NFL Week 8 Reminded Us of Teams That Can't Be Trusted

Relationships are built on trust, and that also applies to your relationship with NFL teams as a fan or a bettor.

You might like a team, but do you trust it on a weekly basis? In a volatile, parity-plagued league, few teams gain and hold the trust of their supporters consistently. 

The eighth Sunday of the 2020 NFL regular season epitomized those dynamics with at least half a dozen supposed contenders revealing they just can't be trusted entering the second half of the year. 

Here's a rundown.

The Baltimore Ravens Continue to Have a Big-Game Problem

Gail Burton/Associated Press

It happened again to the Baltimore Ravens:

• Week 3, 2019: Kansas City Chiefs 33, Ravens 28.
• Playoffs, 2019: Tennessee Titans 28, Ravens 12
• Week 3, 2020: Chiefs 34, Ravens 20
• Week 8, 2020: Pittsburgh Steelers 28, Ravens 24.

Including a 2018 first-round playoff exit, the five most important games of the Lamar Jackson era in Baltimore have resulted in Ravens losses.

They fought hard after losing standout left tackle Ronnie Stanley to an ankle injury Sunday, but Jackson turned the ball over four times and completed fewer than half his passes. Now, the Ravens essentially find themselves 2.5 games out of first place with as many losses as they had all of last season. 

It's hard to feel great about Baltimore's chances away from home and on short rest for a Thursday night meeting with the Pittsburgh Steelers later this month. This team is talented enough to win a Super Bowl, but it has lost the benefit of the doubt until it can win a game like that. 

Unfortunately for the Ravens, with Jackson regressing and Stanley out for the remainder of the season, turning the tide in critical games will be difficult. 

The Buffalo Bills Are Missing Something

Adrian Kraus/Associated Press

It's tough to identify what's been holding the Buffalo Bills back the last few weeks. If the issue was plainly identifiable, it could more easily be addressed ahead of Tuesday's trade deadline or with in-house adjustments.

But there are no sore thumbs sticking out. Ever since an impressive 4-0 start that had them in Super Bowl conversations and quarterback Josh Allen garnering MVP buzz, the Bills have looked "meh."

They're 2-2 during that stretch following a Week 8 victory over the New England Patriots, but they might have only won that game against a severely depleted opponent because of Cam Newton's red-zone fumble late in the fourth quarter of a 24-21 affair. And one week ago against the historically terrible New York Jets, they became the only team this season to beat Gang Green by just a single score. 

That means they've now underwhelmed in four consecutive outings with big losses to the Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs preceding the last two wins. That doesn't bode well since their next five games come against the Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers and Pittsburgh Steelers. 

The running game at least performed well with both Zack Moss and Devin Singletary averaging more than 5.0 yards per carry against New England. But Allen completed just 11 of 18 passes, and nothing else stood out for the Bills. The quarterback has gone from elite to mediocre in less than a month, and it's hard to figure out why. His inconsistency makes it difficult to trust his team. 

Buffalo still looks like it will win the AFC East, but it's increasingly likely that will be a division title by default with the Pats fading, the Jets tanking and the Miami Dolphins still developing. 

Are the Cleveland Browns Even a Playoff Team?

Ron Schwane/Associated Press

When the talented, rebuilt Cleveland Browns started 4-1 for the first time this century, they looked like a near-lock to make the playoffs in an expanded field for the first time since 2002. 

Not so fast. 

Following a dud performance in a 16-6 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, the Browns are now 5-3. The five wins have come against opponents that are a combined 13-22-2, and the three losses have come by double-digit margins at the hands of opponents that are a combined 16-6. 

In this case, Baker Mayfield completed just 12 of 25 passes against a mediocre Las Vegas defense, indicating that the Browns might not actually be better off without five-time 1,000-yard receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who suffered a torn ACL in Week 7. 

Beckham can't save this team, and now it looks like defensive superstar Myles Garrett will be prevented from playing the savior role as he deals with ankle and knee injuries. He'll get an MRI on the injured knee this week, according to head coach Kevin Stefanski, which is terrifying considering the lack of depth and talent on that defense. 

At this point, you have to wonder if Cleveland's playoff drought might actually continue.

A depleted team that has actually been outscored by 31 points this season will have to face the Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers in the final five weeks of the season, and it's easy to imagine a playoff field involving those three teams, the Kansas City Chiefs, the winner of the AFC East and the Raiders, Indianapolis Colts or maybe even the Miami Dolphins instead of the Browns. 

2 Anomalies in 3 Weeks for the Green Bay Packers?

Morry Gash/Associated Press

When the Green Bay Packers hammered the Houston Texans in Week 7, quarterback Aaron Rodgers confidently declared the team's shocking Week 6 blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was an anomaly. 

But on Sunday, Green Bay was again upset. It wasn't as one-sided as the 38-10 loss to the Bucs, but the Packers still fell 28-22 to a Minnesota Vikings squad that had one win all year prior to Week 8. 

Rodgers threw three touchdown passes to zero interceptions, but a run defense that was a problem last season and ranked 22nd in terms of DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) at Football Outsiders entering Week 8 was roughed up by Dalvin Cook, who compiled 226 yards from scrimmage and four total touchdowns on 32 touches for the Vikes. 

And now they have to play the run-oriented San Francisco 49ers on the road and on three days' rest. 

"We better get it fixed and fast because I have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen in San Francisco," head coach Matt LaFleur said after Sunday's game, per ESPN.com's Rob Demovsky. "... The formula has been written. We've got to step up and get it fixed. If not, we're going to keep getting these results."

It's a concern, as are the many critical injuries that have factored in as the Packers have lost two of three following a 4-0 start. There are clear causes for concern, and they've now fallen behind the Bucs and Seattle Seahawks in the race for the only first-round bye in the NFC. 

For now, that's enough to lose our trust. 

The Los Angeles Rams Haven't Been Right Since a Hot Start

Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

Like the Cleveland Browns, the Los Angeles Rams remain in contention at 5-3, especially with the playoff field expanding this season. But there's also little reason to trust a team that is just 3-3 after a 2-0 start and lost by a double-digit margin to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. 

The Rams shot up power rankings nationwide when they outscored the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles 57-36 in their first two games, but that was when we thought the Cowboys and Eagles might be good teams. Now, both have been exposed.

Meanwhile, losses to the Buffalo Bills, the depleted San Francisco 49ers and Miami, along with a dud performance against the New York Giants, should have Rams fans concerned about how they'll deal with a four-game stretch against the Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 49ers and Arizona Cardinals coming out of their Week 9 bye. 

They're now 1-3 this season against teams that have winning records.

Talented but unreliable Rams quarterback Jared Goff had a 59.2 completion percentage and 88.8 passer rating in his previous two games before turning the ball over four times against Miami, and it's fair to wonder about a defense that has been gutted due to salary-cap constraints the last couple of years. 

In the toughest division in football, the Rams look like a one-and-done playoff team at best.

The New Orleans Saints Haven't Been Themselves

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

Sure, the New Orleans Saints are 5-2 following a fourth consecutive win Sunday on the road over the Chicago Bears. But two of those wins have now come in overtime, and none have come by more than six points. In fact, they've outscored their opponents by just nine points all year. 

The Saints are loaded with talent on both offense and defense. But quarterback Drew Brees is 41, and his defense hasn't done enough to help him out with star wide receiver Michael Thomas sidelined by hamstring and ankle injuries. 

Brees put up decent numbers against a high-quality defense Sunday, but the Saints couldn't convert on third down, and the defense allowed Nick Foles and David Montgomery to move the ball down the field too easily as Chicago stuck around. That D has recorded just two takeaways since Week 3 and is in desperate need of an uptick in big plays. 

Quite simply, the Saints haven't played as well as their record indicates. Now, with their bye already burned, they have to travel to Tampa Bay to play the first-place Bucs, who are only gaining steam. They're likely to be underdogs there, and a loss would make it hard to claw back into the race for a first-round bye or a division title. 

The Tennessee Titans Have Come Crashing Back to Earth

Gary Landers/Associated Press

When they started 5-0, the Tennessee Titans seemingly showed the football world that their surprise run to the 2019 AFC Championship Game was no fluke. But those who concluded that Tennessee was elite based on that strong start might have jumped the gun. 

The Titans have now lost back-to-back games to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals, with the Cincinnati defeat giving fans particularly good reason to be concerned. 

Tennessee wasn't even competitive in Sunday's 31-20 loss despite the fact the Bengals had just one win coming in. Rookie quarterback Joe Burrow was hardly flustered by a defense that ranked below the league median in DVOA after Week 7, and the offense scored just seven points in the first three quarters behind a line that has been ravaged by departures and injuries. 

Now, the Titans will have to travel to Baltimore and Indianapolis later this month. They also have to travel to Lambeau in December. If they play the way they did against Cincinnati in those key games, they'll be blown out. 

It's possible that after an extended, shocking run of success, the Titans are coming back to earth.