Oh, the NFL gods are a fickle bunch, aren’t they?

A team is dead in the water one week, only to be in the thick of the race the next.

A team is the best thing since sliced bread and the NFL RedZone channel one game and then stink like Blaine Gabbert the next.

That’s why we love the game so darn much.

The more you think you know, the less, in fact, you actually do know.

You don’t have to look far for a perfect example of this. Right in our own back yard we have the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team left for dead and proclaimed a failure just seven weeks ago after an 0-4 start.

Now look at the Black and Gold. They are 5-6. That’s not a record to run through the streets cheering about to be sure, but one that puts them very much in the race for the sixth playoff spot in the very average AFC.

Once you shake off the trytophan hangover and pry your eyes open for the Turkey Night game between the hated Baltimore Ravens and the Steelers, be prepared to watch a game that may very well decide Pittsburgh’s playoff fate.

Things in the NFL can change faster than Minnesota Vikings’ quarterbacks.

Here are some other things that we thought we knew that may very well be true, but don’t seem very true right now:

The Colts and Chiefs maybe aren’t who we thought they were.

Not even Dennis Green can figure out these two crazy teams.

The Indianapolis Colts looked like that team just a few weeks ago. That team is a team that quietly goes about its business, piles up wins and before you know it is in the Super Bowl.

A few weeks later, they look like a team that maybe isn’t quite as good as they looked through the first eight weeks.

Meanwhile the Chiefs looked like they had assembled a defense on par with the greatest units in NFL history until it coughed up 68 points in back-to-back losses.

Why did the Steelers force Bruce Arians to “retire” again?

Arians “retired” as Pittsburgh’s offensive coordinator in 2011. In reality, he was fired.

Since his exodus from the ‘Burgh, he has filled in for Chuck Pagano in Indy and lead the Colts to the playoffs in 2012 and now he has the Arizona Cardinals 7-4 and heading toward the playoffs.

Arians, who won NFL Coach of the Year with the Colts last season, could very well earn the award again with the Cardinals this season.

Top that, Todd Haley.

First to worst.

Flop-flopping in the standings happens all the time, but this year it has been extreme.

Four of the eight division winners from last season are in last place this season.

Another, Carolina, is one game out of first place following a seven-game winning streak.

It’s just the crazy, wacky NFL, which famously stands for Not For Long.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.