More often than not, there’s a stubborn reality that defines the month of December for NFL teams: After months of stitching or disguising one problem after the next, the final weeks become an unrelenting practice in nakedness.
Players are never as healthy as they could be. A large portion of the offensive playbook has been aired out. Defensive liabilities have been exposed. The coaching staff is ragged from adjustments. The personnel department is frustrated with some lack of development. And over the shoulder of the entire operation, someone in ownership is cataloguing all the defining questions for the rank and file.