Sports News With The NFL

No one was excited by the prospect of the New York Giants and San Francisco Giants playing on Monday Night Football.

The Giants had won just one of their first eight games, the 49ers two of nine. The Giants are quarterbacked by a hectored, harassed and aging Eli Manning; the 49ers are on their third starting quarterback in Nick Mullens.

So these are not exactly contenders. There is no drama. And the backdrop of the devastating California fires hung over the whole affair in Santa Clara, Calif., smoking the stadium like a giant brisket. The halftime fireworks were canceled due to concerns about air quality.

So it is no wonder ESPN spent so much of the pregame time talking up next Monday’s meeting in Mexico City between the Kansas City Chiefs, who are both 9-1 and could meet again in the Super Bowl (yes, there’s a long way to go, but …).

The Chiefs lead the NFL in scoring with 353 points; the Rams are third with 335. Both run creative offensive schemes with young, versatile quarterbacks (Patrick Mahomes for the Chiefs, Jared Goff for the Rams). The matchup and the locale are enticing and exotic. And, of course, the stakes are high. Kansas City holds a two-game lead on the New England Patriots for home field in the AFC playoffs, and traditionally the road to the Super Bowl runs through Foxborough, Mass.

Can’t blame ESPN for hyping a game week away. What was there to say about the Giants, whose problems are too numerous to document here, and the 49ers, who await Jimmy Garoppolo’s return next season at QB and for a young roster to grow up? We’ve just said it.

At the end the old QB led a game-winning drive capped by a touchdown pass and his team went home a 27-23 victor. Fun ending, but the prologue was a catalog of mistakes and miscues.

Some games we enjoy. Some games we endure. This Monday’s was the latter. The next should be quite savory.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman