The first round of the 2024 NFL playoffs is over. The Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles were each exposed as frauds.
By Week 12, those three teams had a combined 26-7 record with their sights set on Super Bowl 58. None of them even took a step toward the big game; each lost by at least 16 points in their respective wild card matchups.
This wasn’t especially surprising. The Dolphins and Eagles each backed into the postseason. The Cowboys have made losing in the middle of January a rich franchise tradition. But their departures helped create a vacuum in the power rankings for rising teams like the Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers to fill.
Those peaking teams were still forced to wait in line behind the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers, two dominant teams with nothing to play for in Week 18 and no opponent last weekend. But after them? Well, there’s a certain pecking order when it comes to Super Bowl contenders.