Christmas Day has come and gone along with the hangovers (from food or otherwise..). While a day off of work spent with families in the season of giving is a slam dunk win, some in the sports world came away with a big lump of coal. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest winners and losers of Christmas Day.
Winners
Me and My Family
This year we made the not-so-difficult decision to stay home and have our loved ones come to us – meals in our own kitchen, butts on our own couches, and Christmas pajamas all day long. A much-needed conclusion to the whirlwind of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas.
The only blunder was my own. I decided that we were going to eat dinner early so that I would be able to sit and watch the Chiefs and Steelers game at 4:30 (ET). Well, in my holiday haze, I didn’t realize the Steelers actually played the early game. Therefore I spent most of the game in the kitchen preparing our Christmas dinner.
Turns out that I didn’t miss much.
Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens
Even through the craziness of Christmas at home, I managed to see enough to know that along with the Bills – the Chiefs and Ravens are still the class of the AFC.
The Ravens purely dominated the Texans and it wasn’t even a contest. The Chiefs looked like the Chiefs we remember from Christmas past – but not without their own brand of holiday (black) magic.
None of the 4 teams that played 3 games in 10 days were big fans of it, but you couldn’t tell by watching these two who looked as sharp and tough as ever.
Losers
Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Texans
Losing by a combined score of 60-12, the Steelers and Texans couldn’t have been served up bigger lumps of coal on Christmas Day.
Two teams with big hopes early in the season seem to be trending in the wrong direction when it matters the most. Both have already clinched their playoff spots from early season success, but it doesn’t look like they have what it takes to stand up to some of the AFC’s best come playoff time.
The NBA
Traditionally, Christmas Day has been dominated by the NBA which schedules its biggest stars and most popular teams with its only competition being A Christmas Story which is seemingly on repeat on every single channel.
Christmas Day officially belongs to the NFL now. Even through the gripes of the players, the league successfully pulled off a Wednesday football game meaning all things are possible for NFL scheduling going forward.
Was there even an NBA game? Did they even attempt to compete? The NFL dominated so much that I genuinely don’t even know if there was an NBA game. If there was, I’m sure the NFL dominated the ratings, even though the games were only available through streaming on Netflix.
Look forward to the NFL becoming a part of your yearly Christmas traditions. It’s here to stay.