Bettor's Remorse: The 5 NFL teams that burned me in Week 2

Is there anything worse than reading a book or watching a movie and getting to the end, only to feel like your investment of time, energy and money was a complete waste? Welcome to Week 2 of the NFL season. We were treated to punters attempting field goals, all-time greats shanking extra points, fumbles at the 1-yard line and perfect passes dropped with the game (and our sanity) hanging in the balance. Suffice to say, there was plenty of remorse to go around on another painful Sunday in September. I need to start going to church.

Los Angeles Chargers (-1) at Detroit Lions

This is the kind of game that has always made the NFL’s crusade against gambling so laughable. Who in their right mind would waste three hours watching a game that featured a missed extra point, three missed field goals and four turnovers, including a crushing fumble at the goal line that would have given the Chargers a commanding 17-6 lead? Only a truly sick degenerate like myself.

In what can only be described as a form of torture, the Chargers followed that devastating fumble with two missed field goals and ended the game with an interception in the end zone when a field goal would have at least forced overtime. Who can blame Phillip Rivers, when his team opted to have punter Ty Long continue to do the placekicking for regular kicker Michael Badgley, who is nursing a groin injury?

The Lions were every bit as bad as I thought they would be. I just forgot to take into consideration that the team I chose to bet is the same inept franchise that decided to abandon one of the greatest cities in the world, a town where they were truly beloved, to become little brother to the Rams and play their home games in a stadium designed for a soccer. This was a bad bet on a bad game, and the gambling gods made sure we were punished accordingly.

Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans (-3)

There were a number of reasons to think Tennessee would be at least three points better than Indianapolis at home. The Titans were coming off a dominating Week 1 win over the Browns, and the Luck-less Colts were playing their second consecutive game on the road to start the season.

But just like they did against the Chargers in Week 1, the Colts showed amazing resolve to grind out a tough 19-17 win, even with Adam Vinatieri shanking extra points like he was my drunk uncle firing laser beams into the trees during our yearly round of golf.

There was a lot of bad and boring football played Sunday, and this game was no exception, but the Colts deserve a ton of credit for hanging tough to pull out a crucial divisional win. Last season's Coach of the Year, Matt Nagy, did a great job with the Bears last season, but I don’t know if anyone has been better than Indy's Frank Reich. Kudos to general manager Chris Ballard for building a competitive roster from the ground up and to Reich for making it all work despite a tremendous amount of adversity.

Chicago Bears (-3) at Denver Broncos

The Bears looked awful in their season-opening loss to the Packers, they were going on the road to face former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and Mitchell Trubisky is still their quarterback. But with that defense and a revised offensive game plan, featuring a healthy dose of talented rookie running back David Montgomery, it made sense to think that would be enough for Chicago to cover the three points and walk away with an ugly yet satisfying win.

The Bears got their ugly win in dramatic fashion, but of course we were left to question our existence as that vaunted Bears D failed to keep sleepy Joe Flacco and the Broncos out of the end zone at the end of the game. We then cursed all of humanity, as Fangio opted to go for two and the lead instead of kicking the extra point to settle for OT.

Minnesota Vikings (+3) at Green Bay Packers

I’ve convinced myself the Vikings and Bears are the class of the competitive NFC North, and yet the Packers have now beaten both teams and are in the driver’s seat. It was promising to see Dalvin Cook have another good game, with 154 rushing yards and a touchdown, but this Vikings team is not built to play from behind. Although they made it competitive in the end, the 21-0 hole they fell into was too much to overcome.

I’m still not sold on new head coach Matt LaFleur and this Packers squad, but it always helps to have one of the best quarterbacks in the league, even if he hates every coach he’s ever had (and got into it with LaFleur on the sidelines in this game). The Packers are sitting pretty, but don’t crown them yet.

Philadelphia Eagles (-1) at Atlanta Falcons

It was hard to feel good about the Eagles pulling out a win Sunday night, after both Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson left the game with injuries. That left a flustered Carson Wentz with limited options, thanks to a non-existent run game and receiving corps led by alligator-arms Nelson Agholor. And even though Agholor came down with a miraculous 43-yard pass from Wentz on fourth-and-14 to keep hope alive late in the fourth quarter, it was his drop on a perfectly thrown ball deep down the left sideline earlier in the drive that may have been the difference in the game.

The underrated Falcons outplayed Philly for much of the game and deserved the win. It will be interesting to see how the Eagles move forward as they deal with some key injuries and Wentz continues to find his rhythm. They’ll have time to get right with the Lions and Jets traveling to Philly in two of the next three weeks, but the Eagles face a daunting six-week stretch that includes back-to-back road games at Minnesota and Dallas and three home games against the Bears, Patriots and Seahawks. Doug Pederson is a terrific coach, but he is going to be tested this year.

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