Admin December 11, 2024
We are now through 14 weeks of the 2024 NFL season and whilst many teams will be gearing up for the playoffs, other teams already have one eye on the off-season wondering where their season went wrong.
It has been a season full of injuries to high-profile players, head coach firings and bizarre game endings which have ultimately cost teams dearly, with many sides falling way short of what was expected of them heading into the season.
With that being said, here are the five biggest underachieving teams so far this season:
Chicago Bears
Expectations for the Chicago Bears were sky-high heading into the 2024 season after what appeared to have been a very productive off-season. They signed both Keenan Allen and D’Andre Swift in free agency to compliment the weapons they already had on offense such as DJ Moore and Cole Kmet, and to top it all off they drafted quarterback Caleb Williams with the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft followed by wide receiver Rome Odunze with the ninth overall pick.
Having finished last season with a record of 7-10, many tipped Chicago to make a substantial jump this season given the vast improvements made to their roster. Unfortunately for them, their season has not materialised that way.
They currently have the third worst record in the NFC at 4-9 and are in the midst of a seven-game losing streak, a run which has included a devastating loss to the Washington Commanders courtesy of a miracle hail-may play, a heart-breaking loss to the Green Bay Packers after a potential game-winning Bears field goal was blocked, and a frustrating loss to the Detroit Lions courtesy of bad clock management late in the game by Chicago.
The Williams-led offense has struggled all season, ranking 24th in the league in Points Per Game, 28th in Total Yards Per Game and 30th in Passing Yards Per Game.
This all culminated in the firing of head coach Matt Eberflus following the loss to the Lions on Thanksgiving, with Eberflus becoming the first Bears’ head coach to ever be fired mid-season.
After losing their quarterback Aaron Rodgers for the entire 2023 season due to an achilles injury he suffered just four snaps into his New York Jets’ debut, fans were excited heading into the 2024 season once Rodgers was fully healthy.
The organisation did everything they could to make Rodgers as happy and comfortable as possible, like hiring his former Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett with whom Rodgers won back-to-back MVP awards with in Green Bay, signing wide receiver Mike Williams in free agency, and trading with the Packers for his favourite receiver Davante Adams mid-season.
Despite these moves, the Jets have flattered to deceive in a season which has been full of disfunction. Williams was been traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers after just nine games in New York, their other big-name off-season acqusition Haason Reddick missed the Jets’ first eight games of the season due to a contract holdout, and they fired their head coach Robert Saleh in October after a 2-3 start to the season – with the Jets winning just one game since.
They currently sit at 3-10 – confirming that this will be their ninth-straight losing season – and general manager Joe Douglas was fired as a result in November, capping off that has been a season to forget for the organisation and their fans.
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys have become renowned for being brilliant in the regular season before faltering in the early stages of the playoffs in recent years. Take last season, they finished the regular season with an impressive 12-5 record to clinch the NFC East title, before being embarrassed by the Green Bay Packers at home in a 48-32 defeat in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
However this season, they have been uncharacteristically poor in the regular season. They are 5-8 through 14 weeks of the season and are three games behind their NFC East rival Washington Commanders in the race for the final Wild Card spot with just four games left to play.
The wheels began to fall off when quarterback Dak Prescott had season-ending surgery on an injured hamstring he picked up during a defeat to the Atlanta Falcons, although the Cowboys’ biggest weakness this season has been their defense, which has notoriously been their strength in recent seasons.
The Cowboys ranked fifth in the league in Total Defence last season, but following the departure of defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and secondary coach Joe Whitt Jr who both left to take up new roles in Washington, the Cowboys’ defense has become statistically one of the worst in the league. They rank 25th in the league in Total Defense, 31st in Points Against Per Game and 26th in Yards Allowed Per Game.
They have not been helped with injuries this season, with key defensive players like Micah Parsons, Trevon Diggs and DeMarcus Lawrence all spending extensive periods on the sidelines, and whilst they are now all available to play, it appears to have come too late for America’s Team as their playoff hopes continue to slip from their grasp.
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers have made the NFC Championship game in each of the last four seasons – reaching the Super Bowl on two occasions – but have not shown the same level of dominance this season.
They sit bottom of the NFC West with a 6-7 record, and have suffered devastating injuries to key players on offense. Last seasons’ Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey missed the first eight games of the season with Achilles tendinitis and will now miss the rest of the season after suffering a PCL injury in just his fourth game back, wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk was ruled out for the season after just seven games with a torn ACL and MCL, and both Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams have also missed time with respective injuries.
Despite being bottom of the NFC West, the 49ers are not out of playoff contention just yet as they sit just two games behind a Wild Card spot as well as their division leaders Seattle Seahawks.
Although, for them to make a playoff push, the 49ers will need their star players fit and healthy, highlighted by the fact that Brock Purdy has a 14-2 record when Samuel, McCaffrey and Williams all play in his career, but is now 6-6 when one or more of them do not play.
Cincinnati Bengals
For the Cincinnati Bengals this season, they have had very contrasting fortunes on either side of the football.
The offence has been humming with quarterback Joe Burrow leading the league in Passing Yards (3,706) and Passing Touchdowns (33), whilst receiver Ja’Marr Chase leads the league in Receiving Yards (1,319) and Receiving Touchdowns (15). They rank 6th in the league in Points Per Game and 9th in Total Yards Per Game, which begs the question, why do they only have a record of 5-8 and look set to miss the playoffs with such a dynamic offense?
Well, whilst the offence has been firing on all cylinders, the Bengals’ defense ranks amongst the worse in the league. They rank 29th in Points Against Per Game and 25th in Total Yards Allowed Per Game, with their only wins this season coming against the 3-10 Carolina Panthers, the 2-11 New York Giants, the 3-10 Cleveland Browns, the 2-11 Las Vegas Raiders and the 5-8 Dallas Cowboys.
The Bengals will end the season with a losing record for the first time in four years, but will also have plenty of important matters to attend to in the off-season with Chase due for a contract extension next year, with fellow receiver Tee Higgins due to become a free agent at the end of the season, and with plenty of holes on defense that will need addressing.