Best of The Herd

Best of The Herd, Tuesday energy from Chicago, and I’m opening with a pat on the back: Aaron Rodgers just took a tone‑deaf Pittsburgh offense and made it functional, especially in the red zone, but it still feels like Groundhog Day—stopgap quarterback, aging stars, mid‑round draft slot, and a franchise that celebrates winning records and Monday nights instead of January wins.

We love the Monday night stage, got the job done our way, a lot of guys contributed, and if you’re asking about December form, keep watching.

Kansas City missing the playoffs for the first time in a long time is healthy shock therapy; three years of middling offense says this isn’t a tweak but a real rebuild, and in a league where forty percent make the postseason, if you can’t get in, take the boat back to port and fix it.

Belichick once hit reset, stripped the building of trophy talk, and restarted the program, then the draft heater followed.

Miami and Tua are a separate problem—small quarterbacks fade fast, and he looks like a backup now—while Pittsburgh’s consultant‑level fixes won’t solve their structural spending habits.

Herd Hierarchy time: the Packers are out due to injuries, and at the top I’ve got the Rams, then Denver, Houston, Chicago, New England, Seattle, San Francisco, Buffalo, Jacksonville, and Philadelphia, with the theme being physical fronts, dependable coaching, and real January traits over pretty box scores.

I’m with you on a lot, especially the Niners being quietly excellent and scary, and while Houston might be a touch high, they’re dangerous; my beef is Buffalo should be above New England because the Bills’ run game plus Josh Allen makes them more trustworthy right now, and I’m not sure Philly fixed anything beyond beating the Raiders.

Head‑to‑head isn’t everything, but across two games New England controlled most of the minutes, I prefer their coaching, and injuries on the Pats’ left side swung the second half more than anything Buffalo did.

On Caleb Williams, I’ll live with the messy misses if the jaw‑droppers keep coming—he’s Beethoven at the piano, and the downfield magic outweighs a lower completion rate.

Month to month he’s tightened the layups while keeping the fireworks, and though the worst throws can be wild, the best are as good as anyone’s; pair that with a punishing run game and a sharp staff in cold weather, and Chicago becomes a nasty postseason draw.

If you’re in on Caleb, you have to admit Bo Nix is turning a corner too, and Sean Payton saw it early—he’s far more athletic than people gave him credit for.

Easy on the Steve Young comp, but it’s fair to say his last month produced the best stretch of his career and he’s not blinking in big spots; my gut still says the quarterback is Denver’s weak link, yet he and Payton have a real chance to make skeptics, me included, eat it.

Back to the Chiefs: missing the dance is a needed reset, and I think they need a rebuild and a true fourth star, not cosmetic fixes.

This season’s a failure and we’ll see how much Mahomes was holding together when he’s out, but I still see major tweaks over a teardown—offensive line pieces are in place, young wideouts must develop, they need a second pass rusher, and with a likely top‑ten pick and softer schedule the next chapter can ramp right back up.

Call it chapters if you want—new information matters, and Bo Nix looked rough a month ago but, right now, he looks pretty great.