Traina Thoughts: Who Are the Most Exciting NFL Teams to Watch This Season?

Who are the must-watch teams of the 2018 NFL season?

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1. On the latest SI Media Podcast, I asked the NFL Network's Rich Eisen (who will call Sunday's Jags-Eagles game from London at 9:30 a.m. ET with Kurt Warner, Michael Irvin and Steve Mariucci) for his power rankings of the three most exciting teams to watch this season. His answer: 1) Rams, 2) Chiefs, 3) Bears.

Eisen said the Rams are the best team in the NFL and "it's not even close."

On the podcast, I gave my top three, but I'm going to expand the list for Traina Thoughts and give you my 10 Most Exciting Teams To Watch in 2018: 

1) Chiefs
2) Rams 
3) Browns
4) Patriots
5) Bears
6) Panthers
7) Steelers
8) Vikings
9) Packers
10) Eagles

The Rams are better than the Chiefs and just about as entertaining, but K.C. is a video game right now. Yes, the Browns are No. 3. Baker Mayfield is pure fun, their games are wild and usually end in ties and there is a train-wreck aspect to the team, mainly thanks to the head coach. Everyone takes the Patriots for granted, but it's still special to watch Tom Brady do his thing every week. Throw in an unstoppable Gronk and you never get short-changed watching New England. 

If Mitchell Trubisky improves just a little bit, the Bears could crack the top 3 because their offense is highly entertaining. Cam Newton alone gets the Panthers in at No. 6. Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen always put on a show for the Vikings. The only thing that needs to be said about the Packers is Aaron Rodgers. The Eagles round out the top 10 because it's always interesting to see how the defending champs handle their post-Super Bowl season. Plus, head coach Doug Peterson is a true wild card and is good for a few wacky decisions each week.

I want to hear from you. Hit me up on Twitter and give me your Top 10.

2. Speaking of the SI Media Podcast, WFAN's Mike Francesa went off yesterday on New York Post columnist Andrew Marchand over Marchand allegedly "reporting" on a podcast that Mike only had 300 subscribers to his app. The podcast in question took place on Sept. 20 during which Marchand mentioned "300 subscribers" (at the 1 hour and 10 minute mark) in an offhanded manner while explaning how it might be tough for Francesa to gets guests for his app. "I just can't imagine if you're the Green Bay Packers p.r. guy and they call you up and say we'd like to have Mike McCarthy on and they say, 'What's your listenership? ... Well we have, you know, 300 people who downloaded this app'," said Marchand.

Mike took this throwaway line as "reporting" that he had 300 subscribers. In fact, a few weeks later, after Mike mentioned on his show that someone had reported he had 300 subscribers, I asked Marchand if the reporter in question was him (at the 22-minute mark below). That's how insignificant his inital remark was. Neither of us had even remembered Marchand's saracastic line from previous weeks back.

If all of this seems confusing to you, I understand. It is confusing. Awful Announcing has a much better recap of the entire brouhaha.

Now that we got all that out of the way, in the middle of getting blasted by The Sports Pope, Marchand dropped this outstanding feature on Francesa's former partner and current SiriusXM/MLB Network host Chris "Mad Dog" Russo.

3. Awesome job by ESPN's Scott Van Pelt on Wednesday night having Purdue sophomore and superfan Tyler Trent on SportsCenter to discuss the Boilermakers' upset win over Ohio State on Saturday and how he was able to make it to the game despite undergoing treatments for cancer.

4. You know James Connor was so happy JuJu didn't have a winning ticket.

JuJu Smith-Schuster bought 100-plus Mega Millions tickets this week. As his interview concluded, he said, "I tried to win it so we could get Le'Veon back. It didn't work."

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) October 24, 2018

Man @LeVeonBell I did my best for you!!! No luck tho 😭😂 https://t.co/yFmXylmFgm

— JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu) October 24, 2018

5. He should preside over the court in a cutoff hoodie instead of a robe.

6. Great photo from Steph Curry's 51-point performance against the Wizards on Wednesday night.

Steph Curry with the shot. pic.twitter.com/bTumpOLz64

— The Sporting News Archives (@sportsphotos) October 25, 2018

7. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: Got sooooooo depressed yesterday when my colleague, and current Hot Clicks author, Dan Gartland told me he was 2 years old when the infamous O.J. car chase happened. It just blows my mind that I work with people who did not experience watching the Knicks-Rockets playoff game get interrupted by the breaking news story. I'll never be able to properly explain how insane that night was, but here's how it looked for those who were taking in an NBA playoff game on NBC on June 17, 1994.

Traina Thoughts is the best of the Internet, plus musings by SI.com writer, Jimmy Traina. Get the link to a new Traina's Thoughts each day by following on Twitter and liking on Facebook. Catch up on previous editions of Traina Thoughts right here.And make sure to listen to and subscribe to the SI Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina.

IN CLOSING: There was no chance whatsoever Vince McMahon was ever going to back down from doing his show in Saudi Arabia. No. Chance.