Bleedin Green Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 We have just concluded Week 3 of the NFL season, and as early in the season as it still is, we are down to just 3 teams that still remain undefeated at 3-0. This is just one season after two teams made it undefeated for the first 14 weeks of the season. As if that wasn't enough, all three of the undefeated teams did not even make the playoffs just one season ago, and one was worse than the other. Last year the Steelers were defending Super Bowl champions and went 9-7 to miss the playoffs while two of their division rivals (Bengals and Ravens) both went. The currently stand at 3-0 despite not having their starting QB for even one game and being down to #4 on their QB depth chart. The Chicago Bears missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year after making it to the Super Bowl after the 2006 season while posting a losing record of 7-9. Like the Steelers, they also watched two of their division rivals go on to the playoffs (Vikings and Packers). Last year, the Bears made a big time trade for Jay Cutler, who proceeded to lead the league in interceptions thrown with 26. This year, Cutler has 6 TDs against 2 INTs through 3 games. Then there's the Kansas City Chiefs. What a disaster they were. The worst team in a rather unimpressive division, taking 4th place even behind the dreadful Oakland Raiders with a 4-12 record. This was their third consecutive season that they posted 4 or less wins in a season. Yet here we are in the 2010 season, and these are your only remaining undefeated teams. Every year we all seem to think parity is dead. While the stats always show how many playoff teams change per year, everyone always predicts almost the same exact bunch to go again with maybe one or two exceptions, and every year we see any team can seemingly come from nowhere and surprise. I can't believe there's only 3 undefeated teams after 3 weeks, but I REALLY can't believe these are the 3 teams. It seems parity is once again in full effect in the NFL this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irish Jet Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 I suspect by next week it will only be the Chiefs left, and that's because they have a bye. Their game after that? A trip to Indy. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BroadwayJ667 Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 to a degree. There are still some really bad teams in the league. The Lions, Bills, Jags, Panthers, Rams, and Browns. While there aren't as many undefeated teams, their talent level is vastly superior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbatesman Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 Revisit this in a month. Btw, I hate making bold predictions (especially about other teams) because I'm often spectacularly wrong, but the Bears are crap. Their three wins are over the Hill-led Lions, the full-disarray Cowboys, and now the crazy penalized/fluke-fumble Packers. They have a great QB and a great pass-rusher and some really good linebackers, and their schedule is easy enough that I could see them getting into the playoffs, but their secondary and OL are for sh*t and eventually it's going to catch up to them. Of course, I'll probably be wrong about this too, in which case people can feel free to bookmark it and pile on in January. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyper Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 Three weeks is far too small a sample to make any broad statements regarding parity. I think the past decade has put the parity argument to rest with a handful of teams consistently making playoff appearances and even more teams consistently stinking up the joint year after year. Pats, Colts, Steelers, Chargers, and Eagles have been consistent playoff teams and the Seahawks enjoyed a good run as well. A larger handful of teams have managed multiple playoff years but struggled to put things together year after year. This list is led by the Cowboys, Giants, Jaguars, Titans, Ravens, Bucs, Vikings, and Packers. Then you have your perennial losers like the Browns, Bills, Raiders, Rams, and Lions who consistently can be counted on to battle for positioning within the Top 10 of the NFL draft. The only real parity that exists in the NFL is in the NFC South where the Panthers, Falcons, Bucs, and Saints all seem to rotate between division champion and cellar-dweller. In fact, don't they have some sort of streak of worst-to-first division champions. Maybe it ended last season with the Saints but I believe it was something like six or seven straight seasons at one point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackout Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 last year Denver started 6-0 and missed the playoffs let's not jump the gun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetsfan80 Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 When all is said and done, I think the 0-3 49ers will find themselves in the postseason and the 3-0 Bears will be on the outside looking in. That's how crazy and unpredictable the NFL (particularly the NFC) has become. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashmouth Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 why must we see this parity discussion every year ? The league has its elite teams, its horrible teams, and it has its middle of the road teams same old same old. The same cast of characters will win alot of games ...the Colts the Saints the Cowboys the Steelers the Ravens The Pats with a few added this year in the Jets and probably the Eagles . Are any of the mentioned teams worried about the middle of the roaders ? Nope not really. They may get blindsided by a few but Im not seeing parity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleedin Green Posted September 28, 2010 Author Share Posted September 28, 2010 last year Denver started 6-0 and missed the playoffs let's not jump the gun Who's jumping the gun? I'm not sure you're getting the point here, the argument isn't that these 3-0 teams are any good or have any shot at making the playoffs, the point is 3 weeks into the season having only 3 undefeated teams is extremely low for the NFL. As you pointed out, Denver started 6-0, Indy started 14-0 and the Saints 13-0. That's a pretty significant difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashmouth Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 Who's jumping the gun? I'm not sure you're getting the point here, the argument isn't that these 3-0 teams are any good or have any shot at making the playoffs, the point is 3 weeks into the season having only 3 undefeated teams is extremely low for the NFL. As you pointed out, Denver started 6-0, Indy started 14-0 and the Saints 13-0. That's a pretty significant difference. so instead of 13-0 they will be 11-2 and instead of 14 - 0 they will be 12 -2 big deal its basicly the same thing elite is elite. Parity = no elite teams and thats not happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleedin Green Posted September 28, 2010 Author Share Posted September 28, 2010 why must we see this parity discussion every year ? The league has its elite teams, its horrible teams, and it has its middle of the road teams same old same old. The same cast of characters will win alot of games ...the Colts the Saints the Cowboys the Steelers the Ravens The Pats with a few added this year in the Jets and probably the Eagles . Are any of the mentioned teams worried about the middle of the roaders ? Nope not really. They may get blindsided by a few but Im not seeing parity. But this is the problem, people act like this is the case, but I don't see it. The Colts are the one team on that list that have consistently won a lot of games and made the playoffs every year. The Saints were a joke until Brees showed up and didn't make the playoffs or even post a winning record the two seasons prior to last year. The Cowboys won their first playoff game in over a decade last year and missed the playoffs the year before. They missed the playoffs 6 out of 9 times in the decade prior to last year. The Steelers have won 2 of the last 5 Super Bowls, and both times missed the playoffs the following season. The Ravens? Once they no longer had that all-time great 2000 defense, they were a mediocre team with a good defense and horrid offense for years until Flacco showed up. That was a whole 2 years ago. Outside of the Colts, the Patriots are probably the other team that perhaps breaks the mold, mostly for their 3 Super Bowl wins in 4 years, but even they missed the playoffs in that other year and again two seasons ago. Every year people try to pull of this line of BS about how obvious it is who the great teams are, except the list changes every year, so that doesn't really fly now does it? Just look at some of the teams that have made it to the Super Bowl just this past decade. The Rams, Bucs, Raiders, Panthers, Seahawks, Cardinals and even last years champion Saints. All teams who for part, if not most, of this decade have been considered jokes, but were also in the most important game of the year during that time period. While there are a couple of teams who are at the top of the league every year, they are very few and far between. And it seems each year that margin slims more and more. Consider that we're currently looking at just 3 undefeated teams this early in the year, at least 2 of which nobody expected to make the playoffs, and many still don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleedin Green Posted September 28, 2010 Author Share Posted September 28, 2010 so instead of 13-0 they will be 11-2 and instead of 14 - 0 they will be 12 -2 big deal its basicly the same thing elite is elite. Parity = no elite teams and thats not happening. Not necessarily, unless you only consider things in absolutes. Parity doesn't mean that every single team has to be 8-8. The fact is that while there may be an elite team here or there, there are VERY few that do it with any sort of consistency, as I was mentioning in my last post. Every single year some teams jump from worst to first and others fall from first to worst. About the only exception is those teams with HOF bound QBs, which is the only true parity-buster left in the NFL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoping4ASuperBowl Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 When all is said and done, I think the 0-3 49ers will find themselves in the postseason and the 3-0 Bears will be on the outside looking in. That's how crazy and unpredictable the NFL (particularly the NFC) has become. I'd put the Chiefs in that statement instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetsfan80 Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 I'd put the Chiefs in that statement instead. I like KC's chances out of the AFC West better than I like the Bears making it through the NFC North gauntlet unscathed. Yes, they're 2-0 in the division currently, but I think they'll end up 3-3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted September 29, 2010 Share Posted September 29, 2010 Parity is getting hurt by how much the bad teams have to pay players selected in the top five. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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