The NFL season is a grind. A constant battle between competitors to see who has the endurance to outlast their opponents, while still producing at a high level. The teams that have the talent and drive to be the best will eventually outlast the competition and can enjoy the spoils of a job well done.
However, the grind isn’t limited to the football pitch; it also occurs in all football-related settings, such as the media rooms where the game is covered. Looking at the stuff that various media outlets create around this time of year makes this very clear. Some give in to the strain of a long season and begin cutting corners, while others persevere and produce a better product than when they began the season.
This week’s power rankings reflect that trend, with some media continuing to put out great effort to provide a high-caliber product while others are prewriting pieces and failing to update following games. Some people are rushing to release their product as soon as possible, taking short cuts in the process, and prioritising the quantity of articles written over their quality.
For instance: If you release your power rankings on Sunday night, before every game is played, and you haven’t seen them at all, how accurate are they? If you were able to watch every game, or at least the highlights, how did you decide to drop Detroit in your rankings after seeing the Lions destroy the Broncos?
Although I admit that I didn’t watch every game and that I’m not publishing a list of power rankings with my name
on it, I did watch the games of the teams that were usually ranked ahead of the Lions this week, and let’s just say that I didn’t agree with some of them.But I digress. At the end of Week 15, the Detroit Lions are 10-4 on the season, have a three game lead over the Vikings in the NFC North (with three games remaining), currently sit at the No. 3 seed in NFC, and have a 99% chance of making the playoffs.
