Colin Maruscsak, Staff Writer
Week 8 of football had a lot of interesting matchups, and since this week marks the halfway point through the season, we can begin to see some teams emerging as possible postseason threats. One of the best games last week was when the Chicago Bears took on the Los Angeles Chargers. The game was a back and forth fight with both teams taking the lead from one another. With just seconds remaining, Eddy Pineiro lined up to take a 41-yard field goal and missed wide left. The Chicago Bears have a bad history with missed field goals, flashing back to last season’s playoff game when Cody Parkey doinked a game winning kick off the upright. This brings the Bears to 3-4, and they are sitting at the bottom of the NFC North. The Bears will hope to get back in the hunt next week against the Philadelphia Eagles. With the victory, the Chargers advance to 3-5 and are tied for second in their division with the Oakland Raiders. Next week they will be facing the Green Bay Packers who are currently 7-1 on the year.
The Seahawks had a decisive victory against the Falcons this past Sunday. With an impressive showing from their defense in the first half, they led 24-0 at the break. The Falcons eventually found their footing without their starting quarterback Matt Ryan, but it was too little too late resulting in a 27-20 loss. The Falcons sit at the bottom of the NFC South with an overall record of 1-7, and any shot of them making the playoffs appears to be gone.
The Philadelphia Eagles faced off against the Buffalo Bills this Sunday. Both teams are in precarious positions in their divisions. The Eagles sit behind the Cowboys with one more loss to their name. They would love to win their division and avoid wildcard drama as there are multiple teams in the NFC that sit with better records than the Eagles. The same goes for the Buffalo Bills. With the Patriots still undefeated, the Bills would love to secure as many wins as they can early on to establish themselves as a wildcard contender, with there only being a few teams in the AFC that have records indicative of a wildcard playoff team. The Eagles managed to win 31- 13 due to an outstanding rushing performance. Three out of their four touchdowns came on the ground with Jordan Howard, Miles Sanders, and Boston Scott all having one touchdown to their name. The Buffalo Bills will look to bounce back against the Washington Redskins next week.
One of the most surprising breakout teams this year is the San Francisco 49ers, who are the only undefeated team in the league besides the New England Patriots. They faced off against the Carolina Panthers this week who were looking to ride the momentum of their four-game win streak, but they were handily defeated 51-13. Tevin Coleman had an outstanding performance, having over 100-rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. They are in a tough division so it will be all eyes on them in the next few weeks to see if they can hold onto a dominant record and the top spot in the NFC West.
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