The Milwaukee Brewers won their first championship in the 57-year history of the franchise on Wednesday night.
I am a Milwaukee native and lifelong Brewers fan.
When the Brewers were swept by the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series last year, I wondered whether the Brewers would win a championship in my lifetime. I am playing the back nine of my life, to use a golf analogy – and I’m not on the 10th hole.
Sure, the Brewers were going to get more sips at the saucer. They had a great young nucleus and the best farm system in baseball.
Still, the loss to the Dodgers made things feel hopeless. Milwaukee is the smallest market in MLB, and the Brewers are always going to be outspent by big-market teams.
After reckoning with the possibility that my favorite baseball team would never win a World Series, I decided the following:
So what?
With or without a championship, Brewers fandom has enriched my life. The time spent watching games, listening to the late great Bob Uecker calling games on the radio, attending games and tailgating in the parking lot beforehand – it was all time well spent.
So was the time spent talking with friends and family about the Brewers, debating batting orders and bullpen pecking orders, praising or cursing players.
The memories of riding Milwaukee County buses to Brewers games with friends and buying cheap bleacher tickets when we were kids are priceless. So is the memory of taking my kids to their first Brewers game.
There are people who are rabid fans of terrible NFL teams. There are Tennessee Titans fans who will plan the coming Sunday around the Titans-Bengals game, even though the Titans are 1-6.
They’ll draw up elaborate plans for themselves and the fellow Titans fans in their lives – where they’ll watch the game, what they’ll eat and drink during the game. Maybe they’ll attend an early church service so they can be home in time for kickoff.
That the Titans are bad doesn’t matter. In fact, the Titans’ current mediocrity will make it that much more satisfying when the Titans are good again.
The Titans came within a foot of winning a Super Bowl in January 2000. There are undoubtedly Titans fans out there wondering if their team will win a Super Bowl in their lifetimes.
I can relate. The Brewers lost the 1982 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games after being up 3-2 in the series. (I still contend that the Brewers would have won had Hall of Fame closer Rollie Fingers not been hurt.) It took 44 years for the Brewers to get back to the World Series.
It will be wonderful if Titans fans get their Super Bowl win someday. But even if they don’t, those people’s lives will have been better off for having watched Steve McNair and Eddie George – and even for having watched all the lousy players the Titans have fielded over the years.
Being a fan isn’t only about celebrating the big victories. The essence of fandom is being part of a fan culture – part of a tribe.
May your tribe soon experience the sort of joy my tribe is feeling this week.
Now, let’s look at the 10 most intriguing fantasy football players of Week 8.
After missing three games with an ankle injury, Lamar Jackson has been practicing the last few days and is expected to return for Week 8.
The Ravens need their superhero QB back in the worst way. They went 1-2 in his absence, with the one win an overtime affair against the Falcons. Last week, they were outgunned by Joe Burrow and the Bengals and lost 35-13.
Jackson returns for a showdown with Buffalo, which has been a primary AFC nemesis for Baltimore during Jackson’s career. A duel between Jackson and Bills QB Josh Allen should be fun. The Vegas total for this game is 54.5 points.
Obviously, Jackson is a needle-mover in the fantasy realm. He’s also a rainmaker for teammates, and some of them are parched.
Derrick Henry, in particular, needs to come out of his dry spell. The Jackson-Henry combination has been electric during Henry’s two-plus seasons in Baltimore. But with Tyler Huntley at quarterback the last three weeks, Henry has averaged 3.5 yards per carry and hasn’t scored a touchdown. Over the first four weeks of the season, Henry averaged 4.2 yards per carry and scored seven touchdowns. It’s possible the 32-year-old Henry is just slowing down, but Henry’s investors are anxious to test that theory with Jackson back at QB.
In three games with Jackson at QB this season, WR Zay Flowers has averaged 16.8 yards per target and 6.64 yards per route run, with 0.40 targets per route run and an average depth of target of 10.38 yards, according to Fantasy Points Data.
In Huntley’s three starts at QB, Flowers has averaged 11.6 yards per target and 2.44 yards per route run, with 0.29 targets per route run and an average depth of target of 6.53 yards.
Rookie WR Ja’Kobi Lane, who wowed onlookers in training camp, could become a thing this year, but he needs Jackson to help him achieve liftoff.
The Ravens can’t be their best selves without Lamar Jackson. It’s good to have him back.
Who is this imposter wearing AJ Brown’s jersey?
Brown’s stakeholders rejoiced when the longtime star returned to action in Week 6 after missing four games with a high-ankle sprain. But Brown has looked nothing like the guy who authored six 1,000-yard seasons and scored 57 touchdowns over his first seven NFL seasons.
In his first game back, Brown was targeted 10 times but had only three catches for 27 yards. He had three drops and seemed to be having trouble tracking some of QB Drake Maye‘s throws.
Last week, in his second game back, Brown had three catches for 48 yards on six targets. Brown was wearing defenders like a well-tailored suit. There was virtually zero separation. You couldn’t have slid a credit card between Brown and his defenders.
Will Brown finally get it going against the Dolphins this weekend in Miami?
After spending four games on injured reserve with a high-ankle sprain, Jonah Coleman returned in Week 7 and had nine carries for 54 yards and two catches for 15 yards in the Broncos’ 30-16 win over the Cardinals.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton has been known to manage his backfields in unpredictable ways, but Coleman would seem to be the chairman of Denver’s RB committee. He played 30 snaps last week, RJ Harvey played 16, and JK Dobbins played 14.
We thought Coleman might be ready to lead the backfield in Week 3. He was coming off a 10-carry, 39-yard game against the Jaguars, who might have the best run defense in the league. Harvey and Dobbins reportedly both had hamstring issues.
It turned out that Harvey and Dobbins were fine and played in Week 3, but Coleman had a high-ankle sprain and was placed on injured reserve.
Coleman is probably the Broncos’ most complete back. The 5-8, 220-pound Coleman isn’t particularly fast, but he has good vision and terrific contact balance. He’s a capable pass catcher and a good pass blocker.
The rookie from the University of Washington gets a tricky but not terrifying Week 8 matchup against a Chiefs run defense that ranks eighth in DVOA and 13th in EPA per rush.
The “squeaky wheel” game is one of those fantasy football things that can’t be quantified, but longtime fantasy managers will swear that it’s an actual thing.
An accomplished pass catcher suddenly becomes less involved in his team’s offense and sees fewer targets. He makes his displeasure known. The squeaky wheel then gets the grease, as the targets return and the receiver gets back on track with a big game.
Garrett Wilson had 21 catches for 243 yards and two touchdowns over his first three games of 2026. He’s had 45 or fewer receiving yards in three of his last four games. Over the last two weeks, Wilson has had six catches for 70 yards and no touchdowns.
Wilson has expressed frustration, although he clarified earlier this week that he does not want to be traded and is mostly frustrated that the Jets have lost five of their last six games.
Perhaps we’ll get a squeaky-wheel game from Wilson when the Jets host the Raiders this week.
Thing is, Wilson has target competition. Rookie WR Omar Cooper Jr. looks like a budding star. Talented but inconsistent WR Adonai Mitchell is back from a finger injury. And the Jets have two promising young tight ends in Kenyon Sadiq and Mason Taylor.
Joe Burrow and Dak Prescott might be able to help multiple pass catchers maintain high-level fantasy value, but Jets QB Geno Smith might not be able to do that.
It will be fascinating to see what Wilson’s target total is this Sunday.
Justin Jefferson has played five games this season (he missed Week 4 with an ankle injury) and hasn’t had a big day since he had eight catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns against the Packers in Week 1.
Jefferson’s weekly fantasy finishes this season in half-point PPR scoring: WR3, WR40, WR72, WR15, WR36.
The Vikings have a big divisional showdown with the Lions in Detroit on Sunday. The Lions’ pass defense has been atrocious for most of the season, so perhaps this is a get-right spot for Jefferson.
But Detroit got safety Brian Branch back from a torn Achilles last week, and the Lions did a reasonably good job of keeping QB Jordan Love and the explosive Green Bay passing game in check during a 20-17 Detroit victory. The Lions’ other star safety, Kirby Joseph, has been out all season with a knee injury, but Joseph returned to practice this week and could potentially play on Sunday.
This might not be a get-right spot for Jefferson after all.
Vikings QB Kyler Murray is averaging 6.5 yards per pass attempt, has thrown three TD passes in four full games, and ranks 22nd in passer rating. It’s not entirely Jefferson’s fault that he ranks WR29 in half-point PPR fantasy points per game. It might not even be 30% his fault.
That’s of little solace to Jefferson’s point-starved fantasy investors.
The Great Colston Loveland Panic of 2026 may be over.
Through the first five weeks of the season, Loveland had 13 catches for 110 yards and zero touchdowns. He was TE36 in half-point PPR fantasy scoring, with 1.1 fewer fantasy points than Nate Adkins of the Broncos.
There were plausible explanations for the slow start. Bears QB Caleb Williams missed three of those five games. One of the games Loveland played with Williams featured monsoon-like rain and wind in Chicago.
Still, fantasy managers who spent an early-round pick on Loveland were greatly displeased. Some even dropped the young tight end.
Over the last two weeks, Loveland has caught 13 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns. He has been the TE1 in half-point PPR scoring over that span.
Loveland and the Bears get a daunting Monday-night matchup against the Seahawks, who are giving up a league-low 158 passing yards per game and are yielding the third-fewest fantasy points per game to TEs.
Tony Pollard scored one touchdown in his first six games of 2026. He punched in three touchdowns against the Browns in Week 7 and perhaps had another touchdown stolen from him when it was ruled that his knee touched the ground just before the football he was carrying crossed the plane of the goal line. (It was as close a call as you’ll ever see.)
Pollard has been shouldering a heavy rushing load. He had seven carries in Week 1. Since Week 2, he’s averaged 17.5 carries and 73.8 rushing yards per game.
Although he isn’t adding much value as a pass catcher, with 11 catches for 50 yards, Pollard is RB15 in half-point PPR fantasy scoring and RB18 in fantasy points per game among RBs who have played more than one game. But the three touchdowns last week did a lot of the heavy lifting in those rankings. Going into Week 7, Pollard was RB19 in half-point PPR fantasy scoring, RB25 in fantasy points per game.
With QB Cam Ward and the Tennessee passing game chronically erratic, can Pollard be the linchpin of the Titans’ offense? And can he become a dependable must-start for his fantasy stakeholders?
Pollard gets a challenging Week 8 matchup against the Bengals, whose run defense has made huge strides since the offseason arrival of former Giants DT Dexter Lawrence. The Bengals’ run defense ranks seventh in DVOA.
Wouldn’t it be fun if KC Concepcion became a star?
The rookie from Texas A&M is so dangerous after the catch. Trying to bring down Concepcion after the catch is like trying to tackle a greased greyhound.
Concepcion had eight catches for 129 yards last week in the Browns’ 27-24 win over the Titans. His fingerprints were all over the Browns’ fifth victory of the season.
But it was Concepcion’s first big game of the season. In his previous six games, only once had he produced more than 43 receiving yards.
Concepcion’s second-best game of the season came against the Steelers in Week 4, when he had five catches for 64 yards. The Browns won that game 27-24 on a Thursday night, and they have a rematch against the Steelers Sunday in Pittsburgh.
Let’s see what Concepcion can do for an encore. Despite his modest success against the Steelers in the first meeting, Pittsburgh has allowed the seventh-fewest fantasy points per game to slot receivers, per Fantasy Points Data. Concepcion has played 63.7% of his snaps from the slot.
What are the chances Patrick Mahomes gives us two straight poor performances?
The future Hall of Famer struggled mightily against the Seahawks last week, completing 19-of-33 passes for 165 yards with no touchdowns and one interception in a 20-3 loss. At no point in that game did the Chiefs’ offense ever reach the red zone.
Mahomes gets another touch matchup this week against the Broncos in Denver. The Broncos’ pass defense ranks fourth in expected points added per pass and fifth in DVOA. Denver is giving up 5.8 yards per pass attempt.
Mahomes could get a key pass catcher back from injury. WR Rashee Rice has missed Kansas City’s last two games with hamstring/knee issues but has returned to practice this week.
Despite the caliber of the Denver pass defense and the hostile surroundings, I would be disinclined to bet against Mahomes this week.
Is Parker Washington a star-level WR1 or more of a very good WR2?
Washington is currently tied for WR14 in half-point PPR scoring at 13.2 along with Matthew Golden and Tetairoa McMillan.
The 24-year-old Washington has had some big games. He had five catches for 83 yards and a touchdown vs. the Browns. He had seven catches for 98 yards against the Broncos. He had six catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns against the Eagles.
But Washington has also had a couple of duds. He had one catch for seven yards against the Bengals. When we last saw him before the Jaguars’ Week 7 bye, Washington was targeted 11 times against the Texans but had only four catches for 64 yards.
Washington could be poised for a big week against the Colts. Washington has lined up in the slot on 42.2% of his snaps, and Indianapolis is giving up 17.7 half-point PPR fantasy points per game to slot receivers, fifth-most in the league.
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