The 4 remaining NFL teams have one thing in common and it may be a sign of where the league is headed
- The Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, Los Angeles Rams, and New Orleans Saints are the last teams remaining in contention for Super Bowl LIII.
- For the first time in NFL history, the four highest-scoring offenses reached the conference championship games.
- Once upon a time, strong defense was the ticket to the Super Bowl, but the offense now reigns supreme.
- Take the over.
The Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, Los Angeles Rams, and New Orleans Saints are the last teams standing after an NFL season rife with big names, broken records, and high-scoring games.
So what is it about these four teams that have gotten them through to the AFC and NFC championships? They have the best offenses in football.
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Elite offenses have been all the rage in the NFL this season, and no team embraced this more than the Chiefs. Kansas City led the league with a whopping 565 points - or 40.4 points per game - during the 2018-19 regular season thanks in large part to sensational quarterback Patrick Mahomes' 50 touchdown passes and 5,097 passing yards. The Chiefs, unsurprisingly, also ranked first in the NFL with 425.6 yards per game.
The Los Angeles Rams sit at second on that list with 421.1 yards per game and clock in at third with 504 total points on the season. Rams quarterback Jared Goff threw for 32 touchdowns to power the passing game, while superstar running back Todd Gurley scored a league-high 17 rushing touchdowns. It's no wonder, then, that Los Angeles ranked in the top five in the NFL in both passing and rushing yards per game during the regular season.
The only team besides Kansas City that scored more points than the Rams this season was the New Orleans Saints. Quarterback Drew Brees broke the all-time NFL passing record and dazzled for the entire season with 266.1 yards per game and 32 touchdowns, good for a league-high 115.7 passer rating. He torched the Philadelphia Eagles with 301 passing yards and two touchdowns, and he'll look to do more of the same against the Rams Sunday afternoon.
The New England Patriots - a perennial playoff contender - round out the top four in scoring offenses with 27.3 points per game. The Patriots ranked fifth in the NFL with 393.4 yards of total offense per game. Their balanced offense came in large part from the combined effort of Tom Brady and Sony Michel. Brady recorded 4,355 passing yards and 29 touchdowns in what was widely considered an "off" season, while Michel paced the running game with 931 rushing yards.
Once upon a time, strong defense was the ticket to the Super Bowl. But between boasting the third-highest scoring contest and the third-highest scoring average in NFL history, this season was a turning point for the league. The offense now reigns supreme, and teams are ready to go all-in on high-octane offense. The four teams remaining in contention for Super Bowl LIII are the perfect embodiment of this trend, so if I were a betting woman, I would take the over.