The Chiefs fall in the Week 17 AP NFL strength rankings, while the Ravens rise to the top.

The Chiefs fall in the Week 17 AP NFL strength rankings, while the Ravens rise to the top.

It was two weeks beforehand the playoffs, and not a single team, not even in Motown, was at ease. Division titles will be hung between Detroit or San Francisco. But the plan is being rethought in Cincinnati, Indiana, and New Orleans.

The same thing might be going on in Kansas City as well. People in Denver are crying and feeling terrible. The Jaguars have also lost, but they are still alive. Dallas also lost another game, but it wasn’t nearly as bad.

It will take time to see who wins between Pittsburgh and Houston. The Vikings and Falcons remains in the running as well. But time is running out, the gaps have shrunk, or it’s time to figure out who’s good and who’s bad.

The Bills and Packers were happy to make it through. Both the Dolphins and the Seahawks believe the same thing.

It’s the season for wonders of all sizes. The Browns, Buccaneers, and Rams are currently the best teams in the playoff race.

The order of power will change every week, with a new mix. Every time something shocking happens, our Sundays become tricks.

There have never been higher stakes, that much is clear. Postseason spots are gone within the blink of an eye.

The Ravens and the Niners were the two teams with the most value going into Week 16’s last game. We thought that, but Brock’s four interceptions brought us down to earth.

It was 43 days before Lamar Jackson, a 26-year-old past MVP and one of the NFL’s most exciting players at the most expensive position in sports, agreed to sign a new deal with any team.

The Baltimore Ravens offered him a new $260 million deal on April 27, which was the first day of free agency.

During that time, he was owned by several teams. Any team would have signed him if they had an offer sheet. And for 43 days, no other team was said to have visited or made an offer to one in the best players in the NFL.

This month in the NFL, you’ll see a lot of backup quarterbacks and even some players who weren’t picked as falling further behind in the playoff race. Remember that none among those teams wanted Jackson.

There were some bad things about going after Jackson. It would cost a lot to hire him. Jackson had been hurt before.

If the Ravens didn’t match, the team that signed him would have lost two first-round draft picks, which isn’t much for a quarterback.

Just look at the deals for Russell Wilson and Bryce Young. Teams that had quarterbacks who were coming back would have had a hard time going after Jackson and failing.

Everyone else in the NFL appeared to think that the Ravens would match any deal. And the right answer is “So what?” With a person that good, you still try.

Make it as hard as possible to convince the Ravens to match your offer, and if they do, you can move on without any doubts.

As a market, the NFL ought to remain competitive. Instead, team owners are being nice so that everyone can get along at the subsequent league meeting.

NFL teams don’t look good in any of the possible outcomes. Or maybe teams like the Falcons actually did think it was better to stick with Desmond Ridder instead of Jackson. It’s just not good enough.

Several NBA teams would have done everything they could to sign Giannis Antetokounmpo if he was unhappy with the Milwaukee Bucks and wanted to start over.

If the Major League Baseball had a price cap, every team would have tried to make an offer for Shohei Ohtani.

If Connor McDavid had been a free agent, every team in the NHL would have been scrambling to figure out how to give him a deal.

Someone could have talked to one of the five best players in NFL history while he was still at the top of his game.