SPORT NEWS: 5 bold predictions for the home stretch of the 2024 NFL season.giang

It’s here. Cold-weather football. Holiday football. For most, post-bye football.

It all comes this month now that the NFL trade deadline is done.

The home stretch is approaching. And with that, we have some new bold predictions.

Yes, they’ve now won 15 consecutive games dating back nearly a year. Yes, they’re the two-time defending champions.

I don’t care.

The Chiefs have received break after break, and the horseshoe has to eventually become dislodged. They just might be the worst 9-0 team in NFL history, with their last two wins coming by just eight combined points despite the fact that both games took place at home against opponents that don’t have winning records.

They’re now 7-0 in one-score games this year, and they’ve consistently won despite mediocre play from an undersupported Patrick Mahomes.

Now they have to travel to Buffalo, though, and that will be a wakeup call. It could open the floodgates, and I can also see them losing to the Chargers, Texans, Steelers and/or Broncos later this season.

They won’t lose them all, but they will likely drop at least three or four more games and hand the AFC crown to the Bills, Ravens or Steelers.

Maybe you don’t consider this bold because they currently lead the division, but I don’t think much of the football world really expects the rebuilding Cardinals to actually stave off the perennially competitive 49ers.

San Francisco is half a game behind Arizona, while the veteran Rams and Seahawks are also within a game of first place in the NFC West.

But I really believe the Cards will hang on.

Even if Christian McCaffrey is back, something beyond that has been off with the 49ers. They also have the league’s third-toughest remaining schedule based on ESPN’s Power Index, while Arizona has the NFL’s third-easiest.

The Cards have little to lose and are playing that way. Kyler Murray has been dialed in, and he should only become more comfortable with rookie receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. as this season wears on. And they’ve got plenty of support from a defense that has exceeded expectations while allowing just 30 total points (and zero touchdowns) in three consecutive home victories.

Arizona hasn’t lost since Week 6 and has two weeks to prepare for the toughest stretch remaining on the schedule, which isn’t all that daunting anyway (at Seattle, at Minnesota).

I wouldn’t be shocked at all if the Cardinals at least earned a split there and then ran the table against the Seahawks, Patriots, Panthers, Rams and 49ers to take the West for the first time since 2015.

Heads have begun to roll already this season. And not just at the assistant level.

Two head coaches—Robert Saleh and Dennis Allen—have already been axed, and I think at least three, and maybe four more are on the brink of termination.

Matt Eberflus: Luke Getsy was the scapegoat in January, Shane Waldron was the scapegoat this week. Soon, Chicago’s inability to deliver with talented young quarterbacks has to fall on even a defensive-minded head coach.

Eberflus was lucky to survive after last season, but once the Bears fall out of contention while navigating a brutal second-half schedule, management is likely to move on and rebuild the entire staff in hopes of getting the rebuild back on track for Caleb Williams and Co.

Doug Pederson: The Jaguars have lost 13 of their last 16 games. With that level of talent, that’s unacceptable. And because he’s got a big new contract, Trevor Lawrence can’t be fired.

Brian Daboll: The Giants have been headed in the wrong direction ever since overachieving with a playoff appearance in Daboll’s maiden season. Now, a team with the league’s lowest-scoring offense has lost five straight games. It’s only a matter of time before the head coach walks the plank.

Mike McCarthy: Historically, Jerry Jones has been quite patient with his coaches, but this has become an unmitigated disaster and there’s nobody else to take the fall when you consider that huge contract they gave to Dak Prescott.

Right place, right time. The Cowboys have lost Dak Prescott for the remainder of the year, and Cooper Rush has been so bad that Trey Lance is bound to get some serious work down the stretch.

Surrounded by plenty of talent, look for the skilled 24-year-old to put on some shows just as his contract expires.

I’m not saying he’ll salvage his career, but the 2021 No. 3 pick is in the ideal environment to fire up some teams that might be desperate enough to believe he could be a late-blooming answer.

At the very least, Lance will do enough to earn a Sam Darnold-like top-tier backup contract as an insurance policy somewhere.

The Davante Adams experiment hasn’t saved a team that is 3-7 thanks in part to an offense that is averaging just 17.7 points per game, or a 40-year-old quarterback who is currently the league’s 12th-lowest rated passer and hasn’t been elite since 2021.

With the pressure mounting, Aaron Rodgers will become more frustrated. And a man who already appeared to lack commitment before it all hit the fan will likely find a way to escape.

It’s been a gut feeling of mine since the end of the 2023 season, and nothing in these first 10 weeks has changed that.

Soon, we’ll have seen the last of Rodgers in New York and possibly the NFL altogether.