Determining who are the best feeling fanbases in the NFL every week, is determined on a few things. How well they are set up for a playoff run, how well the team has been playing lately, and if they had an especially fun game like a blowout win or a comeback win. A surprising win can make a worse team feel better than the good team sneaking by an easy opponent.
Honorable Mention
Cincinnati Bengals: 34-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Down at halftime, 3-17 and holy moly were things not looking good for the Bengals. They had been outgained in the first half 261-83 and ran just 20 plays compared to 40 plays by the Buccaneers. In the second half though everything started working. They forced four straight turnovers by Tom Brady, two interceptions and two fumbles. As they roared back to take a commanding lead 34-17 and cruised from there. The Bengals have now won their last six games in a row and are only one game out of the number one seed in the AFC. With the tiebreaker over the Chiefs and a chance to beat the Bills in two weeks, capturing the one seed and the bye is a realistic option. Bengals fans of course are always thankful of their Lord and Saviour Joe Sheisty, as he continues his phenomenal play. The Bengals have to have one of the best feeling fan bases in the NFL.
#3 Detroit Lions
20-17 win over the New York Jets. The Lions pulled out a win over a tough Jets squad who had a chance to tie the game with a 58 yard field goal but it was wide left. Over the last seven weeks, the Lions are tied for the second best record in the NFL at 6-1, only behind the 7-0 49ers, with the Eagles, Chiefs, and Bengals. That is some pretty good company, the big difference between all of those teams is that the Lions were by far the worst team the first half of the year, starting 1-6. Simply put, no one saw them competing for the playoffs, maybe in 2-3 years if they make some huge changes but no time soon! But it’s the NFL so as soon as you chalk them up as the same ol’ Lions they win six of seven games and are currently only a single game out of the seven seed with three games remaining. Jared Goff is playing legitimately good football and the defense is letting up a manageable 19.86 points per game. Which is so much better than swiss cheese like defense that was letting up 32.1 points per game the first seven weeks. Lions fans have to be as stunned as they are happy their team is playing this well, with a serious chance of making the playoffs. The Lions have the third longest playoff drought (5 years), behind the Broncos(6) and the Jets(11). After beating the Jets 20-17 goes a long way to potentially breaking their streak as it does extending the Jets drought.
#2 Jacksonville Jaguars
40-34 OT win over the Dallas Cowboys. It turns out Urban Meyer taught Trevor Lawrence a lot of things his rookie year, how to play through adversity, how to ignore distraction, and his last gift was teaching Lawrence how to climb out of a huge hole. Now granted, he taught the last one by shoving Lawrence into the hole himself and leaving (getting fired) but Lawrence was forced to learn how to climb out. Which, now that he is freed and playing like someone who was never coached by Meyer, makes climbing out of the Jaguars 10-27 hole against the Cowboys look easy in comparison. Lawrence was electric throughout the game but especially during the comeback, throwing for 318 yards and 4 touchdowns. After an incredible stretch that included three straight touchdowns to take the lead, the Cowboys regained it the next possession, leaving Lawrence a chance for the game winning drive. Down 31-34 with 1:38 left, after escaping a sack, Lawrence took off down the left side, only to fumble when he tried to cut back in the middle of the field for extra yards. He had lost the game, after nearly pulling off the best comeback of his young career. But the defense had all their timeouts and forced a three and out. Trevor Lawrence dug deep into the unknowingly teachings of his old dysfunctional coach Urban Meyer, “you need to play through adversity” he told himself (probably), “you need to ignore all distractions and mistakes”. Lawrence took the field with 1:01 left in the fourth, on his own 29 yard line with no timeouts and led them down the field for a game tying 48 yard field goal. Once in overtime, the Jaguars finished the comeback with a 52 yard pick six for the win. Trevor Lawrence is now officially out of the hole of dysfunction and distraction that Meyer put him through nearly his entire rookie year. (here a timeline of how that whole debacle went down). Over the last four weeks, Lawrence is playing like a true franchise quarterback, he’s combined for 1,247 total yards and 12 touchdowns to just a single interception. The Jaguars have predictably excelled going 3-1 during the stretch. Jags fans have to be ecstatic about not only having a franchise quarterback for arguably the first time in franchise history, but also with the Titans losing to the Chargers, the Jaguars are only one game back in their division. With a week 18 meeting between the two teams, a divisional crown is now a realistic goal for the Jaguars, imagine saying that before the season.
#1 Minnesota Vikings
39-36 OT win over the Indianapolis Colts. The Vikings did the impossible, in the over 15,000 games in NFL history, no team has ever come back to win when down by 33 points, except now. Down 33-0 at halftime, the Vikings were facing their 2nd biggest halftime deficit in their team’s 60 year history. The first half was about as ugly as it gets, to recap the Vikings started the game with their punt blocked and returned for a touchdown, then they fumbled, then they turned it over on downs, then they turned it over on downs again, then the Vikings finally didn’t turn it over when they went three and out. Of course the next drive they threw a pick six, and then had one more 11 yard drive after that ending in a punt. In summary, in seven drives the Vikings turned it over three times, had two turnovers on downs, and two more drives that totalled 13 yards. They also let up a touchdown on offense, defense, and special teams. But of course the game didn’t end at halftime, no matter how much Colts fans might have wished it did. The Viking went on to demolish the Colts in the 2nd half and over time out gaining them 499-128 and out scoring them 39-3. You can even make the argument that the Vikings could have won in regulation if it wasn’t for what could have been a crucial mistake by the referees. Down by eight with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter the Vikings forced a fumble and returned it for a touchdown, only for the refs to call the running back down. On review it was a clear fumble but the return and touchdown was taken off the board. Two drives later Dalvin Cook was able to bust a screen pass for a 64 yard touchdown which tied the game but not getting the defensive touchdown was nearly a back breaker. The fact that they made the largest comeback of all time without everything going right is a testament to how resilient this team is. Incredibly, the Vikings now own victories in two of the craziest comebacks in the NFL this year, throwback to their week 10 win over the Bills 33-30. If it’s a close game, the Vikings are probably going to win it, they are now 10-0 in one score games this year, with only their week one win over the Packers being by more than one score. The Vikings are not out of the race for the number one seed, and with the comeback win, just clinched the NFC North title for the first time in 5 years. They also have one of the most dangerous offenses in the NFL, led by arguably the game’s top receiver. Vikings fandom has a lot going for them right now but it’s their Madden-like blowout second half beatdown of the Colts to complete the biggest comeback of all time, which lands them at number one.