What says you? Chiefs turn a 2-14 team into a 11-5 Playoff Contender? Tom Brady leads his abysmal beaten up roster (both Offense and Defense) to a 12-4 record? Drew Brees grabs his FOURTH 5,000 yard season ever while taking the 7-9 Saints of last year to a 11-5 playoff contender? There have only been Eight 5,000 yard seasons ever, and he owns 4 of them. The Eagles in general? McCoy rushing title. Nick Foles coming out party and permanently benching a player on a 100 million dollar contract. Chip Kelly coming in and taking a decently talented team who struggled last year and taking them to the playoffs. Cam Newton finally coming into his own as an NFL QB? Winning 11 of his last 12 and earning the Panthers a 2 seed? OOOOOORRRR is it the obvious choice...Peyton Manning was Peyton Manning. Granted he has a plethora of weapons of offense and a very solid defense, but to break the single season points, passing yards, and passing TDS in a single season is mind boggling still. Anyone else hoping for another classic Manning-Brady showdown in the frigid January temps in Denver?
I'm gonna go with the Chiefs. Went from worst record in 2012 season to a pretty solid team this year.
I don't think you can leave out what Bruce Arians did with the Arizona Cardinals either. He took the 2012 5-11 team to a respectable 10-6 in arguably the hardest division in football. I still don't know if it matches up to some of the other great stories of the year but I don't think it can be left out
You are right. The Cards have been overlooked by many since they share a division with Seahawks and Niners.
Chiefs, Cards and Panthers. And I'm glad this "recievers make Rodgers look better then he is" garbage is over.
As a Chiefs fan, I'm obviously picking the Chiefs turnaround. The Chiefs were NEVER in any of the games last year, in fact they never, not once, held a lead in a game until like game 10 last year. They were pathetic. The coaching was possibly the worst in the history of the NFL. This year, they have really only put out one turd of a game(Indy), every other game they were in it until the end. We should have beaten the Charger both times this year. The first game we had some clock management issues and scored too early. Then yesterday our kicker should have made the field goal. Even though he missed the refs blew an illegal formation call on the Chargers that should have given him a second chance. Then in OT, we strip the runner, and take it back for a TD and the officials blew that one too. We were competitive with the Broncos in both games, no doubt they are better, but we competed with them. Andy Reed should be coach of the year in my opinion. What a turn around. John Dorsey has done a great job at upgrading the talent.
I agree Cards are a heck of a story....but they didn't even make the playoffs. I realize that is the toughest division in Football... but the turn around story can only be so great if you went from a non playoff team to a, well, non playoff team.
Obviously it was Manning cementing his legacy as the GOAT. A close second would be Flynn upstaging Rodgers.
Philly is a surprising story. Bring in a college coach. A video of a racist player goes public during training camp threatening the locker room. Vick goes down again and Foles steps in and put up great stats and they are rolling heading into the playoffs.
While the offensive stats are impressive (on paper), they don't really do much for me these days. There's really nothing to compare them to other than current history with the "new" NFL. I think the bar is still being set with such records. Chiefs were impressive when they were 9-0. But losing 5 out of the last 7 when the schedule got tougher brings them back to reality in my opinion. The Eagles and Nick Foles are pretty impressive what they've done. But they were supposed to be impressive the last few years with their weapons. Still a little mind boggling with a thumping against the Vikings and almost losing to the vaunted Cowboys and Kyle Orton. I would have to say the Cowboys and their ability to be mediocre, make horrific calls, blow close games, etc.... is pretty impressive to be that bad for that franchise. Seriously though I would say Brady and the Patriots. They just keep on keeping on. Lose Welker, Hernandez, Gronk, defense, no running game, etc.... and they just win. Year after year. That team has every reason on paper to fold it up and slither into mediocrity but Brady and Bellichick won't let it happen.
