Best of The Ben Maller Show

Late night or early morning, depending where you are, I came bearing gifts. Not just my sketchy audio, I brought a list. I know Ben shrugs off lists; I’ll lean in. If you’re used to grape or strawberry, I might taste like apricot jam, but give it a shot.

What sparked the list? Watching the Chiefs’ strange season with Mahomes up in a box, the backup’s backup grinding through a rough first start, and thinking, this is not how anyone drew it up. Add the Lions’ slide on Christmas, and I had to rank the biggest team surprises, good and bad, all in one pot.

So what made the cut? Jacksonville turned a 4 and 3 start and a London beatdown into seven wins in eight, which no one saw coming. Seattle’s somehow tracking for the top seed with a sputtering run game and Sam Darnold’s roller coaster, capped by that bonkers two-point sequence to beat the Rams. The Bears keep living on the edge, six wins snatched in the final two minutes, including an onside miracle and a fourth-and-goal strike against Green Bay. The Lions went from eight and five and feeling safe to three straight losses and out. And number one, the shocker is Kansas City: a losing record with Mahomes starting fourteen, undone by self-inflicted messes and crucial drops in gotta-have-it drives.

Why the Chiefs over the Bears? Because this team used to capitalize on your mistakes, not their own. No one would have believed a preseason script where Mahomes stays upright most of the year and they still stumble out of the playoffs. That’s the jaw-dropper.

Phones are open if you want to fight me on apricot jam or the list. I’ve also got a movie note and a commercial that surprised me for how a player leaned into his own bad optics. We’ll circle back.

Quick reset with a dose of reality. Lamar’s back bruise looked like a day-to-day thing, but he missed practice, was the only Raven not out there midweek, and now he’s doubtful for Saturday at Green Bay. They have to win to stay alive and then need Pittsburgh to lose to Cleveland. That’s where skipping the second half in New England really bites.

Why am I stuck on this? Because even a limited Lamar changes how a defense plays. Huntley dinked and dunked to an eleven-point lead, sure, but Jackson’s presence can widen that margin or calm a storm. With the season on the line, sitting for a bruise is impossible to defend when plenty of quarterbacks would tape it, grit it, and go.

There’s precedent. Peyton in the ’06 title game jammed his throwing thumb, debated coming out, and Jeff Saturday basically told him to gut it out. He stayed, they advanced, and that mindset matters. Compare that with T. J. Watt pushing to play after a procedure on a partially collapsed lung, while Lamar is doubtful with a bruise. It’s a stark contrast.

On a lighter note, Malik Nabers did an IHOP spot clowning himself for wrecking some fantasy seasons. I love that. It’s real. That’s the opposite of a polished “Last Dance” style doc where the star controls the story. Give me the warts-and-all version someday, where the subject has full control and still lets the messy parts breathe.

Lines are lit at 877-99 on Fox. We’ll get to your takes and a likely farewell, a last-dance vibe for a brilliant player. Keep it locked.