The NFL has four teams at 7-0 for the first time in the league’s history. The Patriots, Broncos, Panthers, and Bengals have navigated nearly a half of their respective schedules unblemished. There were five teams at 6-0, but the Packers fell out of that fraternity forcefully at the hands of the Broncos last week. These four teams are playing at such a high level right now, but we all know how tough pulling off a perfect season is. We also know that as each one of these teams lose the 1972 Dolphins will throw a party. That just leads us to the question: Which of these four teams will be the last to lose?
CINCINNATI BENGALS
Remaining Schedule (Home Games in ALL CAPS): CLEVELAND, HOUSTON, @ Arizona, ST. LOUIS, @ Cleveland, PITTSBURGH, @ San Francisco, @ Denver, BALTIMORE
The Bengals were viewed by most as the class of the AFC North coming into 2015, but nobody would have thought that this team would have navigated the early part of their schedule without a defeat. The biggest reason for this has been the play of fifth year quarterback Andy Dalton. Dalton has always been an above average NFL quarterback, but he has developed a reputation over the years of losing games on both ends of the difficulty spectrum. By that I mean that he would play down to lesser opponents and fold under the pressure in games of a higher magnitude. Dalton has shaken off that preconception through the first half of 2015 with 18 touchdowns to just four interceptions and a 107.6 QB rating that puts him just behind Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Carson Palmer. Dalton passed for just 19 touchdowns for the entirety of 2014. Dalton has the offense clicking and the defense is being just as effective. They’ll only get stronger with leading tackler from the 2012 and 2013 Vontaze Burfict returning from injury. But can this team run the table?
The Bengals have by far the hardest path of any of the 7-0 teams to perfection. They are also the only team who have gone to 8-0 as they were able to Tyler Eifert their way through the Browns on Thursday Night Football. Andy Dalton’s game usually shrinks under the lights, but he was more of capable of downing a Browns team that has been pesky. Just ask the Broncos about that. But speaking of prime time, the toughest part of their schedule comes in those time slots over the second half of the season: at Arizona on Sunday Night Football Week 11 and in Denver on Monday Night Football Week 16. The Bengals will win the North going away, but they will be hard pressed to go undefeated.
PREDICTED FINAL RECORD: 13-3
PREDICTED FIRST LOSS: @ Arizona WEEK 11
CAROLINA PANTHERS
Remaining Schedule: GREEN BAY, @ Tennessee, WASHINGTON, @ Dallas, @ New Orleans, ATLANTA, @ New York Giants, @ Atlanta, TAMPA BAY
The Panthers have already matched their win total from a year ago when they won the putrid NFC South with a 7-8-1 record. They came into this year with lowered expectations as the receiving corps and offensive lines were depleted with player departures. Instead of striving for mediocrity, Cam Newton and company have beaten all comers with a combination of two tried and true football ethoses: run the ball and stop the pass. Carolina’s rushing attack is of course led by potential league MVP, quarterback Cam Newton, and a rejuvenated Jonathan Stewart. Though they like to run, run, and then run some more, tight end Greg Olsen has been a tremendous force for them in the passing game picking up the slack for the skeleton crew on the outside edges. The defense features a ball hawking secondary behind one of the most fierce linebacking corps in the NFC. Cornerback Josh Norman leads the conference with 4 interceptions and two other Panthers (LB Thomas Davis and S Kurt Coleman) have multiple picks. They have eked out a few games here early on, and haven’t truly been tested by an elite club. Are they a team of destiny though with the goods to make a miraculous season happen?
The odds say no. The NFC South, which looked like it was going to be a joke again early on in 2015, has gotten significantly stronger in the past few weeks with Tampa Bay and New Orleans beginning to show a pulse. However, Carolina’s most troublesome matchup comes this week against a pissed off Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers who are fresh off being humiliated on Sunday Night Football by the Broncos. Aaron Rodgers doesn’t usually lose back to back games these days and though Carolina’s defense is one of the league’s best, it isn’t playing at nearly the same level Denver’s is at the moment. If some way they navigate their way through that game victorious, they have five road games in the second half that could easily trip them up including a pair of back to back road trips. Dallas could very easily have Tony Romo back for Thanksgiving (he resumed light practice this week) and that boosts Dallas’ chances of pulling an upset. Atlanta may be stumbling right now, but they have two cracks in three weeks to potentially get into first place themselves late on. Before both of those Falcons games, the Panthers travel to both New Orleans and New York. While both teams defenses don’t set the world on fire, as shown by their 52-49 game they played against each other, their offenses are both humming right now which is something to fear. On paper, the Panthers have the easiest path to 16-0. There are just too many potential speed bumps on a team holding their roster continuity together by a thread.
PREDICTED FINAL RECORD: 13-3
PREDICTED FIRST LOSS: GREEN BAY Week 9
DENVER BRONCOS
Remaining Schedule: @ Indianapolis, KANSAS CITY, @ Chicago, NEW ENGLAND, @ San Diego, OAKLAND, @ Pittsburgh, CINCINNATI, SAN DIEGO
The Broncos were a team in the past that relied heavily on their offense to win games. Peyton Manning has thrown for 37, 55, and 39 touchdowns in his three prior seasons in Denver and boasted one of the best attacks in all of the NFL. Those days are slowly melting away now. Manning is finally showing his age and while he can still unleash that 30 yard pass to the sideline on a rope, more often than not he’s fluttering balls into double coverage that have no other realistic outcome than the three letters I-N-T. While this is a sad thing for Broncos fans, they can take solace in the fact that their defense is performing at an otherworldly level. They’ve allowed the fewest total yards, passing yards, and points per game this season with no other team challenging them in any of the three categories. They are fresh off a decimation of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers and must be giddy at the prospect of bull rushing the five department store mannequins known as the Colts offensive line this week. But Denver has had some near misses already this year. Can they continue to tempt fate and make what could be Peyton Manning’s final year one to remember?
Of the four unbeatens, Denver has the toughest road left to traverse. Although Indianapolis is in shambles, they are still a team that ousted the Broncos from the playoffs last year with basically the same roster. The Broncos are also the only team that has two of the remaining perfect teams left on their schedule: New England and Cincinnati. They get both of those games at home, but neither will be a walk in the park. Don’t forget about Oakland either. Denver once again gets them on their home turf at Sports Authority Field, but Oakland gave Denver all they wanted a few weeks ago and that was before they really started to gel as a team. Although the Bengals and Patriots are their hardest games in terms of the opponents, I feel that it will be a game like Oakland, or an always hostile game in Pittsburgh in Week 15, that will trip up the new Orange Crush.
PREDICTED FINAL RECORD: 14-2
PREDICTED FIRST LOSS: OAKLAND Week 14
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
Remaining Schedule: WASHINGTON, @ New York Giants, BUFFALO, @ Denver, PHILADELPHIA, @ Houston, TENNESSEE, @ New York Jets, @ Miami
There can be blame scattered throughout the NFL for the Scorched Earth Tour that the 2015 New England Patriots season has become. The Colts, Ravens, Steelers, and most of all commissioner Roger Goodell have all played their part in making this year for the defending Super Bowl champions one big middle finger to the rest of the sport. Mix that in with the fact that this team is really, really good and it should be no surprise that they are one of the teams that made it to this point in the year with a flawless record. Their closest games have been by a touchdown, and those were more cosmetic than glosses over the fact that they completely dominated their opponent. Tom Brady is still doing Tom Brady things and as long as he has a healthy Rob Gronkowski and an upright Julian Edelman he’s going to continue to do so. Chandler Jones is finally fulfilling his potential as a pass rusher, giving the Pats an edge on the defensive side of the ball that they haven’t had since their Super Bowl teams of the early 2000’s. Of the four teams left untarnished, the Patriots are the only one with a history of a perfect regular season before. Can they do it again?
The only thing stopping the Patriots from a second 16-0 season is a trip to Denver Week 12 for Sunday Night Football in a game which NBC is praying that both teams are still undefeated going into it. Yes, the Giants have given them problems in the past and Miami and the Jets are always tough end of the season games, especially on the road. But, the Broncos defense is the only one fully equipped to exploit the Patriots one weakness this year: offensive line injuries. The Patriots have avoided the injury bug very deftly throughout this season but one position in which the champs may be starting second stringers in abundance come Week 12 will be the offensive line. Starting center Bryan Stork has yet to play this season. Left tackle Nate Solder’s season is done. Solder’s backup, Marcus Cannon, is notably banged up himself. Add in nagging woes to guards Shaq Mason and Tre’ Jackson as well as the always hampered center Ryan Wendell and Denver could be picking at scraps going after Brady in prime time. Now as you’ll see below, I don’t think the Patriots will be the last team to lose, but they are on the bottom of this article because I believe they’ll end the season with the best record and have the best shot to parlay their regular season success into another deep playoff run.
PREDICTED FINAL RECORD: 15-1
PREDICTED FIRST LOSS: @ Denver Week 12
Disagree with my look into the crystal ball for these four unbeaten squads? Leave a comment or give me a shout on Twitter @TREVORutley or at the site @sportsftb.