There’s about 6 or 7 teams in the NFL that have realistic dreams of winning the Super Bowl. None of them looked particularly good as a whole on Sunday.

Let’s start with the Saints.

Saints

They won against the Bucs 28-14, but it was close almost the whole way, and the Saints were down for most of the first half. I can excuse the bad game, because it was terrible weather, and because they have set themselves up to at the very least not have a cold-weather game in the playoffs.

Even after losing to the Cowboys, they were still the Super Bowl favorites going into Sunday in my opinion. This game didn’t change anything. So yes, the Saints are good.

Patriots

The Patriots are in this discussion because of reputation, not because of performance on the field. I won’t believe they are dead until I see them eliminated. They obviously were in position to win on Sunday, but truthfully the Dolphins should not have even had an option to win that game. Of course, it took an all-time play for them to win, but it shouldn’t have been that close. Tom Brady even said so.

Good news is, the offense did well. Bad news is, he defense couldn’t stop a nose bleed. Ryan Tannehill carved the New England defense like a Christmas ham. Kenny Stills looked like a true no. 1 receiver, and Frank Gore looked like he was playing for the University of Miami again, rather than the Miami professional football team.

I have a hard time believing in the Patriots every year, but they usually have gotten all their problems fixed by the time December rolls around. Barring a catastrophe, the Pats will be in he postseason again. But as of right now, I don’t like how they look.

Are the Patriots good? I’m going to go with probably not.

Chiefs

Kansas City found themselves in a dog fight on Sunday against one of the toughest teams in the league. They played in the mud with the Ravens and came out victorious. They put up 27 points on one of the top defenses in the league, and beat the Ravens at their own game. They didn’t top 100 rushing yards, but they did win the time of possession 37-31. They also ran 15 more plays offensively than the Ravens did.

Patrick Mahomes spread the wealth, connecting with 8 different Chiefs for receptions. Including one no-look pass to Travis Kelce.

I consider Baltimore to be a good team, so by that math, this win for the Chiefs is a good one. The Chiefs have had close overtime wins, overtime losses, a comeback win, and decisive blowouts. They had to grind this one out, and many people thought they didn’t have the personnel to do it against a grinder like Baltimore.

Are the Chiefs good? Yes. We’ll see exactly how good they are Thursday against the Chargers.

Speaking of…

Chargers

You already know the story. The Chargers go 12-4 in the regular season and blow it in the playoffs. And this team may be setting up to do the same.

The Cincinnati Bengals are bad. BAD. But they just barely eked out a win. Jeff Driskel looked competent and some flashes of good against this Charger’s defense. This lineup is too talented (as it always is) to have a close game with the likes of the Cincinnati Bengals. In December. While they are literally fighting for the division.

Joe Mixon ran all over this team. With Joey Bosa in the game. Actually, Bosa was kept quiet up until late when he finally broke through with a sack.

They have a very good team, but I can’t trust them to advance in the playoffs until I see it happen.

Are the Chargers good? Probably? We’ll find out Thursday.

Steelers

I mean, I know Roethlisberger was out for a lot of the game with his rib injury, but this team might not even win the division. Technically, they even still need to watch out for the Browns. They’re lucky the Ravens lost on Sunday.

Pittsburgh has recently fallen into the same tier as the Chargers, in that they consistently been one of the best teams in the league, but falter when it matters most. This year, it’s happening before January.

Are the Steelers good? No. I don’t believe they can beat anyone else on this list in the playoffs.

Rams

Oooh boy. Sunday night was rough. The Rams better hope they get that bye week and that the Saints get the other one. Because if they have to come over to this side of the country and have to play in the cold, it’s a wrap. Their defense was actually fine against the Bears, but that offense could not do anything at all against Chicago in the old.

To be fair, they might not have been able to do anything against Chicago in the warm, hot, cool, or room temperature either. Chicago’s defense is special.

I still believe in the Rams, because of Sean McVay, Todd Gurley, and Aaron Donald. They have enough talent to beat anyone. In the right situation.

Are the Rams good? Yes, but they’d rather play somewhere you don’t need to wear a winter coat.

Bears

That defense is elite. Matt Nagy is proving to be one of the best coaches in the league. Mitch Trubisky has an incredibly high ceiling, but also a low floor. There’s good Mitch and bad Mitch, and Los Angeles got lucky to get bad Mitch. They just weren’t able to take advantage of it.

Trubisky has inconsistency with his accuracy and it is maddening. One play he’s dropping a dime, and the next is an overthrow. Of course, this is going to be the case with most young quarterbacks, but you would like to see him get a little bit more predictable since he has a roster that can legitimately win a championship.

Their offense is absolutely good enough to win, especially considering they might only have to score 21 points to win a game. They just scored 15 against the best offense in the NFC and won by two scores.

Are the Bears good? Yes. If you play them, hope for bad Mitch.