NO MORE UNDEFEATED TEAMS IN THE NFL
NO MORE UNDEFEATED TEAMS IN THE NFL
The San Francisco 49ers finally went down to defeat after amassing an impressive 8-0 record to kick off the 2019-2020 NFL season. They came so close so many times late in the game to clinching victory number nine, but they were up against a stubborn Seattle Seahawks team led by MVP candidate Russell Wilson, that would just not give up.
The game ended in a 24-24 tie at the end of regulation. Russell Wilson and the Seahawks got the ball first and marched down the field aiming for the touchdown he needed to win the game in OT. Unfortunately, when Seattle got down close to the Niner’s red zone, Wilson’s aim was just a little off and his pass was intercepted by the Niners’ DB Greenlaw and run back to mid field.
So now, according to the new NFL overtime rules, all it takes is a field goal to win the game. Jimmy Garoppolo threw a couple of passes and Mostert gained a few yards leaving a 47 yard field goal attempt for Chase McLauglin, who was just hired off the street by the 49ers after kicker Robby Gold went down to a quad injury.
McLauglin had just kicked a perfect 47 yard field goal to tie the game and bring on the overtime, but the moment was too much for the young kicker from Illinois and his attempt went wide left, leaving the fans there at Levi’s Stadium in shock and giving Seahawks with a chance to win the game with a field goal of their own.
Seahawks Quarterback Russell Wilson maneuvered his team down the field and even contributed a nice 18 yard scramble of his own to get the Seahawks into position for kicker Justin Myers to kick a 42 yard field goal and win the game, bringing the San Francisco 49ers’ undefeated season to an end.
The Niners’ went into the home game as 6.5 point favorites but ended up losing outright by 3 points. The final score of 27-24 totaled 51 points and thus exceeded the predicted over & under of 47.
Speculation about whether or not Kansas City Quarterback Patrick Mahomes would play on Sunday helped move the posted line in favor of the Tennessee Titans at -6 over the Chiefs. This line surprised a lot of bettors and money was laid down. As it turned out, the Titans did beat the Chiefs, even though Mahomes did play, however, Tennessee did not cover the 6 points, winning by 35-32. 35-32 adds up to 67 points scored, which was 18 over the posted O&U of 49. The Chiefs have now fallen to 6-4 after such a promising start to their season.
It was a victory called a ‘season saver’ for the Cleveland Browns, another team that started the season with such high expectations but finds itself at 3-6 at mid term. Even after defeating the Buffalo Bills last Sunday by a final score of 19-16. This does not exactly exceed expectations with guys like Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry on the team to support the young quarterback Baker Mayfield, who, so far, it seems, was better last year than this one.
In yet another upset on Sunday Night Football, the Minnesota Vikings, behind the antics of RB Dalvin Cook, managed to defeat the Dallas Cowboys on their home field in Arlington, Texas. Cook rushed for 97 yards and one touchdown and caught 7 passes for an additional 86 yards.
The Cowboys went into the game at -3 but the Vikings beat them by 4. Dak Prescott threw for 397 yards and 3 touchdowns completing 28 or 46 passes and Amari Cooper amassed 147 yards receiving in the losing effort. Ezekiel Elliott was held to just 47 yards on 20 carries by the stubborn Vikings defense.
So San Francisco will fall to 8-1 just like the New England Patriots who were idle last week. The Seattle Seahawks are now at 8-2 along with the Green Bay Packers while the Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints are both now at 7-2. Still a long way to go in this NFL season.