{"id":375558,"date":"2025-09-17T17:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T17:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/375558\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T17:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T17:17:11","slug":"why-bears-chiefs-giants-still-have-playoff-hopes-entering-week-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/375558\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Bears, Chiefs, Giants still have playoff hopes entering Week 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reason for optimism: The upper-shelf talent is there.<\/p>\n<p>Not too many clubs wallowing in the cellar boast talents like \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/malik-nabers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Malik Nabers<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff, \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/dexter-lawrence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dexter Lawrence<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff, \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/brian-burns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Brian Burns<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff, \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/abdul-carter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Abdul Carter<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff or \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/kayvon-thibodeaux\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kayvon Thibodeaux<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff. The strength of this Giants squad can be difference-makers.<\/p>\n<p>The issue for Brian Daboll is that the massive holes become vacuums that seem to always suck in even superheroes.<\/p>\n<p>The offensive line continues to really struggle and be injured. The secondary gets picked apart.<\/p>\n<p>The defensive line has created havoc for stretches, but it hasn&#8217;t been enough when the secondary is giving up easy tosses right off the snap. Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen&#8217;s plans have been suspect, to put it kindly. The Giants need to lean into their physical, dynamic front to create mismatches. Bowen hasn&#8217;t proven he&#8217;s capable of doing so thus far. Will Daboll make a change at coordinator if the chronic issues continue?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/games\/giants-at-cowboys-2025-reg-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">In Week 2<\/a>, we got a good \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/russell-wilson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Russell Wilson<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff. When the moonball is hitting and he isn&#8217;t staring at the rush, the veteran can still make plays. Unfortunately, we can&#8217;t completely forget <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/games\/giants-at-commanders-2025-reg-1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Week 1<\/a>, when he was one of the worst versions of himself. If Wilson can dive-bomb defenses, the Giants can play a brand of football that can keep games close.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d like to see \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/cam-skattebo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cam Skattebo<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff get more touches on offense, particularly behind this offensive line. The rookie&#8217;s physical presence could help open up a stymied running game that doesn&#8217;t get many holes opened. Defenders don&#8217;t want to tackle that guy over the course of a whole game.<\/p>\n<p>The thing to watch in New York is whether the coaching staff will give \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/jaxson-dart\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jaxson Dart<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff a real chance to usurp Wilson. The veteran&#8217;s performance in Week 2 might have given him <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/nfl-week-3-panic-meter-bears-bengals-raising-alarms-chiefs-giants-merit-patience\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a bit more leash<\/a> (the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/videos\/wilson-to-wilson-russell-s-overtime-int-lands-in-donovan-s-hands\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">overtime interception<\/a> aside). However, the next time the moonball facet shuts off, we could see the 25th overall pick of this year&#8217;s draft. Dart&#8217;s presence could change the entire calculus for the Giants. Is he the dynamic \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/jayden-daniels\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jayden Daniels<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff-type rookie that jump-starts an entire organization, or is he one that will require a lot of patience while he figures it out?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reason for optimism: The upper-shelf talent is there. Not too many clubs wallowing in the cellar boast talents&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[90,260,391,54,7,519,253,110,251,55,1917,56,255,2321,2469,6,609,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-375558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-analysis","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-chicago-bears","11":"tag-cleveland-browns","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-giants","14":"tag-houston-texans","15":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","16":"tag-miami-dolphins","17":"tag-new-orleans-saints","18":"tag-new-york","19":"tag-new-york-giants","20":"tag-new-york-jets","21":"tag-newyork","22":"tag-newyorkgiants","23":"tag-nfl","24":"tag-no-minute","25":"tag-tennessee-titans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115220777766293233","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}