As the season is starting to wrap up, I?m taking a look at a list of teams where the season ended in tragedy and find the silver lining. These teams worked really hard this season but unfortunately fell outside the playoffs and I?m using this moment to applaud their successes despite some bad luck.
Cleveland Browns
To start this list we travel to the crushed dreams of believeland and the Browns. The Browns started their season off the rails beginning the start of this season 1-4. The real transition began in week 9 with a victory over the ravens. In week 10 the Browns found their gameplan and continued the streak for 5 more weeks with notable wins vs the Jets and Patriots. Unfortunately their season was cut short after falling back into a losing streak and putting them outside the playoffs.
This should still be viewed as a step forward. There are enough talent to hold over until next year and key pieces on offense should make them competitors next season. The end of this season we saw offseason trades of Drew Brees and Ricky Williams starting to gel. They should be proud after two seasons of transition, this seems like the foundation to build on that the browns have been looking for.
St. Louis Rams
The Rams began this season after making a second appearance in the Super Bowl. The roster remained more or less the same, but with the additions of both WR Antonio Bryant and CB Bobby Taylor. I even predicted the Rams to make the superbowl for a third time. Though great additions and aging roster played into a slower secondary and the Rams found themselves in the bottom half of Pass Defense. Combined with mid-season injuries the 2nd half of the season was played without their star offensive players Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk and replaced with Lamar Gordon and Marc Bulger. And despite all the challenge the Rams remained competitive throughout the season.
I have faith the Rams will return to form next year. Warner is still young enough to have a few more seasons and the rest of the roster is strongly locked up in contracts. GM Justin Walstead will be looking to re-evaluate the defense in the offseason to see if he can patch some of the holes found in this year's defense.
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos had built some hype after last year?s run for the playoffs that was cut short. The Broncos had hit gold with 3rd round draft pick Anquian Boldin. The 2004 season was his best season yet. Leading WRs in yards. Unfortunately, after a promising start, an injury to Drew Bledsoe resulted in a 4 game losing streak. Only until Bledsoe was back on the field, the Broncos were back in the win column. Notable wins vs the Bengals, Texans and the Raiders, it wasn?t enough to compete in the division and in week 16 GM Tom Riddell had thrown in the towel. A disappointing moment in an otherwise competitive season. The Broncos hit some bad luck and kept pushing forward until the season was over.
The Broncos will look to transition their team next season. The big moves will be at defensive back where they could lose both CB Aaron Glenn, and CB Tyronne Drakeford. I?m interested to see how the Broncos transition this offseason, but I?m ready to predict a bounce back season.
Bears / Falcons / Vikings / Panthers
Someone has to go. Will predicted at the beginning of the season, someone with double digit wins will be outside the playoffs. All these teams have had fantastic seasons and its truly the most tragic season if they all win week 17 and someone misses the playoffs after securing 12 wins. But only one of these teams will face that reality.
If I had to guess, I will say the Sports Illustrated curse will come home and the Panthers will be the odd man out.
Before we praise all the playoff teams, let us take a moment to recognize the teams that worked hard, in some cases harder, than their divisional leaders Best of luck everyone that?s looking forward to the offseason.
And a quick reminder and heads up, we're looking forward to the next FNF show this saturday 10a PT. Look out this weekend for all the top notch analysis as we cover the playoff picture and wrap up the season.
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