Dolphins and Saints and…Bears? Oh My!
SUPER 16 – The season finale of the Super 16 just got infinitely more dramatic once the Week 12 results were in. After starting the season 1-3 and then 3-4 at the halfway point, BEARMINATORS have now won 4 of their last 5, including last week’s 161-152 upset over the division leader Dawg Pound. The win, combined with Motor City‘s Thanksgiving Day loss to their biggest rival, The Indy-structibles, tangles up the North Division like it never has been before, with the Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit franchises all sitting at 7-6-0 going into the final week of the season.
The 2014 Champion BEARMINATORS are now sitting mathematically in first place in the division, but the lead may be short lived. Motor City and The Dawg Pound play each other in the final game, so one of them will advance to an 8-6-0 record (barring a tie), and so, even if BEARMINATORS win their finale against Steel Curtain to move to 8-6-0, there will still be a standings tie. Order of tiebreakers starts with total season points, and going into Week 13, the Dawgs have a 307 point advantage over the Bears, while the Kitties have a 123 point advantage. Bearminators will be praying for a Windy City Miracle – the Cubs won this year, didn’t they? If BEARMINATORS win, and outscore the Dawg-Kitty winner by the requisite margin (or if the pair tie), BEARS will win the North Division. Otherwise, the winner of the Cleveland-Detroit game will take the crown.
Down south, the Who Dat Saints have become the first team in league history that’s not named Birds of Prey to win the South Division Championship with their 259-137 annihilation of Geno’s Jaw Breakers. With their 9-3-0 record, the Who Dats have not only won the division title and playoff berth, but are assured of either the #1 or #2 seed and a first round bye in the playoffs. Competing with them for either that #1 or #2 seed is the newly crowned East Division Champion Northern Fins. The Fins put away The Eagle has landed 252-185 to boost their record to 9-3-0 as well. The win is the 7th in a row for the squad, putting them tied for 5th all-time in the league record book.In the season climax, the Who Dats play the hapless Tweety Birds of Prey, while the Fins play one more rematch vs The Eagle. If either one of the two wins, and the other loses, that will sort out the #1 and #2 seeds. If they both win or they both lose, the seeding will come down to total points, and right now the teams are only separated by 13 points on the season! Every Week 13 point is going to matter for these two.
Out west, the Super Chargers lost 154-151 to Houston in Week 12. If that win gets overturned by stat corrections, the Super Chargers record would advance to 8-4-0 and would clinch the West Division Championship for them. However, if the loss stands, the Super Chargers must either win their Week 13 game vs BowMen, or watch 1 Eye Til I Die lose their’s vs Arizona. If the week 12 loss is overturned, and the Chargers win in week 13, they would be guaranteed the #3 seed, otherwise, they will likely have to settle for the #4 with the #3 going to the North Division Champion. 1 Eye Til I Die is hoping for no reversal, a win, and a Charger loss to take the division title on points tiebreakers.
The Wild Card race has 5 teams jockeying for 2 spots. The Eagle has landed and the BEARMINATORS have the easiest paths to the #5 and #6 Wild Card seeds – all either of them need is a Week 13 win and they will get into the playoffs. If they lose, the two spots will come down to tiebreakers between The Eagle, BEARMINATORS, the loser of the Dawgs/Kitties match, 1 Eye (if they win, but fail to secure the title), and BIGDOGINTEX (if they win vs Houston).
What a truly strange season it’s been; from Birds of Prey’s unlucky run, to the success of squads like The Dawg Pound, BIGDOGINTEX, and BEARMINATORS despite the lack thereof of there NFL counterparts, the finale and final seeding should be no less surprising.
