Week 14

DETROIT LIONS (44) vs. DALLAS COWBOYS (30)

This week’s Thursday Night Football game brought us everything we could have wanted between two teams fighting for a spot in the playoffs. Both offenses were outstanding in a tour de force, but at the end of the day, one made the least amount of mistakes and that was the reason why they won.

The biggest shock of the night was that after missing an entire week of practice due to an ankle injury, Amon-Ra St. Brown was cleared to play in what was essentially a “win or go home” game for the Lions. Their offense got the ball to start the game and on Jared Goff’s first pass attempt, he wasted no time finding the All-Pro wide receiver and it turned out to be the first of six catches.

In the first half, Detroit had control of the game. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery each found the end zone to keep the team in front, while the defense forced three field goals and a lost fumble off a dumpoff pass to Jake Ferguson. Entering halftime, the Cowboys were trailing 20-9 and they needed to dig themselves out of a hge hole. Fortunately for them, the offense was going to get the ball to start the third quarter, so a touchdown drive would get them right back in the game. 

On the very first play of the third quarter, a pass from Prescott bounced off the hands of George Pickens and intercepted by Derrick Barnes, who returned it all the way to the 14 yard line. A couple plays later, wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa got wide open in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown and all of a sudden, the Lions were ahead 27-9. To make matters worse for Dallas, CeeDee Lamb suffered a concussion on the ensuing possession, so their offense was even more limited. 

However, just like their last two victories against Philadelphia and Kansas City, the team never quit. Throughout the rest of the third quarter, the Cowboys offense scored 10 points on their next two drives and the special teams blocked a field goal attempt from Jake Bates to keep it a one-score game! At the start of the fourth quarter, Dallas was only down by eight points so all the defense needed to do was string together a few more stops and the offense would do the rest to win!

There is a reason why Dan Campbell has been the best head coach the Lions ever had. In the final 15 minutes, the defense was still starting to crack but the offense made sure the team did not shatter. Every time the Cowboys kept making it a one-score game, Detroit always found a way to pull ahead. Eventually, Dallas’ magic ran out and a late interception by DJ Reed sealed the deal. 

It was pretty obvious to see why the Lions won this game. Their defense forced three momentum-swinging takeaways, their offense capitalized on those chances and they found a way to close the deal in the fourth quarter. They were certainly not perfect, but Detroit just had the better team. Dallas had their chances, but just like Tony Romo on game-winning field goal attempts, they fumbled them away.

The Lions get a huge win at home to keep their playoff hopes alive at 8-5 and will now travel across the country for an even bigger challenge as they take on the Los Angeles Rams. The Cowboys lose a tough one on the road to finish the week 6-6-1 and will head back home for a Sunday night matchup against the Minnesota Vikings.

MIAMI DOLPHINS (34) vs. NEW YORK JETS (10)

This game just felt over before it even started. It only took the Dolphins offense four plays to score a touchdown on the opening drive, they were already ahead 21-0 early in the first quarter and to make matters worse for the Jets, Tyrod Taylor got knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury after throwing an interception to Tyrel Dodson. The backup quarterback for New York? Brady Cook. 

Miami used a simple old-school formula to win the game at MetLife Stadium: play great defense and run the ball effectively. In Cook’s first NFL action, he completed 14 of 30 passes for 163 yards with no touchdowns, two interceptions and six sacks taken. The Jets went one for twelve on third down and the only time the team did reach the end zone was off an 83 yard punt return from Isaiah Williams. I was wrong; perhaps Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson aren’t the only bright spots for this football team.

Tua Tagovailoa didn’t have that great of a showing, but to be fair, he wasn’t asked to do too much. The Dolphins ran for 239 yards on Sunday afternoon and the ironic part is that De’Von Achane wasn’t even the leading rusher. Instead, Jaylen Wright had his first breakout game with 107 yards on 24 touches. It’s what allowed Miami to dominate the time of possession 36-24 and more importantly, go a perfect four for four in the red zone. It feels like I’m watching a carbon copy of the 2021 season for this football team: get off to a horrible start, look like all hope is lost and then feast off a cakewalk schedule to finish with a decent record. The Dolphins might still be flawed, but as I’ve said before, I like that Mike McDaniel hasn’t lost all faith or hope in his guys and vice versa.

The Dolphins win their fourth game in a row and are only one game back from 500 at 6-7, but will stay on the road to play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football. The Jets are unfortunately back in a state of misery as they fall to 3-10 and will now take the road to face the Jacksonville Jaguars.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS (27) vs. BALTIMORE RAVENS (22)

The AFC North might be incredibly weak this season, but it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t have a high-stakes game between the Steelers and Ravens. With four games left to play, each of these teams needed a win badly or else their playoff chances were going to sink into a freefall.

After Baltimore kicked a field goal on their opening drive, Pittsburgh’s offense finally came to life after what felt like a month-long sump. On their first play, Aaron Rodgers fired a 52 yard shot to DK Metcalf down the right sideline all the way into the red zone, and the quarterback capped it off with a wide open rushing score on third down. Early in the second quarter, Lamar Jackson floated an easy interception to James Pierre that gave the Steelers the ball back at the 36 yard line. The Ravens managed to force a field goal, but a leverage penalty gifted the opposition an automatic first down and Kenneth Gainwell capitalized with a rushing touchdown to make the score 17-3. 

From that point on, Baltimore kept the game close, but they had to play keep-up for the rest of the afternoon. For instance, the Steelers got the ball to start the third quarter and kicked a field goal to give themselves another double digit lead. Not too long afterwards, a 53 yard burst from Keaton Mitchell set up a wide open touchdown to Isaiah Likely that cut the deficit to four, only for the Ravens defense to let Jaylen Warren get free on a 31 yard touchdown of his own. 

At the start of the fourth quarter, Baltimore was down 27-16 at home but there was still plenty of time to climb back and win the game. The defense did their job by forcing three straight three-and-outs with only three yards surrendered. The offense, unfortunately, couldn’t take advantage of their chances. On their first possession of the period, Rashod Bateman dropped a wide open pass that would have led to a touchdown from the 10 yard line, forcing the offense to kick a field goal and cut their deficit to eight. Once again, the offense marched all the way inside the red zone, but the drive stalled out for yet another field goal. However, the Ravens got yet another chance with more than five minutes remaining. 

On third and eight at the Pittsburgh 46 yard line, Zay Flowers got free for a 33 yard catch-and-run, setting the offense up inside the fifteen once again. One play later, it appeared that Likely would give Baltimore the lead they had been searching for with a touchdown reception. But after further review, it appeared that the tight end did not maintain possession of the football and it was ruled incomplete. Many will say the Ravens got robbed on this play, but there is one more that I feel has not been talked about enough. On fourth and five at the eight yard line, Jackson had DeAndre Hopkins wide open in the back of the end zone, but Mark Andrews tried to reach for the catch as he thought he was the target and the result was an incomplete pass to turn it over on downs. If you thought it was over, you would be wrong.

Thanks to the defense forcing yet another stop, Jackson got the ball one last time with 1:56 on the clock. Once again, he did enough to get into Steelers territory, but the result was once again zero points as Alex Highsmith flew through with the game-ending sack on third down that ran out the clock.

Baltimore wants to blame the officials for this loss, but here’s the reality: they did not deserve to win on Sunday afternoon. Their offense was pathetic for most of the first half and let the game get out of hand in the first place, the defense couldn’t get it together until the fourth quarter and they failed to finish at the most important moments in the game. Give Pittsburgh credit because they finally played with some energy we haven’t seen from them in a long time and it was a huge win they needed to save their season from disaster. However, the Ravens are just a flawed football team and I can’t believe it when I say that Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes are at risk of missing the playoffs this year.

The Steelers bounce back with a big win on the road to take the AFC North lead at 7-6 and will head back home for a Monday night showdown against the Miami Dolphins. Meanwhile, the Ravens lose at home once again to fall to 6-7 and will now have to take the road to play the Cincinnati Bengals.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (24) vs. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (20)

It wasn’t shocking to learn that this was a trap game, but for the Saints to actually win was both impressive on their part but also another indictment on the Buccaneers. I don’t care if it was raining and the field wasn’t perfect. For Tampa to lose on their home field to a bottom-feeder with a division title on the line is absolutely inexcusable. This game should not have honestly been close, but the Bucs shot themselves in the foot drive after drive and New Orleans capitalized on their opportunities.

After the Saints scored in just over two and a half minutes on their opening possession, Bucky Irving found the end zone on the ensuing drive and it felt like Tampa would settle down for the rest of the game. However, things got sloppier from there. New Orleans didn’t score the remainder of the half, while the Bucs only settled for three more points. Tampa failed to convert on a few fourth down attempts, but the Saints had a few miscues as well with an interception, a missed field goal and a turnover on downs. Both Baker Mayfield and Tyler Shough posted decent numbers, but the second half was going to come down to which of them would make the least amount of mistakes. Shockingly enough, it turned out to be the former.

On the first drive of the second half, Mayfield threw a horrible interception to Kool-Aid McKinstry and it allowed Shough to start at the Tampa Bay 47 yard line. Just three plays later, the rookie quarterback fooled the defense on a zone read and took it to the house from 34 yards away to give the Saints a 14-10 lead. Both offenses would score on their ensuing possessions and by the start of the fourth quarter, the game was tied at 17. Early in the period, Mayfield had a chance to take the lead with the ball in his hands and faced fourth down and two at the New Orleans 46 yard line.

To Mayfield’s credit, he had Chris Godwin open along the sideline. However, as he was trying to secure the ball, McKinstry made another big play by forcing the receiver to bobble it out of bounds and the result was yet another fourth down stop. Once again, Shough was given plenty of space to go down the field and put the Bucs on their heels. In just a few minutes, New Orleans got all the way inside the 15 yard line and the rookie capped off the drive with another rushing touchdown as he broke three sacks in the process. Tampa got two more chances to finish the job. However, they settled for a field goal the first time and then only picked up nine yards on the next before another drop on fourth down ended the game. 

I know a lot of people were going to say they were surprised, but I say otherwise. Since 2022, the Bucs have never been able to secure the NFC South until the very last minute. Now they are tied with the Carolina Panthers, ironically coached by their former offensive coordinator Dave Canales. Tampa Bay cannot afford another mid-season slump at the worst possible time because if this team misses the playoffs, Todd Bowles might get shown the door. I don’t want to hear that Baker Mayfield is dealing with an injured left shoulder or that the receivers are still not back in time. They have to figure it out fast because these final four games will make or break their season.

The Saints pull off an impressive upset to finish the week 3-10 and will head back home to see if they can play spoiler again as they welcome the Carolina Panthers. The Bucs have another sloppy day as they slump to 7-6 and will stay home on a short week to play the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (36) vs. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (19)

The outcome of this game was not surprising. The minute Daniel Jones threw an interception to Devin Lloyd on the opening drive, the Jaguars stole all the momentum they needed to beat the Colts at home for an 11th straight year. Outside of a couple bad drives, Jacksonville’s offense did what they needed to do to win. Trevor Lawrence totaled over 240 yards with a couple touchdown passes and no turnovers, while the defense never let Indianapolis get in front. Unfortunately, that was not the biggest story in Duval.

Late in the first quarter, Jones suffered a torn achilles on the opposite leg of his fractured fibula, officially ending his season. Riley Leonard took over the rest of the game and the Colts offense did not look the same. On the next drive, Jonathan Taylor coughed up the football and one play later, the Jaguars took a commanding 21-7, blowing the gates wide open. The rookie quarterback from Notre Dame finished with just 145 yards, an interception and a rushing touchdown in garbage time. To make matters worse, he suffered a strained ligament in his right knee, putting his status in jeopardy.

This wouldn’t be the Indianapolis Colts if the front office didn’t decide to think outside of the box. I don’t know how this is still real but by the powers of God, they got Philip Rivers to come out of retirement and join the practice squad. To put this in perspective, he is 44 years old and just became a grandfather, so this is definitely an act of desperation if I’ve ever seen it before. To be fair, if Brett Rypien was the next quarterback I had on my depth chart, I’d probably do the same thing. After all, Kyle Shanahan said the 49ers nearly pulled it off two years ago. Head coach Shane Steichen hasn’t announced who will be starting for Indianapolis next week, but he has to figure it out quickly because their final four games of the season are not exactly easy wins. 

The Jaguars are officially in first place in the AFC South at 9-4 and will stay home to play the New York Jets. Meanwhile, the Colts are in complete panic mode at 8-5 and will have to travel across the country for a more grueling matchup as they take on the Seattle Seahawks.

TENNESSEE TITANS (31) vs. CLEVELAND BROWNS (29)

All I’ve heard from the national media and even some fans on social media was that Kevin Stefanski should have been fired at the end of this game. I didn’t hear about any of the other highlights that took place or what the Titans did to win; it was just simply a bunch of talkheads rushing to the defense of Shadeur Sanders. Listen, I get where the frustrations are coming from but let’s be realistic: Tennessee deserved that victory.

It only took Cam Ward eight plays on the opening drive to march his offense down the field and find Eric Ayomanor wide open for a 14 yard touchdown. Then Ward threw a bad interception to Devin Bush on the next possession but after the defense forced a field goal, Tony Pollard broke loose for a 65 yard score and the Browns were officially on upset alert… for two minutes. Near the end of the first quarter, Quinshon Judkins found wide open space on a screen for a 58 yard catch-and-run to set up a touchdown pass to David Njoku. With 2:47 left in the half, Shadeur Sanders found Jerry Jeudy in stride for a go-ahead 60 yard touchdown and Cleveland found themselves leading by three at halftime. I’m sure everybody that was paying attention thought that it would be another typical loss for the Titans, but all of the momentum flipped near the end of the third quarter.

On second and twenty at his own 45 with less than two minutes left in the period, Sanders threw a horrifically overthrown interception to Xavier Woods that gave the Titans tremendous field position. Two plays later, Pollard took off for another huge touchdown run and all of a sudden, they led 21-17 at the start of the fourth. Both teams traded punts on their next possessions, but when the Browns got the ball back, running back Dylan Sampson fumbled the football away and linebacker Cedric Gay returned it all the way to the eight yard line. That set up an easy touchdown to Chimere Dike to put Tennessee ahead by double digits, but it got worse from there. Cleveland was forced to punt on the following drive and the kick got blocked off the edge, setting up a 41 yard field goal for Joey Slye that gave the Titans three more points. With six minutes left in the fourth quarter, the score was 31-17 and it appeared to be Tennessee’s most convincing victory of the season.

However, to give Shadeur Sanders some credit, he never backed down. Thanks to a couple of personal foul penalties, the Browns offense managed to move the ball inside the 10 yard line and on first and goal, Sanders finished things off with a touchdown to make it a one score game. But instead of kicking the extra point, Stefanski kept the offense on the field for a two point conversion attempt and Sanders botched the snap, so the deficit remained eight. The defense then forced a critical three-and-out with 2:43 left on the clock, giving the offense one more chance to keep the game alive and send it into overtime. On the first play after the two minute warning, Sampson redeemed himself for the fumble by getting loose the angle route for a 31 yard catch-and-run. Another personal foul call set up first and goal and just two plays later, Sanders connected with Harold Fannin Jr. in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown! Yet, there was still the two point conversion to even the score. What ensued was probably one of the worst play calls I have ever seen in my entire life. Quinshon Judkins took the snap out of a Wildcat formation, rolled to his right in an attempt to throw the football, spun away from the rush as he was about to get tackled, and then chucked the ball across his body to nowhere. 

Now you can see why so many people were calling for Stefanski to get kicked out the door after this game. Sanders finished the game with close to 400 yards from scrimmage, four touchdowns and nearly willed his team to overtime. Then that play call happened and it capped off an ugly performance for the Cleveland Browns. With that being said, it wasn’t the biggest reason why they lost. Heck, the fact they were even in this position is miraculous but they played the Titans, so it made sense. The bottom line was that the Browns made too many mistakes early on and Tennessee took advantage of them. Without that terrible sequence in the middle of the second half, Cleveland would have most likely won and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. 

The Titans get an impressive win on the road to finish the week 2-11 and will now travel across the country for a more challenging matchup as they play the San Francisco 49ers. Meanwhile, the Browns get humiliated at home to officially be eliminated from playoff contention at 3-10 and will now take the road to take on the Chicago Bears.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS (31) vs. WASHINGTON COMMANDERS (0)

This was certainly the most shocking upset of the season. The fact that the Vikings not only won, but completely shut out a Commanders team that was just starting to get healthy again was extremely impressive. Everybody wants to talk about the fact that Jayden Daniels re-aggravated the injury to his left shoulder, but JJ McCarthy showed a lot of toughness and guts out there.

Say what you will about the terrible season he has had, but he had the best game of his career on Sunday. Let’s put this in perspective. On the opening drive, it took McCarthy just seven plays to lead Minnesota’s offense down the field for an early touchdown. Daniels had a decent opening drive of his own by taking the Commanders all the way to the two yard line in 15 plays and eight minutes, but on fourth and goal, Deebo Samuel dropped a potential tying touchdown pass and the Vikings took over on downs. From his own two yard line, McCarthy led the charge down the field in 19 plays and 12 minutes, capping things off with a wide open touchdown run for Jordan Mason. Washington only trailed 14-0 at the break, but not once did they have control of this game.

On the opening drive of the second half, the Commanders offense once again got deep into the red zone, but faced another fourth down situation. Dan Quinn kept the offense on the field and on what should have been a simple screen to Terry McLaurin, Andrew Van Ginkel jumped the play for an interception and the injury to Daniels took place. The Vikings kicked a field goal on the ensuing possession, Marcus Mariota threw a bone-headed interception to Harrison Smith on his first series and a wide open touchdown to Josh Oliver made the score 24-0. 

McCarthy finished the afternoon with three touchdown passes to zero interceptions, he went six for eleven on third down, two for two on fourth and a perfect four for four in the red zone. Washington, on the other hand, got completely shut down from start to finish. It might not have been Minnesota’s most convincing victory based on the opposition, but it was definitely the type of win they needed just to bring some life and optimism back into their locker room. 

The Vikings win convincingly at home to improve to 5-8 and will now take the road for a Sunday night matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. Meanwhile, the Commanders lose their eighth straight game and are now officially eliminated from the playoffs at 3-10, staying on the road to see if they can salvage some dignity left against the New York Giants.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (37) vs. ATLANTA FALCONS (9)

Was anybody really surprised that the Seahawks blew the Falcons out of the water on Sunday? I’m more shocked that this game was tied at halftime! Atlanta’s defense bottled up the running game, they picked off Sam Darnold once and they didn’t allow a touchdown! The offense gave the team a couple of leads, but settled for field goals instead of reaching the end zone. They nearly did with a minute left in the first half as Darnell Mooney appeared to beat Josh Jobe for a go-ahead touchdown on the left side of the end zone, but the receiver stepped out of bounds and didn’t re-establish himself in the field of play.

It was going to be interesting to see which team would wake up at the start of the second half and right away, Rashid Shaheed did so for the Seahawks with a touchdown on a 100 yard kickoff return! When Atlanta’s offense took the field for the first time in that period, Bijan Robinson got the ball punched out and Seattle’s defense recovered. Not too long afterwards, Darnold found Jaxon Smith-Njigba in stride for a 28 yard touchdown and the gates were blown wide open. From that point on, the Seahawks just turned this into a rout. Kirk Cousins threw two interceptions, the offense failed to reach the end zone, they went one for thirteen on third down and the defense just flat out quit. In the final 30 minutes, Darnold completed 11 of 15 passes for 182 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, a much better performance than he had the week before. Once again, it wasn’t surprising to see this because the question wasn’t how Atlanta would lose this time, but when things would start to fall out of hand.

The Seahawks took care of business on the road to stay in the division race at 10-3 and will head back home to take on the Indianapolis Colts. Meanwhile, the Falcons are officially eliminated from playoff contention at 4-9 and will take the road on a short week to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football.

BUFFALO BILLS (39) vs. CINCINNATI BENGALS (34)

For 55 minutes, Joe Burrow was outplaying Josh Allen. Five of Cincinnati’s first seven offensive drives ended with touchdowns and no matter how close the Bills cut their deficit, Burrow found a way to increase the lead. The defense was starting to get picked apart by the reigning MVP, but as long as the Bengals offense didn’t screw up at the worst possible time, the win was in their grasp.

This is why you don’t hope for the best at the worst possible time. With 5:25 left in the game, Burrow threw a go-ahead pick six to Christian Benford on a screen pass to Ja’Marr Chase. On the very next play, defensive tackle Jordan Phillips got a hand on an attempted pass and that ball got intercepted, this time by AJ Epenesa. Right on cue, the defense let up an easy touchdown to put the Bills ahead by double digits, and despite a late touchdown pass from Burrow to Tee Higgins, it was Josh Allen that put the game on ice with a first down run to run out the clock. 

Cincinnati’s offense did just about everything you wanted to see from them. They were near perfect on third down, Joe Burrow had four touchdown passes and they held a lead for a majority of the game. Unfortunately, they did the worst thing in the world at the most important point; turn the ball over. Buffalo’s defense might still be flawed, but they made the two biggest plays of the game to give their quarterback a chance to put the game away and Josh Allen did exactly that.

The Bills survive a high-scoring thriller to improve to 9-4 and will now take the road for a season-deciding matchup against the New England Patriots. Meanwhile, the Bengals lose a heartbreaking game once again to fall to 4-9 and will head back home to face off against the Baltimore Ravens.

DENVER BRONCOS (24) vs. LAS VEGAS RAIDERS (17)

Don’t be fooled by the fact that the Broncos only won by seven. If it weren’t for a desperate field goal by Daniel Carlson with five seconds left, Denver would have won by 10 points. This was nothing more than a standard complimentary victory where all three phases stood out.

The offense only scored 14 points, but Bo Nix was efficient with just seven incompletions and zero turnovers. They ran the ball for 152 yards, they were seven for twelve on third down and they had three 14+ play scoring drives of 81 yards, 91 and 90. That allowed the Broncos to take a commanding 24-7 lead in the fourth quarter and for them to possess the ball for 39 minutes! Defensively, they totaled four sacks and held Ashton Jeanty to just 30 yards on 10 carries. They let up a couple big touchdown passes and even allowed the Raiders to tie the game to end the first quarter, but once Marvin Mims took a 48 yard punt return to the house, the Broncos never gave up the momentum. To make matters worse for Las Vegas, Geno Smith suffered a shoulder injury and it forced backup quarterback Kenny Pickett to fill in during the fourth quarter. Overall, Denver just proved to be the vastly superior football team from start to finish and it was going to take a near-horrendous performance on their part or a flawless day from the Raiders for the script to be completely flipped.

The Broncos win their tenth straight game to go 11-2 and will now head back home for an expected grudge match against the Green Bay Packers. Meanwhile, the Raiders lose their seventh game in a row to fall to 2-11 and will take the road to play the Philadelphia Eagles.

LOS ANGELES RAMS (45) vs. ARIZONA CARDINALS (17)

Entering this game, the Rams were eager to bounce back from a self-inflicted road defeat to the Panthers and they made sure to show no mercy against the inferior Arizona Cardinals. 

Jacoby Brissett got off to a fast start by finding Michael Wilson wide open for a touchdown on a five-play opening drive, but LA’s defense soon settled down and the offense took command with five straight scoring drives to go ahead 31-10. Matthew Stafford had a way better afternoon with over 280 yards, three touchdown passes and zero interceptions. Puka Nacua diced up the Cardinals secondary by catching seven passes for 167 yards with two scores. The Rams ran for nearly 250 yards and the irony was that Kyren Williams was not the leading rusher. Instead, Blake Corum had his first breakout game with 128 yards on just 12 carries, along with two touchdowns. It’s no wonder why they only had one third down attempt in the first half. The defense held Bam Knight and Michael Carter to 29 combined rushing yards and despite the fact Wilson caught 11 passes for 142 yards with two scores of his own, the game was not close after halftime. We knew LA was not going to get in their own way the way they did the week before and this win proved they have so much mental toughness and fortitude. They were easily the better football team and just like the two blowout defeats against the 49ers and Seahawks, Arizona just did not stand a chance.

The Rams get the win they needed on the road to reclaim the one seed at 10-3 and will now head back home for a huge matchup against the Detroit Lions. Meanwhile, the Cardinals lose their fifth game in a row to fall to 3-10 and will now take the road to play the Houston Texans.

GREEN BAY PACKERS (28) vs. CHICAGO BEARS (21)

This game was icy: both literally and mentally. Don’t think I forgot when Bears head coach Ben Johnson made that sly remark in his introductory press conference about how he enjoyed beating Packers head coach Matt LaFleur twice a year. Well, this was the time for the Bears to prove themselves. In a heavyweight division matchup for the NFC North lead, Chicago needed to prove that this was truly a team of destiny, rather than one that simply overachieved. 

If I have to give them a partial amount of credit, they didn’t get blown out. It was a tight game from start to finish and the Bears even had a chance to win in the end, but at the end of the day, it was not enough. For starters, the defense forced their 18th interception of the season on the opening drive, yet the offense went three-and-out. From there, Green Bay played from ahead the entire way and even had a 14-3 lead at halftime. Caleb Williams had a rough stretch, completing just six out of fourteen passes for 32 yards, but Jordan Love went 12 of 16 for 163 yards with two beautiful touchdown throws to Christian Watson and Bo Melton.

In the second half, Chicago’s offense looked ten times better. They were more effective running the football, Williams looked more composed and they even tied the game with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. The only issue is that it was more than enough time for Jordan Love to give the Packers the lead. On an eight play drive, Josh Jacobs muscled his way down the field and scored the go-ahead touchdown with 3:32 left on the clock, so we had a lot of time to see what Williams could do in the biggest game of his life. He started strong with a 27 yard completion to Luther Burden and then found Devin Duvernay on a rollout to his right for 24 more yards right before the two minute warning. The Bears got all the way inside the 15 yard line, but they faced fourth and one with 27 seconds left. With no other choice but to go for it, Williams rolled out to his left and tried to find Cole Kmet in the end zone, but Keisean Nixon beat the tight end in time for the game winning interception to give Chicago yet another soul crushing defeat.

It was truly a great game and it lived up to the hype. At the end of the day, Jordan Love outplayed Caleb Williams, which is exactly what I predicted in the beginning. I said that Chicago’s quarterback needed to be the best player on the field. While he had his moments, he was not great when he needed to be and that is why they lost this football game. Now Green Bay is in full control of the NFC North, but it won’t be too long before we see these teams playing again.

The Packers win their fourth straight game and are now 9-3-1, but will take the road for an even tougher challenge as they take on the Denver Broncos. The Bears lose in heartbreaking fashion but are still 9-4 and will head back home for a chance to bounce back against the Cleveland Browns.

HOUSTON TEXANS (20) vs. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (10)

We all knew the Houston Texans had a legitimate defense, but not a lot of people thought that the Chiefs were going to get embarrassed on a primetime stage on their home field. The sad part for them was that their defense did almost everything they could to try to win, but the offense was an outright disaster.

Patrick Mahomes finished the night completing 14 of 33 passes with no touchdowns and three interceptions. The Chiefs offense failed to score in the first half and only reached the end zone once on 13 total drives. If you look at it from the surface, you would say it is the worst game of his career. However, not all of the offensive struggles were entirely on him. Even the interceptions weren’t entirely his fault. The first was a pass broken up by Jalen Pitre and the safety ran all the way back to catch the football. The second one was definitely on Mahomes because he just chucked an arm punt that was caught by Kamari Lassiter. The third was right off Travis Kelce’s hands and caught by Azeez Al-Shaair. Trust me, I’m not trying to defend him, but haters are going to look for scapegoats. Yet, those weren’t even the worst plays of the night.

Tied at 10 with 10:22 left in the fourth quarter, Andy Reid kept the offense on the field to go for it on fourth and one at their own 31 yard line. Typically, they would run a handoff play in a jumbo set, but they instead had Patrick Mahomes take the football out of an empty formation. Hollywood Brown was the receiver in motion from the backfield to the right sideline and thanks to heavy pressure from Will Anderson, Mahomes threw an awkward pass over the middle and it got broken up for an incompletion. Afterwards, the Texans offense marched right down the field and scored a touchdown to give their team the lead. When Mahomes got the ball back, they went for it on fourth down in their own territory again and the pass to Rashee Rice fell out of his hands. Eventually, Houston put the game away with a chip-shot field goal made by Ka’imi Fairbairn to increase the lead to 10. 

It’s not blasphemous to say that the Texans are going to be scary to watch in the playoffs. I still have concerns about their offense because they have a tendency to let teams hang around for too long in the fourth quarter, but that defense always comes through to save the day. Heck, they could win the AFC South for a third straight year if they continue to win like this. 

As for the Kansas City Chiefs, there’s only one word that comes to mind about this season: karma. Yes, I used a Taylor Swift pun. Don’t worry, there is another one that I decided not to use but I won’t say. It’s not karma because of how they’ve been able to win all these years, but the fact that they decided to bring the gang back together. The only notable addition they made was drafting Josh Simmons in the first round to be their left tackle, but now he is on Injured Reserve. They didn’t make any upgrades in the running game, the receiver room is still the same, the defense still has all the same guys and the offensive line didn’t do a lot of addition by subtraction. Of course, this was the roster that got Kansas City to the Super Bowl last year, but they got demolished and exposed by the Eagles. 

There is not one singular issue to point out; it’s an everything problem for the Chiefs. Whenever he is under pressure, Patrick Mahomes’ numbers are egregious. Against the Texans, he completed just two out of twelve passes for 40 yards with no touchdowns and a pick. At Buffalo, he went three of sixteen. At Denver, six of nineteen. The defense held Houston to 65 yards of offense in the second half, but after the two failed fourth down attempts and the third interception, they fell apart right on schedule. The offensive line is still just as flawed as they were last year, Isaiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt do not form a transcendent running back tandem and the offense can never finish the job in one-possession games. This is incredibly ironic since they were doing nothing but find ways to win all of last year. Kansas City cannot afford to lose any more games the rest of the season. Their streak of division titles is already over but a couple more defeats will eliminate them from the playoffs for good.

The Texans win their fifth straight game in a huge matchup on the road and are now 8-5, heading back home to play the Arizona Cardinals. Meanwhile, the Chiefs get neutralized on their home field to fall to 6-7 and will stay in Arrowhead for a must-win matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS (22) vs. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (19)

I would say this was an incredibly sloppy game but that would imply we didn’t expect either of these offenses to struggle. This matchup went exactly the way I thought it would. The defenses made big plays left and right to keep it a low-scoring bloodbath, each offense only scored two touchdowns on 27 combined drives and only one of them made the least amount of mistakes. 

What makes this loss incredibly infuriating for Philadelphia was that their offense actually showed promise moving the football. Despite not being able to reach the end zone until the fourth quarter, there were positive signs. Saquon Barkley’s 52 yard touchdown run to start the period gave the Eagles their first lead of the night. AJ Brown, despite a few bad drops that could have won the game, still totaled 100 yards on just six catches. However, one player was the biggest reason why this team lost: Jalen Hurts. He turned the ball over five times on Monday night: four interceptions and a lost fumble. Two of them were in one play! A couple of those miscues led to two field goals made by Cameron Dicker and the final one ended the game in overtime. Philadelphia’s defense did just about everything they could to win on Monday night, but to nobody’s surprise, the offense completely gagged it away and gave us more flashbacks to 2023. 

Justin Herbert got completely beat up. He took seven sacks, he was hurried out of the pocket several times and hardly found anybody open in the deep part of the field. After a strong opening drive resulting in a wide open touchdown pass to Omarion Hampton, the Chargers offense failed to reach the end zone the rest of the night. Herbert completed 12 of 26 passes for 139 yards with a couple of turnovers on his own, but his 66 rushing yards on 10 carries allowed LA to total 169 on the ground. Dicker the Kicker was the true MVP with five made field goals on all five attempts, including a go-ahead kick in overtime from 54 yards away. Not only did the Chargers make a few more plays down the stretch, but they did not screw up at the worst possible time and it turned out to be enough to win. 

The Chargers win yet another primetime game to finish the week 9-4 and will now take the road for a huge showdown against the Kansas City Chiefs. Meanwhile, the Eagles lose their third game in a row as they slump to 8-5 and will head back home for a must win game against the Las Vegas Raiders.