NFL power rankings, Browns ineptitude and more

The NFL is full of bad teams this year, but none compare to the Cleveland Browns, who have a real chance of going 0-16.

This season has not been one of great teams. The NFC is loaded in terms of good records, but nobody is confusing the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers of the 1990s.

Still, for all the parity and/or mediocrity that 2017 has presented us, nobody challenges ineptitude and unwatchability quite like the Browns.

Cleveland continued its quest for the ultimate embarrassment on Sunday, losing 30-16 to the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. With the defeat, the Browns were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Since coming back into the NFL in 1999, Cleveland has been to the playoffs once (2002) and are still looking for a postseason win.

The Browns had three first-round picks this spring, and used them on Myles Garrett, David Njoku and Jabrill Peppers. Their second-round pick, quarterback DeShone Kizer, looked terrific in the preseason.

Garrett has been excellent when healthy, racking up five sacks in six games. Unfortunately, the other two rookies have been underwhelming. Njoku has 24 catches for 258 yards while Peppers has been poor in coverage, failing to make a mark on defense or special teams.

As for Kizer, he has yo-yoed between starting, sitting and defending himself in press conferences. The former Notre Dame star has looked bewildered throughout, tossing five touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He’s completed less than 55 percent of his throws as well, putting him in Brock Osweiler territory.

This season was supposed to be different in Cleveland. Many believed the Browns could win a half-dozen games and make real strides. Hue Jackson went 1-15 in his first voyage as Browns head coach, but both he and general manager Sashi Brown got passes while the team tore itself down once more.

After this debacle, both Jackson, Brown and the rest of the organization’s upper crust should be shown the door. Jackson has done nothing but vacillate between quarterbacks, giving the Browns no chance to establish an identity.

Cleveland’s drafts also have the appearance of an epic disaster over the past two years. Joe Schobert is leading the team with 88 tackles and Emmanuel Ogbah is a solid pass rusher, but that’s all the Browns have to show for a 2016 class that went 14 selections deep. This year is obviously too early to call, but early returns aren’t promising outside of the slam dunk that was Garrett.

Another full-scale rebuild is the last thing Browns fans want to see, but it needs to happen. The combination of Brown and Jackson is a rudderless one, and while stability is a prerequisite to success in life and sports, neither will happen in Cleveland behind this clueless braintrust.

Power rankings

Top 10 defensive duos in the NFL

1. Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram – Los Angeles Chargers
2. J.J. Watt, Whitney Mercilus – Houston Texans
3. Justin Houston, Eric Berry – Kansas City Chiefs
4. Calais Campbell, Jalen Ramsey – Jacksonville Jaguars
5. Von Miller, Chris Harris – Denver Broncos
6. Earl Thomas, Bobby Wagner – Seattle Seahawks
7. Patrick Peterson, Tyrann Mathieu – Arizona Cardinals
8. Everson Griffen, Harrison Smith – Minnesota Vikings
9. Sean Lee, DeMarcus Lawrence – Dallas Cowboys
10. Adrian Clayborn, Desmond Trufant – Atlanta Falcons

Quotable

With Alex Smith in the lineup, Kansas City is hopeless. Patrick Mahomes may or may not be ready, but if the Chiefs want any chance of being more than a cratering footnote, the time is now.

Podcast

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Random stat

The New York Giants an Baltimore Colts played the first overtime in NFL history. It came in the 1958 NFL Championship Game, with the Colts winning 23-17 on an Alan Ameche touchdown run over the right side.

Info learned this week

1. Contenders separating from the pack

The Philadelphia Eagles continue to look like the best team the NFL has to offer, crushing the Chicago Bears by a 31-3 margin. It wasn’t even that close. Philadelphia is rolling to an NFC East title, needing only one more win to salt it away.

The rest of the NFC also showed up. The Vikings continue to look like a real contender with Case Keenum and a punishing defense, while the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints both look like they could do real damage in January. The Carolina Panthers can’t be forgotten, either, having improved to 8-3 with a wild win over the New York Jets.

Meanwhile, the AFC saw another pair of dominant performances from the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots, who can all but start playing the conference title game right now. The rest of the AFC is a mess, with the Chiefs in free fall and the Jaguars stuck with Blake Bortles under center. The Tennessee Titans aren’t in much better shape with Marcus Mariota, who has nine touchdowns and 12 INTs on the year.

At this point, the race for the final AFC wild card spot is the most exciting thing it has going on, with the Buffalo Bills (6-5), Baltimore Ravens (5-5), Chargers (5-6), Cincinnati Bengals (5-6) and Oakland Raiders (5-6) battling it out.

2. Paxton Lynch looks lost against Raiders

The Broncos might have the worst quarterback situation in the league. After benching both Trevor Siemian and Brock Osweiler, Denver went to 2016 first-round pick Paxton Lynch. The results were both painful and ugly.

Lynch completed 9-of-14 for 41 yards to go with an end-zone interception against the Oakland Raiders. Before that theft, the Raiders didn’t have a single interception on the year. In the third quarter, Lynch exited with an ankle injury, replaced by Siemian. When Lynch was pulled, the Broncos trailed 21-0 and looked impossibly lost offensively.

Denver has to figure out its stance on Lynch moving forward. With two years left on his rookie deal (three with an option), the Broncos can attempt to keep developing Lynch or go to either free agency or the draft for a replacement.

3. Cowboys, Chargers going opposite directions

The Los Angeles Chargers lit up the Dallas Cowboys something fierce on Thanksgiving, putting both teams on opposite tracks.

At 5-6, Dallas is all but finished in the hyper-competitive NFC playoff race. The Cowboys have been utterly lost without Ezekiel Elliott and Sean Lee, going 0-3 in that stretch. Meanwhile, the Chargers have more than a little life in the AFC. Los Angeles is 5-6 and while it remains behind the Kansas City Chiefs in the West, a wild card berth is very much up for grabs.

If the Chargers were to make the postseason, they would be a very dangerous team. Philip Rivers is playing terrific ball, and the combination of Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram — with 19 sacks between them — is the best pass-rushing duo in the league.

4. Lions wasting peak Matthew Stafford years

Stafford might be the most underrated players of the era. The Lions have been up and down throughout his tenure, never winning a playoff game and often failing to field a competent supporting cast. Still, Stafford has thrown for 5,000 yards in a season and helped Detroit make three postseason appearances without a running game or head coach to speak of.

This year, Stafford has 3,010 yards and 21 touchdowns. He’s been the driving force behind Detroit’s offense, but none of it seems to be enough for the Lions to make the playoffs following a 30-23 loss to the Vikings on Thanksgiving. It’s a shame, because Stafford is fantastic, and so very few actually get to see it.

5. Dolphins, Buccaneers have to rank among most disappointing

Going into the season, most believed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were a playoff team. The Miami Dolphins, coming off a 10-win playoff-bound campaign, were also expected to compete for a postseason berth.

Instead, both are 4-7 and have started four quarterbacks between them. The Dolphins could be forgiven considering the season-ending torn ACL sustained by Ryan Tannehill this summer, but the Buccaneers have no excuse. They have been rancid from jump street, continuing to watch Jameis Winston stagnate when he plays.

It’s worth monitoring the situations of both Dirk Koetter and Adam Gase, who could be getting their pink slips come New Year’s Day.

History lesson

Everybody knows that Vince Lombardi is one of the great coaches of all time. In Green Bay, Lombardi turned a sad-sack franchise into a five-time champion during his nine years on the job.

What many forget is his one year with the Washington Redskins. In 1969, Lombardi was named head coach and general manager of the Redskins, a team that hadn’t earned a winning record since 1955. In his one and only season in the nation’s capital, Lombardi turned Washington into a winner, going 7-5-2. Unfortunately, Lombardi became ill with colon cancer and passed in Sept. 1970 at age 57.

Parting shot

Todd Bowles might lose his job at the end of the year, but he shouldn’t. Yes. the New York Jets are 4-7 and not reaching the playoffs for the third time in as many years Bowles has been on the job. Still, he has been done no favors by a front office that gave him Ryan Fitzpatrick, Geno Smith, Bryce Petty, Christian Hackenberg and Josh McCown as quarterback options.

The Jets owe Bowles one season with a decent roster. Clearly, New York hasn’t quit on Bowles with a talentless roster somehow winning four games. If the players are willing to follow Bowles, the Jets should give him a shot to prove what he can do when the deck isn’t stacked completely against him.