be the highest-powered offense in the division from a talent perspective (Chiefs fans shudder). Just. Get. It. Right. Figure out how to be better prepared and if Ansley can’t do it, there may be a firing mid-season. Head coach could be gone too!(Finally).

Playoff Chances – 70%

Week 1 – Buccaneers 20 – 17 

Week 2 – Eagles 34 – 28 

The Problem – Much like the Chargers, the Vikings find themselves with a defensive issue. They stink. Unlike the Chargers, they have almost no young talent. In fact it could be argued that there talent is old and way past its prime. So how do you fix this mid-season? I don’t know that you do or can. This was an issue last year as well. The Vikings saw that they just didn’t have the defense to compete with good teams. Realizing this, they did what anybody would do. The doubled down on offensive pieces. Kirk Cousins has the best weapons he has ever had from top to bottom. Jordan Addison is looking like a solid number 2, T.J. Hockenson is leading the TE position in TD receptions, oh and don’t forget Justin Jefferson who is quietly over 300 yards through 2 games. Yet the Vikings are staring a 0-2 hole directly in the face. 

The Solution – Outside of sending draft picks for top end talent on bad teams (like a Chase Young from the Commanders?) and entering win now mode, there really isn’t a path forward to solve this problem. I don’t know if just one player solves their problem either. Realistically the only hope is to have the offense just score as much as possible every single game and just hope the other team can’t match you. They have the personnel to do it, but to be honest it is only going to get them so far in a weak NFC.

Playoff Chances – 50%

Week 1 – Eagles 25 – 20 

Week 2 – Dolphins 24 – 17

The Problem – This is a first on this list. It’s the offensive line. What was once viewed as a strength coming into the season has been turned into a murky bowl of uncertainty. Injuries and lack of continuity have rendered the O-line in New England into a border line if not flat-out liability. The running game has not gotten going even with returning 1000-yard guy Rhamondre Stevenson and aging Ezekiel Elliot in the back field. Couple this with costly errors on offense and stagnation from the lack of a true power in the wide receiver core and you got exactly what the Patriots are. An 0-2 football team. It doesn’t get any easier either as the Patriots had the hardest strength of schedule in the NFL this year.

The Solution – Get the O-line HEALTHY. Bring in some better depth, or just figure out a way to get these guys some time together. The good news is that Mac Jones looks like he is back to his confident ways. He is on pace for over 4000 yards and 30+ TDs, even with the O-line being what it is and the running game being non-existent. The defense is as advertised too (it is OUTSTANDING). Judon came out and said, “It looks bad, but this is not a bad team”. I tend to agree. Mac doubled down on that by saying “We are maybe 20 yards from being 2-0”. Can see that too. Unfortunately, a 0-2 hole with the hardest strength of schedule is not a place you want to be.

Playoff Chances – 40%

Week 1 – Packers 28 – 20 

Week 2 – Buccaneers 27 – 17 

The Problem – The Offense. A lot of people want to point at Justin Fields, and his decision making and ball security are definitely contributing to the Bear’s woes, but is it all his fault? The Bears loaded up on offense for Fields by giving him a number 1 in DJ Moore and combining him with everything else they already had (looking at Mooney and Kmet). That combined with Fields rushing ability was supposed to unlock this offense and send them to the top of what seemed like a wide-open NFC North. Since then, Fields has been sacked 10 times, fumbled the ball 3 times (losing 1) and thrown 3 picks all the while getting outplayed by Jordan Love and Baker Mayfield. 

The Solution – Get back to what made Fields dangerous in 2022. Clearly the offensive system employed is not working. Bears OC Luke Getsy has been blasted in the news by opposing defensive players stating, “We knew what they were going to run in certain situations”. All of this is giving off Matty P and J Judge vibes from the Patriots system a year ago. Learn from that mistake and do what is best for your QB, even if that means firing the OC mid-season and starting from scratch. Otherwise, the only solution is to look towards 2024.

Playoff Chances – 20%