UPSETS : THEY ALMOST NEVER HAPPEN

SPEED OF LIGHTNING, ROAR OF THUNDER

FIGHTING ALL WHO ROB OR PLUNDER

OOO-OOO-OOO-OOO- UNDERDOG!!

UNDERDOG!

Ever wish your bottom feeder team would get up off the soggy mat and clobber some snotty winner, just ONCE?  It happens, right?  Just not to our team? 

Think again. In this entire NFL season, there has been 1 victory by a team that was 3 games under .500 over a team three games over .500, the Doormat yardstick for a blockbuster upset.  And it barely counts:  New York Giants (1-8 at the time) over the Kansas City Chiefs (6-3),  12 to 9.  The Chiefs were playing so bad, with one victory over the bumbling Broncos in a 6 game stretch, it's hard to give this one to the Giants, but give it we must.  

There have been, in fact, only a few games of 'upsets' with teams 2 games over .500 and two games under.  Last night (Monday, Dec. 11th), the Fins were 5-7, and the Pats were 10-2. This is the biggest upset of the year, by this reckoning, plus the actual quality level of the Pats at the time of game. It's the biggest upset of the year, period.

However, some early season victories sure look a lot bigger in retrospect, with the Week 2 victory by Washington, 27-20, over the Rams the prime example.  They were even back then, but now, it meets out criteria for 3 up and 3 down.  The Redskins, by the way, almost never beat the spread nor stage an upset, so this one is huge...except, at the time, we didn't really know that.  So, the emotional bang was not there.  So, we have to stick with 2 up 2 down, and 3 up 3 down, and give some respect to early season games, because the 'setup' for an upset isn't as firmly established.  Now, if the Browns had beaten the Steelers or the Pats, even in game 1, that would be an upset, because you are picking up from last season's records and expectations.  More on that later.

Other 2up 2down upsets, with teams records at the time before the game, and the score:

Week 6
Giants (0-5)   23
Broncos (3-1)  10
Hardly counts now, with the Broncos completely tanking after this loss for an 8 game losing streak, but, at the time, it was kinda huge.

Week 7
Raiders (2-4)  31
Chiefs (5-1)    30
[This game was, in fact, the second loss in the Chiefs 1-6 slide, which ended by thrashing these same Raiders in Week 14. ] 

Bears  (2-4)     17
Panthers (4-2)  3 
[this one absolutely counts in the 2up 2down category] 

Week 9
Jets (3-5)   34
Bills (5-2)  21
Neither of these teams have you shaking in your boots, but it does qualify according to records.

Week 11   3up 3down game
Giants (1-8)   12
Chiefs (6-3)    9

I think that's it, sports fans.  So, you know, upsets-  savor them.  

But there is a different kind of upset- the season turn around.  When your long-downtrodden team finally gets an offensive line and some linebackers who scare people (in the darkness of the video review room, way before kickoff), and you start beating all the teams that have been pummeling you every Sunday, for years.  So, Rams fans, all the victories, early in the season, feel like upsets.  Until you get past mid-season, it's all upsets to you, even though, really, your team is favored to win by this point.  So, in that spirit, we have to call the Los Angeles Rams and the Jacksonville Jaguars 'upset' teams, as they are, improbably, leaving the Basement...for at least one season.  The Chargers, also, are toying with shedding the mold.  The Titans are just trying to not return to bad.

Our Adios Bro-Cha-Cho teams, with their current record and last year (and maybe the year before)
           
                2017             2016           2015          2014
Rams      9-4                4-12           7-9              6-10
Jags        9-4                3-13           5-11            3-13
LAC        7-6                 5-11           4-12           9-7
Titans      8-5                9-7             3-13           2-14

The Titans were 9-7 last year, so this year is all about not falling back into the Moldy Carpet.  
So far, they are doing it.  3 games to go, the worst they can finish is 8-8.  the Chargers are in a much more tenuous position, and are not safe yet.  Big huge insane game against the Chiefs this week, and I bet they put up a better fight than the Raiders did last Sunday.  

All right, that'll do it for todays Underdogs.  

When in this world the headlines read
Of those whose hearts are filled with greed
Who rob and steal from those who need
To right this wrong with blinding speed
Goes Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! Underdog!


-wacko