Circle Week 9 on your calendar. That’s when the Los Angeles Chargers travel to newly renamed Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland and, according to Tuesday’s MMQB NFL Podcast, when NFL history will be made.
Conor Orr and Mitch Goldich broke down the entire NFL season, and unlike other outlets that used computers, they did it with human predictions. In their simulation, five AFC teams finished in a tie for the seventh and final playoff berth. And after eliminating three of those five using the NFL’s tiebreaker system, Cleveland’s Nov. 3 win pushed the Browns into the playoffs.
“Could be a tough go for a team from Los Angeles if there’s some unseasonably cold weather in Cleveland on Nov. 3,” said co-host Albert Breer.
Could it happen? If it does, Goldich said, all four teams from one division – in this case the AFC North — will make the playoffs, something that’s never happened.
The top six seeds in the AFC, respectively, according to their hypothetical season: Cincinnati (11-6), Kansas City (11-6), Buffalo (10-7), Houston (9-8), Pittsburgh (10-7) and Baltimore (10-7). The five teams tied at 9-8 for the final AFC berth: Miami, the New York Jets, Indianapolis, Cleveland and the Chargers.
Even though the MMQB last year correctly predicted six of the NFC’s seven playoff teams, Breer wasn’t so quick to eliminate the Chargers.
“I think the Chargers are the proverbial tough out,” he said. “They’re going to be somewhere in the 7-10 win range. I don’t see Jim Harbaugh coaching a bad team.
“Ultimately, I think they get more out of Justin Herbert by asking less of him. That’s always been the magic of Jim Harbaugh. He gets more out of his quarterbacks by asking less of them, everywhere he’s gone. He’s gotten really good, efficient play out of his quarterbacks in large part for that reason, because he really does ask for a total team game, which has the quarterback as a part and not the guy who everything swings on.”
Last season, Cleveland and reigning Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski remarkably became the first team ever to make the playoffs after starting five quarterbacks in a season. On Sunday against Dallas (4:25 p.m. ET, FOX), the Browns begin their quest for consecutive postseason berths for the first time since 1985-89. And Cleveland may have to play with a new left tackle.
The Chargers, meanwhile, host the Raiders at SoFi Stadium on Sunday (4:05 p.m. ET, CBS).