It is Sunday evening, November 17th. I am watching the Los Angeles Chargers vs the Cincinnati Bengals. The Chargers are pummeling the Bengals 27-6 at the 10-minute mark of the 3rd Quarter. During halftime, the talking heads were talking about how first year coach Jim Harbaugh has already built a contender with the Harbaugh formula: a strong defense and an offense built on a solid running game. This is the first time I have really watched the Chargers this season and I am duly impressed.
Talk about being impressed, how about the Detroit Lions. I watched them destroy the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars 52-6. The led 28-6 at the half and had almost 300 yards of offense at that point. The Lions head coach, Dan Campbell, believes in a dominant defense and a balanced offense. They are on a tear and everyone using the words “Super Bowl” when talking about this Lions team. They ended up with 655 yards of offense.
At the 2:53 mark of the 3rd Quarter, the Bengals have scored two unanswered touchdowns and have closed the gap vs the Chargers to 27-20. It is a new ballgame at So-Fi Stadium.
After beating the Rams in game 1 and then losing to the Buccaneers in game 2, the Lions have been on a 9-0 tear and seem to get stronger each game. Per Google, “Detroit is now the third team in the Super Bowl era with three wins of 35-plus points in their first 10 games of a season.”
On March 17, 2021, the Lions traded QB Matthew Stafford to the LA Rams for Jared Goff. When Stafford lead the Rams to victory in Super Bowl LVI and Lions were 3-13, it seemed to the world that Rams got the better of that trade. Kudos to Dan Campbell and staff for creating an offense that played into Goss’s strength. He fits well and is thriving in the team-oriented scheme of the Lions.
With 8:19 left in the game, the Chargers and Bengals are tied at 27-27.
Speaking of Jim Harbaugh, let’s talk some about the Wolverines, the University of Michigan football team, he took to the National Championship last year and then left to become the Chargers head coach. Last season was magical in the run to the National Championship. I will forever be a Harbaugh fan and admirer for building that amazing team. I wish he had stayed at Michigan, but don’t blame him for moving back to the NFL. He had to follow his dreams and make sound economic moves for himself.
I am a wee bit miffed that he left the cupboard bare and pipeline empty for his beloved Wolverines. Michigan lost 16 starters from the championship team. They lost 10 on offense including the entire starting offense line, quarterback JJ McCarthy, and running back Blake Corum. The only returning starter is tight end Colstan Loveland. On defense, they lost 6 starters. As I mentioned, the pipeline was also empty. Teams like Alabama and Ohio State have traditionally had a pipeline of good players coming in so they really never had a rebuilding year but rather they would reload every year. With the coaching change happening after the National Championship game on January 8, the new head coach, Sherrone Moore, was late coming to the portal.
As a result of losing 16 starters, it is no surprise that Michigan is 5-5 thus far this season and 3-4 in the Big Ten. They have lost to Texas, Washington, Illinois, Oregon, and Indiana. Two games remain on the schedule: Northwestern and then Ohio State. Last year’s National Champions need to win one of these last two games to be bowl eligible. The easier opponent is the 4 and 6 Northwestern Wildcats. While it seems unlikely, the season would be salvaged if we could beat the second ranked Buckeyes in Columbus.
Harbaugh’s Chargers were up 24-6 at half time. They got a field goal at the 10:29 mark of the 3rd Quarter to go up 27-6. The Bengals then scored 21 unanswered points to tie the game. The Chargers came back to life and shut down the Bengal offense and scored a winning touchdown with 18 seconds left in the game to win 34-27.
Go Blue! Go Lions! Go Chargers!
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