The regular season is done. Time for everyone to find out what grades they earned or in some cases deserve for playing poorly.
Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals wind up 5-10-1 after having the first pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Kyler Murray appears to have star potential. Chandler Jones is the sack guru of the league for the season. Kenyan Drake was a smart pickup. Before anyone gets too excited, this is a team coached by Kliff Kingsbury, who hasn’t had a plus-.500 season in a while. Grade: C
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons pulled it together for Dan Quinn late in the season, winning their final four games to finish 7-9. Quinn gets another year and he needs to keep the momentum going from this close. Have to wonder if this will be a case of staying with someone one year too long or if Quinn and the players will play strong in 2020. Grade: C-minus
Baltimore Ravens
John Harbaugh and the Ravens weren’t perfect. They exceeded expectations in every way, winning 14 games. Lamar Jackson was the unquestioned MVP of the NFL. Mark Ingram was a brilliant free-agent signing. Throw in Earl Thomas on defense and the acquisition of Marcus Peters and you have excellence on that side of the ball, too. Justin Tuckers leads the special teams. A strong playoff contender. Grade: A-plus
Buffalo Bills
Sean McDermott faced a crisis year for his job. He was banking on Josh Allen stepping up from his rookie season, which was injury-riddled. McDermott has developed one of the best defenses in the league and Allen has delivered as a dual-threat QB. One of the most surprising teams in the league. The Bills may not go deep in the playoffs but their future appears to be on the bright side. Grade: B
Carolina Panthers
An all-around embarrassing performance for Carolina. They lost Cam Newton, thought they found a solution in Kyle Allen only to see everything fall apart in the second half of the season. Ron Rivera was fired. Christian McCaffrey is a gem. Everything else was rough … as in brutal. Grade: F
Chicago Bears
Hard to imagine how the Chicago Bears fell from an apparent NFC North juggernaut to a team that struggled week-in and week-out. You can blame Mitchell Trubisky and the offense. The defense wasn’t overpowering. Matt Nagy needs to find solutions — quickly — or 2020 won’t be a pretty season. Grade: C-minus
Cincinnati Bengals
An ugly season all-around for the Bengals. Zac Taylor. Mistakes abounded and one of the biggest was benching Andy Dalton on his birthday. Call it a major gaffe by a rookie coach. Taylor brought Dalton back for the Bengals’ first win. The good news is Joe Burrow is on the horizon. The bad news is there isn’t a ton of support around him. Grade: F
Cleveland Browns
Dismal and atrocious. Hard to imagine a possible worse season in Cleveland. And this is a team that went 0-16 and 1-15 in the decade. Nothing was expected in those seasons. Much was expected in 2019. And nothing was delivered. Freddie Kitchens, Baker Mayfield, Odell Beckham Jr. all simply fell short. Kitchens didn’t survive until Monday. That is cold … as a winter day in Cleveland. Grade: D-minus
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys walloped Washington to finish the season … out of the playoffs. So much talent and so little delivered. What will Jerry Jones do, sign Dak Prescott, can Jason Garrett, in trying to find a deep playoff run? This is a classic case of talent not delivering until it was too late. Grade: D
Denver Broncos
The Broncos were 4-1 in December. Vic Fangio and Denver started 0-4 and lost difficult games throughout the year. However, starting Drew Lock has brought magic back to the quarterback spot and there is enough talent on offense to go with a strong defense that makes the future loom as a bright one in the Mile High City: Grade: C-plus
Detroit Lions
Well, at least the Lions were consistent. They took leads in almost all of their games and managed to blow them. And they finished with a flourish, leading Green Bay by 14 twice only to lose 23-20 on a field goal as time expired. That means Matt Patricia winds up 2009 on a nine-game losing streak. That would put him at 9-22-1 after two seasons. Yuck. This tells you how bad the Lions are: The Packers led for zero seconds against the Lions this season and won both games. Grade: D-minus
Green Bay Packers
The best of the first-year coaches is Matt LaFleur. He led Green Bay to an NFC North title and a 13-3 record. Remember, this is a Packer team that suffered double-digit losses in the previous two seasons. A first-round bye is the reward for Aaron Rodgers & Co. Grade: A
Houston Texans
The Texans win the AFC South, again, and have one of the more talented offenses in the league. Consistency is what is needed out of Deshaun Watson. Way too many down games and the same amount of wild fantasy stat games. The ability to play deep into the playoffs hinges on the offense finding that middle ground. J.J. Watt returning helps, of course. Grade: B
Indianapolis Colts
The 7-9 finish for the Colts has to be somewhat depressing. The year was challenging due to Andrew Luck’s retirement. Jacoby Brissett held his own until being injured. Indy lost five of its last six with the only win coming against comatose Carolina. Frank Reich knows what he is doing. Having a full offseason without Luck will only help the team. Grade: C
Jacksonville Jaguars
Have to wonder if the Khans are going to keep Doug Marrone around. You know, it was all Tom Coughlin’s fault. What to do going forward with Nick Foles and Gardner Minshew? This team continues to under-perform and it is hard to figure how it will straighten out. Grade: D
Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City gets a bye with some fine play down the stretch in 2009. They closed out the Chargers to close out the season and finish with 12 wins for the second year in a row. Will be fascinating to watch how far Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes can go in the postseason. Grade: A
Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers finish with an 11-loss season after a 12-win season. That turnaround is as ugly as it sounds. Plenty of close losses but that equals a team that has issues. Philip Rivers is a major question going forward. Time to move on from a great one for the Bolts? Grade: D
Los Angeles Rams
The Rams disappointed everyone. Sean McVay as the wunderkind has run its course — for a year. The running game is questionable as is Todd Gurley’s durability. Don’t think this will be true reflection of the future. Actually believe Jared Goff & Co. will rebound. Grade: C
Miami Dolphins
How can a 5-11 season be considered remarkable? It is when you realize how bad Miami was in the first half of the season and what it took for Brian Flores to keep the team together. The rookie coach did a great job and the team rallied around him. Ryan Fitzpatrick was nothing short of amazing in his time at quarterback. Grade: C
Minnesota Vikings
The good news is Minnesota won 10 games. The bad news is Minnesota had 10 wins after 14 weeks. The losses to Green Bay and Chicago to end the season send the six-seed into the postseason on a downer. Kirk Cousins remains a big question when big games are played. Grade: B-minus
New England Patriots
After the first half of the season, this appeared to be a flawed Patriots team that somehow knew how to win. In the second half, the flaws became larger and the problems turned into losses. Blowing the first-round bye isn’t going to have Tom Brady and Bill Belichick happy. The overall grade has tumbled. That does not mean the teams is an easy out. Grade: B
New Orleans Saints
There were many predicting Drew Brees would fall off in 2019. He missed time with a thumb injury. All that did was bring on Teddy Bridgewater, who did a marvelous job. Michael Thomas is incredible. Brees continues to be brilliant and it equaled another easy ride to an NFC East championship. Dominant. Grade: A-plus
New York Giants
Pat Shurmur is gone after two seasons. The Giants have had the second and sixth pick in the last two drafts. They need for Saquon Barkley to stay healthy and mesh with Daniel Jones. What is the future? Who is the future head coach? Coincidence: Shurmur also went 9-23 as head coach of the Browns. Grade: D
New York Jets
The Jets wind up 7-9 and you would not know it by the constant misery surround the Adam Gase regime. They were 1-7 at one point and had lacked Sam Darnold due to mono. It simply doesn’t feel like a team that went 6-2 in the second half of the season. Maybe it is good for Gang Green, which could creep up on people in 2020. Grade: C
Oakland Raiders
The last offensive play for the Oakland Raiders will go down as a failed two-point conversion. It was their first attempt at that for the year. Fitting finish as Jon Gruden’s team was in playoff contention and then crumbled. Losing to a bitter division rival is the way to go into the postseason with a sour taste for this franchise. Grade: C-minus
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles late-season magic went from Nick Foles’ arm to Carson Wentz’s, which is what the team has been dreaming of for years. A strong finish to win the weak NFC East doesn’t mean a long playoff run for Philly. However, Doug Pederson’s team seems to know how to win in the postseason when it counts. Grade: B-minus
Pittsburgh Steelers
The season finished the way it started: with three straight losses. Do not blame Mike Tomlin. He worked magic to get the Steelers in the playoff race with quarterbacks named Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges. Ben Roethlisberger should return in 2020 and if the injury bug can be avoided expect double-digit wins. Grade: C-plus
San Francisco 49ers
Have to wonder if a team has gone from having the second pick in the NFL Draft to being the No. 1 seed in its conference in the same year. The San Francisco 49ers have been magical. They went from 4-12 in 2018 to 13-3 in 2019. The two games with Seattle were spine-tinglers. Outstanding defense and solid offense. Grade: A-plus
Seattle Seahawks
Sometimes life isn’t fair. The Seahawks came centimeters from winning the NFC West and because they didn’t Seattle becomes a five seed and plays a road game against an NFC East champ with a record two games worse than it. Russell Wilson is intense and never gives up. Despite all sorts of injuries, this team continues to play hard and intensely. Good luck trying to knock Seattle out of the playoffs. Grade: A
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Would have been nice to finish 8-8. Then again, it was almost predictable Jameis Winston would throw a Pick-Six to cost the Bucs the .500 season. This team has elite receivers and a sturdy defense. Quarterback is a huge quandary. Give Bruce Arians credit. Grade: C-plus
Tennessee Titans
With Marcus Mariota at quarterback the Titans looked like also-rans. Mike Vrabel was starting to be questioned. Then, the head coach made the move to Ryan Tannehill. The switch proved the move needed to kick-start the Titans’ heart. They are going to New England for a Wild-Card game. Grade: B
Washington Redskins
A sad season in Washington. Dan Snyder is looking for a coach. Dwayne Haskins developed slowly and double-digit losses are becoming the reality for a team that many moons ago would specialize in double-digit wins and playoff runs, season after season. Grade: F
