This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Goooood morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Hope you had a fantastic weekend.
The Super Bowl rematch that everyone thought felt so absolute in the first few weeks of the NFL season seems to be on some pretty shaky ground right now. Both the Chiefs and Eagles are struggling mightily today.
On one side, the Eagles just got boat raced for the second consecutive week in a row by their competition atop the NFC. Philadelphia has given up 75 points total to the 49ers and Cowboys in consecutive weeks.
Sunday night’s game could’ve been closer had the Eagles’ receivers hauled in some tough catches, as our Christian D’Andrea points out in his weekly best-worst column. But Philadelphia also fumbled the ball three times and lost all three. The Eagles haven’t looked like contenders in weeks.
Then, on the other side, we’ve got the Chiefs who just can’t seem to get the receivers to cooperate. Every week, it feels like there’s some play they’re failing to make that should be easy money.
On Sunday, the Chiefs actually did make the play — Travis Kelce had the genius idea of throwing Kadarius Toney an unscheduled lateral down the field that allowed him to walk in for a touchdown. The only problem was the play got negated because Toney lined up offside.
Patrick Mahomes was heated. He took his frustration out on the officials and also got a bit dramatic about it. We know who he was really mad at. It’s Toney and the Chiefs’ group of receivers holding the team back. Now the Chiefs are just a single game ahead of the Denver Broncos (!!!!!) for the division lead.
The path back to the Super Bowl is never an easy one. But you wouldn’t think these teams would struggle so mightily to get to that point.
Things can change. The season certainly isn’t over. But if you’ve got money on a Super Bowl rematch, you should probably prepare to sweat quite a bit.
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A big weekend for the James family
On Saturday, LeBron James and the Lakers won the NBA’s first ever In-Season Tournament. James was also named the MVP after an impressive undefeated run.
But I guarantee you none of that mattered more than Bronny James making his debut for USC against Long Beach State on Sunday. James was cleared to practice a couple of weeks ago for the first time since the cardiac arrest he suffered over the summer.
James Jr. came off the bench for USC in a loss, but he still made an impact with four points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in just 16 minutes.
Doesn’t he remind you of someone here?
BRONNY BLOCK. 🔥🔥🔥
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) December 10, 2023
Being there for Bronny was LeBron’s priority this weekend. He told his teammates that if his son’s debut was on the same day the Lakers played, he’d have to miss the game. After all their family has been through, no one could blame him.
Luckily, it didn’t come down to that. James won the In-Season Tournament on one night and went to watch his son play the next day. It all worked out.
Ban the NFC South
There have been some terrible division winners in the NFL over the years, to be sure. It happens, man. Everyone isn’t always good.
But this year’s NFC South is so bad, y’all. Like, outrageously bad. It makes no sense how bad they are. The four AFC teams who are currently out of the playoff picture at 7-6 would be division leaders in the NFC South. That’s how bad this thing is.
It doesn’t feel like anyone actually wants to win this division, our Robert Zeglinski writes in his weekly awards column.
“None of these four teams are exceptionally talented or rife with young difference-makers. They are all mediocre underachievers who are woefully underprepared for the rigors of 2023 NFL football. But when we boil this down, the entire NFC South has the worst mix of quarterback and coaching with each participating team of anyone in the league. Bar none. That is the reason why this division will push forward a squad almost certainly not worthy of the playoffs in January. That is the reason why the football this group provides is usually of an atrocious, unwatchable quality that puts people to sleep.
It’s a shame, to be sure. Because when we have this sort of “dud” division, it makes you wonder whether anyone even wants to win the NFC South. Though, I guess that’s likened more to confirmation bias after watching any of the Buccaneers, Falcons, Saints, or Panthers attempt to play football.”
It’s a race to see who can suck the least and get a home playoff game. What fun, NFL.
READ MORE: Check out the full NFL awards column here
Quick hits: Was Von Miller offsides too? … A response for DK Metcalf … and more
— An offside penalty from the Chiefs completely wiped out a touchdown. But it looks like Von Miller may have lined up offsides the very next play and it wasn’t called. Prince Grimes has more.
— The 49ers long-snapper has a NSFW message for DK Metcalf … in sign language. Here’s Charles Curtis with more.
— The Vikings-Raiders matchup from Sunday might legitimately be the worst game ever. Robert Zeglinski has more.
— Here’s Christian D’Andrea with the worst QB performances from Sunday.
— You should also check out Christian’s best-and-worst everything column from here.
— Here are 8 photos of Taylor Swift watching a close one between the Chiefs and Bills. She’s just like us fr. Caroline Darney has more.
That’s all, folks! Thanks so much for reading TMW today. Let’s chat again tomorrow. Until then! We out. Peace.
-Sykes✌️