Monday night’s 14-touchdown, 1,001-yard, 105-point instant NFL classic was a cross-generational pre-Thanksgiving feast that fed the new-school crowd at the kids table and the grumpy, old-school recliner guys who want some proof that defense has a future in an over-officiated league.

Not only fun to watch, the Rams’ 54-51 victory over the Chiefs in Los Angeles felt transformational on a grand stage. Perhaps in a way the AFL felt when it started advancing football’s evolution five decades ago.

But Monday wasn’t just deep passes offsetting 3 yards and a cloud of dust. It was fearless, full-throttled football in a league that’s shifting away from playing it safe. It was high-volume offenses that include everything and the kitchen sink. And aggressive defenses that literally took matters into their own hands by scoring 21 points themselves.

Of course, it helped that both teams were 9-1. That both defenses have All-Pro caliber playmakers. That the quarterbacks are elite, mobile, big-armed and remarkably unshaken by the kind of adversity that often shatters a passer under 25.

But this was football with an attitude that says, “We’ll just outscore our mistakes.” Kind of like how the PGA Tour evolved.

Before a man named Tiger showed up, most golfers kept it in the fairway, hit a long iron in and tried to make a lengthy birdie putt. Today, golf’s superstars blast it anywhere, wedge it out of the rough and make the kick-in birdie.

It’s a gridiron style of grip it and rip it that’s going to make it awful hard for some teams to keep pace.

A good example came on Sunday in Jacksonville.

The Jaguars led Pittsburgh 9-0 at halftime. They were plus-2 in the turnover ratio and were pounding the Steelers with franchise running back Leonard Fournette and a ground game that had 141 yards and a 5.4-yard average.

Thirteen minutes later, Jacksonville led 16-0 with 17 minutes to play. In a sign of the times, the Steelers won 20-16 as Ben Roethlisberger simply outscored his many mistakes and Jacksonville played with a coach and quarterback so filled with the fear of losing that they were doomed to not winning.

By Mark Craig

Star Tribune