One-on-One: Our never-too-early look at intriguing 2019 NFL games

Mueller: It's sound logic to try and identify an early marquee matchup on the schedule because of the inherent uncertainty that accompanies every NFL season. That said, when baseball is still going strong, I never quite feel like the NFL has my full attention, nor do the games feel quite as pivotal. A loss in Week 1 or Week 2 doesn't derail a team. The games can be fun, and can be compelling, but the weather needs to start turning for me to feel like the best matchups are afoot. 

It seems ridiculous to include "Cleveland Browns" and "marquee game" in the same sentence, but for long-suffering Browns fans, the shoe finally fits. The NFL loves its parity, but it needs traditional powerhouses and up-and-coming teams in equal measure to keep the league from being an uninteresting pile of 7-9, 8-8 and 9-7 teams. The Browns fall into the latter category, and have generated borderline insane hype this off-season, due in part to the fact that they were so irrelevant for so long that a pendulum swing to the other extreme, at least in terms of media coverage, was inevitable.

By late October, we'll probably have a good sense of what they are or are not. Week 8's clash with New England should crystallize things completely. The stories write themselves. Baker Mayfield, who doesn't have quite the reputation of a guy like Patrick Mahomes, could quickly acquire one by going into Tom Brady's house and beating him. This game checks every other box. Old guard versus new kid on the block, Bill Belichick against the team that cut him loose what feels like a lifetime ago, and the NFL's "it" team of the off-season against the one that seems to end up hosting the Lombardi Trophy more often than not.

New England will (presumably) still be figuring out a post-Gronkowski offensive identity, and if the Browns come in firing on all cylinders offensively, it could make for a thoroughly entertaining shootout. Moreover, it will be something of a litmus test for the Patriots. Lately, they've been a team that peaks late in the season, but that is usually preceded by a clear, steady build that tends to start around the season's halfway point. If they stifle Mayfield and the Browns, it will be a warning sign to the rest of the league that it's business as usual in Foxboro.

Tunison: Well, since we're dabbling into the later portions of the season, I'll throw caution to the wind and go for one in the waning weeks of 2019: Chiefs at Bears in Week 16. Obviously, neither of us has a firm idea how the season is going to play out, and we've established a few playoff teams from the previous year don't make it back the next. If I have to play a guessing game, I figure one of these teams will have their playoff berth secured by the penultimate week of the season (most likely the Chiefs but not necessarily) while the other will be on the bubble. 

In 2018, Chicago got its first postseason trip in nearly a decade, only for it to flame out in a bizarre double-doink missed field goal, costing them a game they should have won. More likely than not, that did more to whet the appetite of Bears fans for success than satisfy it. Three days before Christmas, it's almost certainly going to be, as Chicagoans say, Bears weather. Chicago fans should be pumped, and it's on "Sunday Night Football," so the attention of the nation will be there.

How the Bears measure up is going to be curious regardless. Their defense was formidable last season, and they signed  cornerbacks Buster Skrine and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix in the off-season to beef up the secondary. Their draft class isn't as bountiful given what they sacrificed to get Khalil Mack, so the pressure will be on those guys to make a difference. 

You also have the angle of Matt Nagy against former mentor Andy Reid. Nagy oversaw great strides by Mitch Trubisky in 2018, and the Bears could occasionally be offensively explosive, though by no means as much as Kansas City. Whereas the Bears topped 30 points four times last regular season, the Chiefs did it 12 times. Heck, KC went over 40 points five times. So if Chicago has to go score-for-score to win, it will be intriguing to see if Nagy has any wrinkles capable of fooling his former boss and his current staff.

Mueller: The Bears fascinate me insofar as that game with the Chiefs could be hugely significant for them from a playoff seeding perspective, or it could be hugely significant for them from a "is Matt Nagy the right guy to lead this team?" perspective. If Trubisky regresses this year and Chicago scuffles, even with that great defense, fans are not going to be patient. I mention this because I think it is a real possibility. Trubisky doesn't seem anywhere close to Baker Mayfield's level, to say nothing of Mahomes, and I suspect those two are going to be the young quarterbacks against whom all other guys are measured for the next decade.

I'll stay late in the season with another selection, and roll the dice that both of these teams will be as advertised -- how about Rams at Cowboys in Week 15? As of now, Cowboys QB Dak Prescott still doesn't have a new contract, and there are some questions about whether it would be prudent for Dallas to give him one. Meantime, Jared Goff had gaudy numbers last season (364-for-561, 4,688 yards, 32 TDs), but his Super Bowl performance was so bad that it felt right to question whether he was the right man to lead the Rams long-term. 

Maybe I'm crazy for saying it, and maybe his struggles were a byproduct of a dinged-up Todd Gurley and Bill Belichick's general mastery, but I have this creeping sense that he's more a Sean McVay creation than anything. We should know plenty about the Rams by this point in the season, and this playoff rematch could have major playoff implications. Will the real franchise quarterback please stand up?