Updating the Luck-o-Meter

Early on I posted a list of eight teams I thought were likely playing for the consolation prize of Andrew Luck rather than the Championship prize, the Lombardi Trophy. I think I’ll update that every couple weeks with a top three list.

3. Indianapolis Colts: Originally I put Miami in this spot. But they’ve shown some promise and Chad Henne looks like he might actually be improving. The Colts have been inept. And while I don’t think they are a lost cause, their defense more than the lack of Peyton Manning has prevented them from even being competitive. Ben Tate and Peyton Hillis have crushed them and Rashard Mendenhall probably will do so this weekend. I do think they’ll figure it out on offense and win some games, but right now they look closer to the Luck mix than I thought they would.

2. Seattle Seahawks: Tarvaris Jackson has looked about how a veteran observer of his play would expect him to look. He has a reasonably high completion percentage … because he usually throws about three yards downfield. My theory was that the Seahawks were actually playing for Luck rather than truly trying to compete for wins so far and so far I’ve been right. They’ll be right there in the mix at the end of the season. However …

1. Kansas City Chiefs: While Seattle has been as terrible as expected, nobody has been worse so far than Kansas City. Nor has anyone had worse luck with injuries. The Chiefs lost tight end Tony Moeaki for the season before it began and top safety Eric Berry during the opener. Week two presented the worst loss of all thus far when running back Jamaal Charles went down with an ACL tear.

Matt Cassel’s production combined during the last four games has barely outperformed each of rookie Cam Newton’s starts thus far. And going back to January when Charlie Weis announced he was leaving for the University of Florida, Kansas City has been outscored in three regular season games and a playoff game by the combined score of 150-27. The Chiefs were due to come back to earth a bit this year after taking advantage of a fourth place schedule last season. But it’s amazing just how far this team has fallen. Right now they are the runaway leader in the Luck sweepstakes.