Sunday, January 24, 2016

NFL '15 Dread News - Week 18

Cold? What cold?

Leave it to Bud Grant, coach of the Minnesota Vikings during their glory years in the late 1960's and early '70's, to provide the most hilarious moment of the first weekend of the playoffs (Jan. 9-10). Famous for not allowing a heater on the home team's sideline during cold weather games at old Metropolitan Stadium back in his day, Grant, now 88 years old and an honorary captain for the Vikings' game against the Seattle Seahawks, walked onto the field for the coin toss wearing a short sleeve shirt (photo on right). Oh, did I mention the gametime temperature was -6 degrees? A couple of days before the game a co-worker had asked me if Grant was still alive. And after seeing him on the field, I thought to myself that he might not be alive much longer after pulling a stunt like that. While Grant no doubt wasn't at all bothered by the frigid conditions - it was the 3rd coldest game in NFL history - no doubt all of the players were, even with all the hand warmers and heated benches and cold gear available nowadays. The cold stopped the Seahawks' offense cold; but it didn't matter - they were playing the Vikings. 

Throughout their history the Vikings have made an art form of the gut-wrenching playoff defeat; and they added another beauty to their collection, missing a chip-shot, 27-yard FG attempt with 22 seconds remaining in the game to allow the Seahawks to escape Minneapolis with a 10-9 victory.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

NFL '15 Dread News - Week 17

Where to start? .....
Well, how about we start my first full-fledged NFL report in nearly 2 years in the AFC West .....
When the Kansas City Chiefs began the season 1-5 while the Denver Broncos were going 6-0, I figured my preseason prediction of the Chiefs finishing in 1st place was already down the toilet. But, as Lee Corso would say, not so fast! The Chiefs hit a softer spot of their schedule; the Broncos, who seemingly were playing close games every week, finally started losing some of them; and wouldn't you know, when the two teams kicked off their respective home games at the same time last Sunday, the Chiefs were only one more Broncos loss away from stealing the division crown. And for a brief few minutes it looked like that loss might actually happen, as the last place and 9-point underdog San Diego Chargers took a 20-17 lead in the 4th quarter. But the Broncos didn't panic, came back and tied the game, and then scored a TD with 4:44 to play to win it 27-20, clinching not only the AFC West title but also the top seed in the AFC for the playoffs.