NFL Week 9 Recap: Those Three Little Words

Today's NFL recap is brought to you by the letters M, V, and P, and by the number 10.

Yes, we need to have that talk, and I'll just be blunt. Jordan Love should be considered for league MVP. The Packers, over a week after a home win over the Panthers, went to Foxboro to face the Patriots in a week where the entire NFC North was spread into different slots. Pats had the ball first, but Drake Maye threw a pick, because of course he did. Packers reached the red zone, and Love ran it in himself. 13 yards. Packers struck first, then struck again, and again, and again. The Green Bay Packers did an amazing imitation of the New York Yankees--by owning Boston.

Packers won it, 45-27, and regarding Love, 372 yards, three scores, ran one in. Mind you, he's doing this with a depleted running game, though we actually had 100+ rushing yards for the first time all year. Also, Micah Parsons? Still out. Oh, and Love's leading the league in passing yards. If that doesn't scream MVP, then I don't know what does. Or you can overrate Drake Maye, who threw three INTs in the first half--yet again.

So what happened elsewhere in the NFC North? Well, the Lions defeated the Dolphins, because of course they did, but the team sputtered during the entire game. The Bears committed five turnovers, yet won on Sunday Night Football, and on Monday Night Football, the Vikings, fresh off their first loss of the season, hosted the Buffalo Bills. It started slow on both sides, but the Bills picked it up. Josh Allen did just enough, as did James Cook III, and the Bills won it, 23-6! So the Vikings have now lost back-to-back games, and are the only NFC North team to lose this week.

As a result:

With the regular season half over, the Bears are now in first place in the NFC North at 7-2. The Lions and Vikings have identical 6-2 records, but thanks to the result of their Week 8 meeting, it's the Lions in second place, while the Vikings slipped from first place to third place in just two weeks. The Packers are still bringing up the rear at 6-3; we have to be the greatest last place team in NFL history. The entire division is above the playoff line with nine weeks to go. And it's amazing, the Bears are leading the division, but they have the worst division record so far: 0-2 in division play. The Bears are on bye next week, the Lions will be in Munich facing the Patriots, and the Vikings and Packers face each other at Lambeau.

What started out as a "dream team" season for the Rams has turned into a "good news, bad news" campaign. The good news was plentiful. Myles Garrett was back. He and Aaron Donald were playing together for the first time all year. Garrett got his share of sacks, and the Rams won, 20-13, over the sputtering Commanders. For the first time all season, the Rams are over .500 at 5-4. Good news all around. But then the bad news came in. Puka Nacua's injured again, and this time, he's likely going on injured reserve. This means that for the next month, the Rams will be without both of their top WRs, as Davante Adams has been on IR for weeks.

The rest of the early window saw the Giants win a very ugly game against the Eagles, 19-11, the G-Men's first win in Philly in over a decade. The Giants are now 5-2-1 and are in total control of the NFC East for the most part, having won two of the last three since that crazy tie against Washington. As for Philly, they've lost seven straight, and again, they have no one to blame but themselves for this. The Cowboys, however, barely edged a Colts team who is dead and selling at bargain prices, and honestly, even in victory, I find my trust in the Cowboys decreasing very fast. They should have a chance of winning the East, but the way they're playing says otherwise. Also, the Chiefs totally dominated the Jets, despite Mahomes being injured and Harrison Butker being too busy running the "He-Man Woman Haters Club" to make kicks accurately.

In the late window, the San Francisco 49ers avenged their loss last week with a statement win over the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Seattle Seahawks managed to pick up a good win over the division rival Arizona Cardinals. However, the main story from that window is the Los Angeles Chargers, who lost 44-22 to the Houston Texans and are now 0-8. Dating back to last season and counting the playoffs, the Chargers have lost 11 straight games. I can't believe this is happening. This team has been in the playoffs each of the last two years with Jim Harbaugh. Justin Herbert was lights out those years. Only one main change happened during the offseason: Mike McDaniel.

The former Dolphins HC was hired as the Bolts' offensive coordinator, and it all went to hell. No wins this season, Herbert's tied for the league lead in INTs with 11 (a total shared by Drake Maye), and he's only thrown six TD passes because the Bolts literally don't know where the end zone is. Six TDs! Joe Burrow accounted for that much in one game this season! Everyone's blaming Herbert, but the real problem is McDaniel. They should have never hired this guy.

This season is half over already, and the second half begins with Week 10, which will kick off with an NFC East battle between the Washington Commanders and the New York Giants on Thursday Night Football. As mentioned before, the New England Patriots and the Detroit Lions will battle it out in Munich, and on Sunday Night Football, it's an AFC North battle between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals. On Monday Night Football, the Los Angeles Chargers and the Baltimore Ravens will face off in a game that proves why flex scheduling needs to be either season-wide, or close enough.

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