Post by Reignman on Nov 14, 2022 18:03:33 GMT -6
I don't know who this Kevin Seifert guy is, but he must be reading my stuff.
Yet there's a fair number of teams that have won games this way and managed to find postseason success. The only other team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to win seven consecutive games by eight points or fewer is the 2020 Chiefs, who rode their luck all the way to the Super Bowl before being torn apart by offensive line injuries and the Tampa Bay pass rush. Those Chiefs already had proved that they could dominate teams in 2019, though, so we didn't have the same conversations about their abilities.
All things being equal, you're better off being a team that wins by a lot each week
but winning a bunch of close games in a season doesn't preclude a team from making a deep playoff run.
On the other hand, the 2006 Colts did this same thing, and after getting back safety Bob Sanders for the playoffs, they got hot on defense and won Super Bowl XLI.
The 1976 Raiders won six of their first nine games by eight points or fewer, went 13-1 and won a Lombardi.
The Vikings aren't as strong of a team as those Eagles were with Wentz, but if the 2022 Eagles slip up, Cousins & Co. are best-positioned to pounce.