NFL power rankings: Five non-Detroit Lions things to watch in the second half of season

Dave Birkett

| Detroit Free Press

We’ve officially hit the halfway point of the season for most NFL teams, and while January can’t get here soon enough for Detroit Lions fans anxiously awaiting a coaching change, there still is a lot of football to be played.

So rather than spend this column recapping another Lions debacle or handicapping the favorites to replace Matt Patricia as head coach — there will come a time to do both of those — I figured I’d provide some positivity and share five things I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the season (assuming the NFL keeps plowing ahead, rising COVID-19 concerns be damned):

1. Patrick Mahomes

I don’t know if enough people truly appreciate how good Mahomes is. He’s a generational talent who’s as fun a player to watch as there is in the NFL, and he has his Kansas City Chiefs in line for another long playoff run. The Chiefs have two Monday night games in the final seven weeks, plus late Sunday afternoon showdowns with Drew Brees and Tom Brady as they try to become the first team since the 2003-04 New England Patriots to win back-to-back Super Bowls.

2. The young QBs

There’s no Mahomes in this group; again, he’s generational. But top-six picks Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert all appear to have special qualities at quarterback. Herbert, in particular, has played some impressive football this season, though his Los Angeles Chargers keep finding Lions-like ways to lose. The NFL is ushering in a new class of quarterback talent just as Brady, Brees and Co. are about to sign off, and the young guys have games against each other in the coming weeks: Herbert and Tagovailoa play Sunday in Miami, and Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals meet Tagovailoa’s Dolphins in Week 13.

[ As Tua shines in Miami, the Lions seem hopeless as ever ]

3. Another 0-16?

This club lost its exclusivity a couple years ago, when the Cleveland Browns joined the Lions in ignominy, and it’s about to welcome a third member this season in the New York Jets. The Jets are awful, worse maybe than the 2008 Lions, and they play just two teams with a losing record (the Chargers and Patriots) the rest of the way. At least they have a Trevor Lawrence prize awaiting, but with the NFL soon headed for a 17-game season, we may never see 0-16 again.

4. Drew’s last dance

He’s never had Mahomes’ arm strength or pizzazz, but Brees has been a great NFL quarterback for going on two decades. Speculation is that this is Brees’ last NFL season — he turns 42 in January and the TV booth awaits — and he has his New Orleans Saints at the top of my power rankings in the NFC. Maybe he rides off with another Super Bowl appearance, though he’ll have to get by Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson to make that happen.

5. 2021

I mean, who isn’t ready for this year to be over? It’s been rotten all the way around, and football has not been spared. There is a lot of unknown about next year when it comes to the NFL. Will the playoffs be in a bubble? How many fans will attend the Super Bowl? What will the combine, free agency and the draft look like, and when will they happen? And will we have some sense of normalcy by the time the time next season kicks off? Soon enough, we’ll find out.