Tag: NFL Week 3

NFL Week 3 Awards: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce weren’t enough to keep the Bears on TV

The Bears are so awful that even Taylor Swift can’t keep attention on them.

The Chicago Bears continue to reach new levels of futility. And their descent into darkness doesn’t seem like it’s ending any time soon.

On a visit to the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, the Bears were, quite literally, ran off the field after a half. Matters grew so grim for Chicago that Fox decided to switch off their game (a nationally televised matchup!). Mind you, dear reader, this was a game that featured Taylor Swift (and her budding romance with Travis Kelce) as well as football’s best quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.

That’s right. The Bears — the NFL’s worst team — are so dreadful that the producers of a major American sports network decided they weren’t worth keeping on the TV for the sake of live shots of one of the world’s biggest music stars. Talk about an awkward situation for the league’s charter franchise, which has now lost 14 consecutive games dating back to 2022.

If Chicago loses three more games, they’ll be tied for the seventh-longest streak in NFL history since the NFL-AFL merger in 1966. If they lose six more games, they’ll be tied for the third-longest losing streak. And if they unthinkably lose out the rest of the season — 14 games! — they will be owners of the worst losing streak the league has seen in almost six decades.

Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling many network executives will want the Bears off TVs in the coming weeks. They’re just not worth the trouble right now.

Quick takeaways from the Lions win over the Falcons

Here are some of the top takeaways from watching Detroit’s Week 3 win, with notes on the defense, the rookies and more

That sound you may have heard around Detroit on Sunday afternoon was the sweet feeling of cathartic relief. Well, if you could hear that over the raucous Ford Field crowd cheering on the Lions to a resounding, 20-6 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

Battling both the visiting Falcons and a virulent injury bug, the Lions showed real grit. It was a showing the team sorely needed after a discouraging loss a week earlier to the Seattle Seahawks. The fans needed it, too.

Here are some of the top takeaways from watching Detroit’s Week 3 win in real time.

[lawrence-related id=96187]

3 big takeaways from Patriots’ 15-10 win over Jets

Here are 3 big takeaways from New England’s ugly win over the Jets

A win is a win, no matter how poor.

On a rainy Sunday afternoon in East Rutherford, N.J., the New England Patriots took on the New York Jets in a contest to determine last place in the AFC East.

The conditions determined the gameplay. Both teams combined for just over 500 total yards, and the Jets were limited to just 38 yards rushing between running backs Breece Hall and Dalvin Cook.

Ultimately, in the battle of strong defenses versus mediocre offenses, the Patriots prevailed 15-10, though not in a convincing fashion.

Here are 3 big takeaways from New England’s first win of the 2023 season.

Fox switched away from the Chiefs’ blowout to protect America from watching the Bears

The Bears got the plug pulled on them in a game that involved Patrick Mahomes and Taylor Swift.

For a moment, it felt like the Chicago Bears might have faint hope. They forced the Kansas City Chiefs to punt on their first possession, and maybe, this time, things would be different. Instead, the ceiling caved in on what might be the NFL’s worst team.

Kansas City cruised to an easy 34-0 first half, making the Bears look like a team that played in a completely different league. Justin Fields’ offense never quite got going. Matt Eberflus’ defense had positively no answer for Patrick Mahomes. And the Bears continued to flail around in a disaster season that was clearly already circling the drain. It got so bad through 30 minutes of play that Fox actually switched away from the game — one that involved Mahomes AND music megastar Taylor Swift — and which was originally a nationally televised contest.

After all, who could possibly want to continue watching the Bears bumble around hopelessly?

This is the state of the Bears in 2023. Even the major networks are giving up on their hopes, and it isn’t even October.

Studs and duds in Patriots’ nail-biting 15-10 win over Jets

Who were the studs and duds in the Patriots’ 15-10 win over the Jets?

A win is a win.

That appears to be the mindset for the New England Patriots after nearly blowing Sunday’s road game against the New York Jets.

The offense failed to close the game on multiple drives, leaving a last-minute opportunity in the hands of Jets quarterback Zach Wilson on a seemingly impossible Hail Mary throw that nearly ended in a touchdown.

Fortunately for the Patriots, the ball narrowly missed the awaiting hands of Randall Cobb, and the clock ticked to zero for a New England 15-10 victory. Patriots Twitter seemed a bit uneasy after the game with another tough matchup against the Dallas Cowboys slated for Week 4.

There were both good and bad moments on the field for the Patriots against the Jets. Let’s take a look at the studs and duds from their first win of the season.

Bears’ abysmal first half against the Chiefs had fans convinced they’re the NFL’s worst team

The Bears are hopeless and broken just three weeks into the 2023 season.

No one expected the Chicago Bears to upset the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. In fact, most probably expected the defending Super Bowl champions to cruise over one of the league’s worst teams. And even that feels like an understatement of how abysmal the Bears looked against the Chiefs in Kansas City.

In the first half, Chicago ran 22 offensive plays, scored zero points, and averaged 3.9 yards per play. The Chiefs, meanwhile, accumulated over 300 yards of offense and scored 34 points seemingly without breaking a sweat. And that is just one overarching indication of the chasm between what looks like the NFL’s worst team (the Bears) and a team that could repeat with another Super Bowl (the Chiefs):

Remarkable work by the Bears!

It’s just three weeks into the season, but the Bears are probably already in “tank for Caleb Williams or Drake Maye” territory with another potential No. 1 overall pick in April. They haven’t been remotely competitive and resemble a squad who has — for all intents and purposes — quit without a fight. This tough Chicago situation, as many NFL fans started to believe, probably won’t get much better any time soon.

The longest losing streak (between years) in NFL history is 26. These Bears, theoretically, could break that mark if they don’t win before the end of the season. It is that bad in Chicago.

Twitter reacts to Patriots’ narrow Week 3 victory over the Jets

Here’s how Patriots Twitter reacted to the Patriots’ 15-10 win over the Jets.

The New England Patriots defeated the New York Jets by a 15-10 score on Sunday.

It wasn’t pretty, but thanks to a big helping hand from the Patriots defense, quarterback Mac Jones and company got the job done in the end. Jones passed for 201 yards and a touchdown against a tough Jets defense.

Running the football was the theme on Sunday afternoon, especially in rainy conditions. Patriots running back Ezekiel Elliott carried the ball 16 times for 80 yards and helped pace the New England rushing attack.

For the Patriots overall, it was a day of inconsistencies. But a win is still a win. New England got their first victory of the season, as they look to stay afloat in a difficult AFC East division.

Patriots Twitter had fun with the victory, which marked the team’s 15th straight against the Jets.

Robert Saleh’s endorsement of Zach Wilson as the Jets’ starting QB couldn’t have been more hollow

There’s simply no way Robert Saleh actually believes in Zach Wilson.

After Aaron Rodgers’ devastating Achilles injury, the New York Jets were forced to turn to disappointing former top draft pick Zach Wilson. The results, at least thus far, have been predictably catastrophic.

In his first start in Rodgers’ absence, Wilson threw three picks in a blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Wilson wasn’t really much better in a winnable home game — on paper, anyway — against the division-rival New England Patriots on Sunday. Wilson was horrific, completing 18-of-36 passes for just 157 yards in a 15-10 defeat to help drop the Jets to 1-2. Anyone who had hoped adjacency to Aaron Rodgers during the offseason would’ve helped Wilson grow should be shelving those unrealistic thoughts now.

After the Jets sputtered about, head coach Robert Saleh was asked about keeping Wilson in as New York’s starter. While he didn’t tear Wilson down, Saleh’s answer couldn’t have possibly sounded less confident:

That does not sound like a coach who believes in his quarterback. In fact, the use of “right now” sounds like Saleh is just hoping New York finds someone else to salvage what is quickly resembling a lost 2023 season. Wilson is predictably sinking the Jets, and they’re running out of time and excuses.

Instant analysis: Patriots survive ugly 15-10 win over Jets

The Patriots pulled out an ugly road win over the Jets on Sunday.

The rains came and went just as quickly as the offense for the New England Patriots in Sunday’s ugly 15-10 victory over the New York Jets.

New England was held to only a field goal in the entire second half of a game that they almost handed to the Jets on a silver platter. For a third straight week, the offense failed to close with the ball in their hands.

Fortunately for the Patriots, their elite defense led by sack-monster Matthew Judon locked things down in the end to avoid a humiliating road loss and earn a 15th straight victory over the Jets.

However, that victory didn’t come without a big scare on a Hail Mary throw from Wilson that reached the end zone and nearly landed in the hands of Jets veteran receiver Randall Cobb.

The Patriots survived—but just barely.

It was mostly thanks to an incredible defensive effort, including this clutch safety sack by four-time Pro Bowl linebacker Judon. What else is new?

There are still concerns with the Patriots’ offensive line, which has mostly been banged up right out of the gates. The lack of explosiveness on the outside at receiver has also continued to show up.

JuJu Smith-Schuster hasn’t worked in the offense. He was targeted three times for five yards against the Jets. Meanwhile, Kendrick Bourne and DeVante Parker are savvy enough to make plays, but they aren’t the kind of elite playmakers that can consistently take a game over.

The Patriots had multiple opportunities to put points on the board or bleed the clock late in the game, and they constantly failed to do both.

This was a much-needed win for the team, but it’s hard to find optimism with a road trip to Cowboy Stadium to face a Dallas Cowboys team that looks like a legitimate Super Bowl contender next week.

Three games into the season, this Patriots team looks like it’s all defense and no offense.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Everything to know from Chargers’ nail-biting victory over Vikings

To recap the Chargers’ win over the Vikings, here is everything you need to know.

The Chargers picked up their first win of the season, defeating the Vikings in a game that came down to the wire.

To recap Week 3, here is everything you need to know: