5 Most Fair-Weather Fan Bases in the NFL This Year

Every year you get fans in the NFL who are very "fair-weather." It doesn't necessarily mean that those fans stop rooting for the team once they start playing badly and jump back on the bandwagon once they start playing well, but it can also mean a variety of other things.

Those things can be an opinion of a head coach that seemingly changes from week to week. Same can be said about the feelings of a team being the best team in the NFL and then the next week those same fans are claiming they're just a huge disappointment.

Hell, it can even be the opinion that a quarterback is clutch after two gutsy performances before one colossal choke job brings that quarterback down to size by that team's fan base.

It's eight games through the 2011 NFL season and it's really no different from any other season in recent memory. Coaches and players are praised one week after a win and then torn down to shreds another week after a loss.

Here are the five most fair-weather fan bases in the NFL this year.

5. Arizona Cardinals

This team doesn't get a lot of attention for a couple of reasons. For one, they play on the West Coast. The second reason is they play in the NFC West, easily the worst division in all of football.

The NFC West has one great team in the Niners. The second best team in the division is either the Seattle Seahawks or Arizona Cardinals, depending upon which team you think is more terrible at 2-6.

The Cardinals entered 2011 as potential favorites to win the West. Many experts thought it was a two-team race between Arizona and the Sam Bradford-led St. Louis Rams.

With the addition of Kevin Kolb, probably the most sought after veteran quarterback on the market this offseason and the re-signing of Larry Fitzgerald to a huge contract, it wasn't hard to envision the Cards making a return to the postseason for the first time since the retirement of Kurt Warner.

Instead, it hasn't turned out as expected.

Kolb has been one of the most disappointing big-name acquisitions in the offseason. He has thrown just eight touchdowns in comparison to eight interceptions for an incredibly mediocre 77.9 QB rating.

The highlight of this 2-6 start has to be their Week 8 loss to the Ravens, which saw Baltimore come back from more than three touchdowns to defeat the hopeless Cardinals.

The Niners will win this division, and the best the Cardinals can hope for is runner-up in the worst division in the NFL.

Cardinals fans aren't exactly a raucous bunch, so it's not as if you saw these fans overly cocky with the addition of Kolb, but there's no doubt that there were high hopes for the Cardinals before the season.

As of the current moment, fans have already come to the conclusion that Kolb is a bust and some want John Skelton to start over him. Yes, the opinion of Kolb is that bad.

4. Washington Redskins

The Redskins can be included on a list like this every other year.

Washington fans are constantly teased by signs of greatness. 2011 is a perfect example of this.

The Redskins started off 3-1, including arguably a game that they could/should have won on Monday Night Football vs. the Cowboys that saw them lose to 18-16 in a gutsy comeback win by Tony Romo that saw him play through broken ribs to lead the Cowboys to victory.

This start led players such as starting running back Tim Hightower to predict that the Redskins would be in the Super Bowl.

Although no one, including Redskins fans, thought that Washington would actually be that successful, the belief was that they would have a great chance at winning the division.

Instead, the season has completely spiraled out of control.

The 'Skins have lost four straight games. People have repeatedly questioned whether Mike Shanahan really is a great coach, having won only one division title and one playoff game since the retirement of John Elway after the 1998 season. Key players such as Chris Cooley and Tim Hightower have been lost for the season due to injuries.

Starting quarterback Rex Grossman was benched after a four-interception effort against the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. The 'Skins currently start John Beck, who has never won an NFL game in his career after being drafted by the Dolphins in 2007.

It's safe to say that Washington won't be playing in the Super Bowl this year.

3. Dallas Cowboys

It's a funny thing with these NFC East teams. It's a combination of their fans being so passionate, which has a lot to do with these franchises having storied histories.

There aren't many franchises in the NFL that you can think of that have a more prestigious history than the Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl era.

Because of that storied history, there are always high expectations for this team every year.

The Cowboys have won one playoff game since 1996, and Tony Romo may be on his last legs in Dallas.

Despite being one of the best statistical quarterbacks over his six seasons starting in a Cowboys uniform, despite never suffering a losing season as a starting QB, Cowboys fans are getting a little bit uneasy about Romo.

Just take a look at 2011. The Cowboys opened up their season against the Jets at home. They had dominated and led this game throughout.

They led 23-10 at the beginning of the fourth quarter before losing the lead and eventually losing the game due to a miscue by Romo where he threw an interception with under a minute remaining that led to the winning score by the Jets.

Then look at Week 2. The Cowboys and Romo struggled against the Niners where he suffered a punctured lung and broken ribs. He ended up returning in the game to lead the Cowboys to the tying score to send the game into OT and eventually win the game on a touchdown pass.

Similar heroics apply in Week 3 when Romo plays through injured lung and ribs to lead the Cowboys to prime-time victory over the Redskins.

Let's look at Week 4. The Cowboys led by 24 points in a complete blowout of a game before Romo threw two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns in the second half which led to the Lions winning the game.

Depending upon which week it is, Tony Romo is either loved or hated by Cowboys fans.

2. Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs are 4-4 and tied for first place in the AFC West with the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers.

They're not a great team. They're not a good team. But they're certainly not the worst team in the NFL.

After starting 0-3 and getting completely outmatched in their first two games vs. the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions, the Chiefs rebounded to go 4-0 before losing most recently to the winless Miami Dolphins.

The reason the Chiefs are on this list is because of coach Todd Haley.

After the Chiefs started 0-3, you had fans calling for Haley to be fired. This is after a season in which he led the Chiefs to an unexpected AFC West title and got the absolute most out of a mediocre quarterback in Matt Cassel, turning him into a Pro Bowl quarterback.

Yes, he has lost key players such as Jamaal Charles, Eric Berry and Tony Moeaki to season ending injury. That is certainly no excuse for the way his players performed during their 0-3 start.

But it gets to a ridiculous point when Haley leads the Chiefs to a 4-0 run and you hear no fans calling for his firing, but then he coaches the team to a loss vs. the Dolphins and you have people calling him the worst coach in the league.

The Chiefs aren't a very talented team and they're worse due to the injuries of their most key players not named Dwayne Bowe. Haley isn't doing a magnificent job, but he has the team in first place in their division despite their terrible point differential and horrendous start to 2011.

At least delay all of the "worst coach in the league" talk until after the season is over.

1. Philadelphia Eagles

Well, what do you expect when you have your backup quarterback pronouncing his team the "dream team" before the season even starts?

The Eagles were supposed to be the Super Bowl champions. They were supposed to be the best team in the NFL with the additions of Vince Young, Ronnie Brown, Nnamdi Asomugha, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Jason Babin, Steve Smith, etc.

What has happened through half of the season is nothing resembling the best team in the NFL. The Eagles haven't even resembled a playoff team. They might not even make the playoffs in the tough NFC.

At 3-5, after having just lost an all-too-crucial MNF game vs. the Chicago Bears at home, the Eagles have been full of disappointment.

The Eagles turn the ball over too much, the defense isn't strong enough and Michael Vick has regressed in his second full season starting for the Eagles.

One week the Eagles suck. The next, they're supposedly the most dangerous team in the NFL after killing the Dallas Cowboys in front of a national television audience. The week after that, they're again the worst team in the NFL.

"The City of Brotherly Love" is already a tough place to play in. It'll be even tougher if the Eagles are to be sitting home this postseason after having such high expectations in August.