The business of the NFL Playoffs is on the mind of many sports fans right now, so there will be plenty of time to analyze the entire season after Super Bowl LIX. Yet, for many teams, the autopsy started when the regular season ended on January 5. They’ll look back at what went wrong and plan to hopefully get it right in 2025.
While teams like the Chiefs, Lions, and Eagles were backed in the Super Bowl odds throughout the season and into the Playoffs, things didn’t go as planned for others. Many fans will be thinking of what might have been. In light of that, we present some What Ifs for the season that has just gone by. Some are mere tweaks and plausible, whereas others are more fanciful.
What If Sam Darnold Had Brought His Regular Season Form to the Playoffs
Nobody expected the Minnesota Vikings to win 14 games, and nobody expected the man to lead them to those wins with such style as Sam Darnold. The quarterback deservedly got his Pro Bowl honors this season, but he dropped the ball (literally in some cases) in his last two games: the Week 18 hammering at the hands of the Detroit Lions and the Wild Card loss to the Rams. It would have been a different story if we had seen the type of play from Darnold and the Vikings that we did throughout the regular season.
What If Things Had Gone Right for the Jets and Aaron Rodgers?
The Jets have the longest playoff drought in the NFL, clocking in at a historically bad 14 seasons and counting.
As such, you can blame the Jets hierarchy for taking a gamble and take a gamble they did on Aaron Rodgers. Nobody doubts Rodgers’ place in the pantheon of modern greats, but it was always going be a risky strategy. Rodgers could have rolled back the years in another universe and let the Jets out of the wilderness.
What if the Bears Didn’t Get a Bye Week?
We know, of course, that we cannot put the Bears’ shoddy form down to a week’s rest in late October, but the team that went into Week 7 with a 4-2 record looked markedly different from the team that emerged and reeled off 10 (count ‘em) losses in a row. There were high hopes for the Bears in the fall, with many fans holding Playoff ambitions. The Chicago Sun-Times speculated it might have been the worst Bears season ever. It was that bad. Now it’s back to the drawing board.
What if the Regular Season Was a Little Longer for Lamar Jackson?
By around mid-way through the regular season, there was consensus that Josh Allen was the clear frontrunner for the MVP award, and with good reason.
Yet, the best player at the back end of the regular season was Lamar Jackson. He and the Ravens caught fire en route to securing their place in the Playoffs. Had the football season been just a little longer, the voting would be much closer. He still has a chance, though.
What if the Bengals Had a Defense?
The Cincinnati Bengals had a blistering end to the regular season, reeling off five wins in a row and picking off some decent teams like the Steelers and Broncos. Yet, the damage was done with the 1-4 start. The problem was not offense, as the Bengals tended to score highly in most games, but defense was shoddy. They ended up with a winning record, but the fact they conceded more points than weak teams like the Patriots and the Jets shows you where the problem was.
