CHICAGO

If the Bears decide to bail on QB JUSTIN FIELDS, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com believes they will have suitors for his services:

Justin Fields will be a starting quarterback in 2024 … somewhere

Fields led the Bears to their second win in a row Sunday, a 28-13 victory over the NFC North’s first-place Lions. He was 19-for-33 passing for 223 yards and a touchdown throw, and he ran for 58 yards and another score. Since returning from a right thumb injury four weeks ago, Fields has looked like an improved player and shown signs of development in key areas. Sunday was his eighth career game with a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown. That’s the third most such games in the NFL since Fields entered the league in 2021, behind Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts.

The Bears, who are in line to have the first overall pick in the 2024 draft by virtue of having the 1-12 Panthers’ first-rounder, are using the final stretch of this season to evaluate Fields and help them decide whether to commit to him beyond this year or use that pick to draft his replacement. If they did the latter, they’d probably look to trade Fields prior to deciding whether to pick up his fifth-year option for 2025.

Verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION

I personally don’t think Fields will be the Bears’ starting quarterback in 2024. But he has shown enough that teams will be interested in acquiring him with the intention of possibly making him their starter. His running ability is special, and if he continues to show advancement as a passer over the final month of this season, there are going to be offensive coaches around the league who believe very strongly that they can shape him into an effective NFL starter.

Fields was the 11th overall pick in the 2021 draft, he doesn’t turn 25 until March and right or wrong, there’s a perception that he hasn’t been put in the best position to succeed since he has been in Chicago. The Bears almost certainly will move on — especially if they end up with the first pick — but Fields will start games for someone next season.

DETROIT

Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com looks at the suddenly listless Lions:

Losing two of three shouldn’t cause alarm bells to ring in Detroit, but the Lions haven’t exactly been dominating the competition since their Week 9 bye. In addition to losses where they were comprehensively outplayed by the Bears and Packers, they needed 17 unanswered points in the final three minutes to beat the Bears in Detroit. They blew a fourth-quarter lead twice to the Chargers before a last-second field goal, then blew a 21-0 lead against the Saints before holding on for a 33-28 victory against Jameis Winston.

If you split the season into two halves, you can see that the Lions have reverted back on defense to where they were a year ago. During the first six games of the season, it looked like coordinator Aaron Glenn had gotten his players on track; they ranked 10th in the league in expected points added (EPA) per play and an impressive fifth in opponent QBR. Over the next seven games? They rank 31st in EPA per play and last in QBR allowed, which is right where they were over the entirety of the 2022 season.

To be fair, some of the players who were supposed to be the difference-making additions for Detroit haven’t been available. Emmanuel Moseley played just two snaps before tearing his ACL. C.J. Gardner-Johnson tore a pectoral muscle in Week 2 and hasn’t been back. Rookie second-rounder Brian Branch, who had a pick-six in the season-opening win at Kansas City, has missed time with injuries.

There have also been issues up front. Pass-rusher James Houston, who had eight sacks as a rookie, was also injured in the Chiefs game with a fractured ankle and hasn’t yet returned. He’s expected to be back for a postseason push, but the Lions just lost another young standout when defensive tackle Alim McNeill was forced to injured reserve with a knee sprain.

It has been a lot of the same personnel for the Lions in 2023 who struggled in 2022, and while Aidan Hutchinson took a leap in his second season, not many of his teammates have joined him. They haven’t been able to rush the passer with four, as they rank 27th in sack rate when rushing four or less since Week 7. As a result, Glenn has sent blitzes at the league’s fifth-highest rate over the past seven games.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t worked; the Lions rank 31st in QBR allowed over that stretch when they blitz. On Sunday, Justin Fields posted a 96.9 QBR against Detroit’s blitzes, going 6-of-9 for 92 yards through the air and adding three scrambles for 35 yards as a runner. Detroit got home and sacked Fields just once all game with its blitz. That sort of tradeoff just isn’t worth the downside of having fewer defenders in coverage and opening up possibilities for Fields as a scrambler.

While the Lions weren’t very good on defense, they were able to thrive during their memorable second half a year ago by avoiding turnovers and racking up points on offense. In 2023, while the turnovers returned, Jared Goff & Co. have had ruthlessly efficient stretches of football. David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs have upgraded the running game, while Sam LaPorta has been a valuable second playmaker behind Amon-Ra St. Brown in the passing attack.

The offense isn’t the primary concern for the Lions, but there are two places in which Goff and the offense have struggled since the Week 9 bye. One has been a problem for the quarterback over his entire career, although it’s gotten much worse as the season has gone along. He has never been a great quarterback under pressure, but before the bye, he ranked 16th in QBR when opposing teams’ pass rushes got in his face. That’s not ideal, but it’s not going to hold back Detroit.

Since the bye, however, Goff’s QBR under pressure is 0.6. That’s less than one out of 100. It’s the worst mark in football. He has posted a minus-25.7% CPOE under pressure over that stretch, gone 10-of-36 for 60 yards, and taken 10 sacks. He’s fumbled twice and thrown four interceptions, including two to the Bears in Sunday’s defeat. The Packers were able to overwhelm the Lions by pressuring Goff on Thanksgiving and forcing a series of early fumbles. Left tackle Taylor Decker allowed two sacks in the loss to the Packers and was responsible for at least two more Sunday.

The other issue has been a place that had been such a strong positive force for the Lions: their success on fourth down. Dan Campbell’s willingness to listen to the numbers, trust the physicality of his offense and go for it on fourth down helped them win games last season, including that famous victory in Week 18 against the Packers. It played a key role as recently as Week 10, when they went 4-for-5 on fourth down in a three-point victory over the Chargers.

Since then, things haven’t quite worked out. A Detroit team that had gone 12-for-22 on fourth downs before Week 11 has gone just 2-for-10 since. It has failed on its first four fourth-down attempts before converting one late against the Packers, then went 1-for-5 Sunday against the Bears. Across the past three games, the Lions have more fourth-down turnovers (three) than conversions (two).

Campbell isn’t making foolishly aggressive choices. The only time he went for it in a situation in which the NFL Next Gen Stats model would have encouraged him to punt was on fourth-and-10 early in the second quarter Sunday, and that came on a play in which the Lions were in no man’s land outside of field goal range. In all, his decisions have generated eight points of win expectancy over the two games, even if the results on those plays haven’t gone their way.

Of course, if a team could convert as frequently as the Eagles do on fourth down, everybody would go for it all the time on fourth down. Part of being a good, aggressive coach is continuing to make the right decisions and trusting you’ll have better results when you make those choices. The Lions will be fine, but their chances to win the top spot in the NFC were mostly vaporized by Sunday’s loss.

MINNESOTA

These notes on Sunday in Las Vegas when the Vikings scored the only points with 1:57 left on the fourth quarter clock:

@OptaSTATS

Today’s Vikings-Raiders game (3-0 final score) is the lowest-scoring game played indoors (or with the roof closed) in NFL history.

@QuirkyResearch

Latest NFL game has been 0-0, 1948-now:

0:17 4Q: 2007 Steelers-Dolphins

3:21 4Q: 1974 Browns-49ers

~4:00: 1953 Washington-Eagles

4:02: 1971 Vikings-Packers

4:40: 1982 Patriots-Dolphins

5:02: 1976 Chargers-49ers

8:50: 1979 Bucs-Chiefs

9:48: 1987 Bills-Giants

The DB is shocked to report that the Vikings are the 65^th team to win a game when they scored 3 or fewer points. But most of those were in the 1920s and ‘30s.

There have been 5 games that ended 2-0, 58 now that ended 3-0, and two 3-2 thrillers.

It’s the 7^th such game since the merger, the first since Pittsburgh beat the Dolphins, 3-0, in 2007.

The Vikings are the only team with multiple 3-0 wins since the merger.  They also beat the Packers, 3-0, in 1971.

Peter King:

3-0. What a crazy game in Las Vegas. Minnesota’s Greg Joseph kicked a 36-yard field goal with 1:57 left in the game, and those were the only points. Only one of the 23 drives in the game traveled 50 yards or more. The emerging star from the game was Vikings undrafted rookie linebacker Ivan Pace Jr., who led all defenders with 13 tackles. He picked off Aidan O’Connell’s pass intended for Davante Adams on the first play after the Joseph field goal. The 5-10 Pace doesn’t lack confidence. “I knew they were throwing it to Davante,” Pace said. “He’s their best player. Best player out there. Bad throw. Bad throw by the rookie.” Good catch by the rookie. Pace has been so instinctive since arriving in training camp that when he won the middle linebacker job, defensive coordinator Brian Flores gave him the green dot on the back of his helmet—noting that he’d be calling the defensive signals mic’d in via headset from the sidelines. “Give a rookie that green dot is kind of wild,” Pace said. “Showed they’ve got faith in me. I know I can do it. I got that dog in me.”

– – –

And what about WR JUSTIN JEFFERSON, who did not finish the game.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell had a positive update on wide receiver Justin Jefferson’s condition after Sunday’s 3-0 win over the Raiders.

Jefferson’s return from a long stretch on injured reserve came to an early end when he suffered an injury in the second quarter. Jefferson was taken to a Las Vegas hospital for further evaluation, but O’Connell said at his postgame press conference that Jefferson has already been released and been diagnosed with an internal chest injury.

O’Connell also said that Jefferson will travel home with the Vikings and that the team feels “pretty encouraged” about the initial read on the injury.

The Vikings will play the Bengals on Saturday, so Jefferson has a short week to get the green light to play.

DALLAS

Dallas has gone from ridiculous to sublime in its kicking game.

In the 2022 playoffs, the Cowboys kicker at the time, PK BRETT MAHRE, missed 5 of 6 PATs.

Now, Dallas has a kicker who is 30-30 on FGs.

Peter King:

Brandon Aubrey, kicker, Dallas. Aubrey never played college football. He was a soccer player at Notre Dame. Whatever he did before joining Dallas this year, it ought to be copied league-wide. In Dallas’ 33-13 win over Philadelphia Sunday night, Aubrey kept his perfect field-goal season alive, kicking 60-, 59-, 45- and 50-yard field goals. In his rookie season, he’s now 30 of 30, including seven of seven from 50 yards or more.

It should be noted, that like Maher, Aubrey is not perfection on PATs – he’s missed three.

More from Nick Harris of DallasCowboys.com:

Three years ago, Brandon Aubrey probably couldn’t fathom where he would be today. Or maybe he could.

After a short career in the MLS stalled after two years, Aubrey spent every moment of his off time as a software engineer training to become an NFL kicker. That work lasted two years before getting his first opportunity in the USFL where he shined with the Birmingham Stallions for two seasons.

Three years later, Brandon Aubrey has not only reached his goal. He’s exceeded all expectations of just about everyone around him. But don’t think he has exceeded his own.

“Just taking it one kick at a time and I know I can make any of the kicks that they’ve asked me to do,” Aubrey said. “Going out there and making it is something I expect to do at this point.”

His performance on Sunday night against the Eagles saw him boot through field goals from 60 yards, 59 yards, 45 yards and 50 yards to push his season total to a perfect 30-for-30 on field goal attempts – an NFL record to start a career.

“I’m just trying to go out there and do my job,” he said. “Honestly, having the opportunity to do that – there are a lot of guys that don’t have the coaches that are willing to give them the opportunity, so just being able to convert those opportunities and keep them coming, it feels good.”

“Having the confidence and faith in me to send me out there in the first quarter and second quarter, it gives confidence to me obviously. When my coaches keep calling my number, it gives me confidence.”

The rookie has earned praise from coaches around the team for his veteran-like presence and his composure in high pressure situations. When asked, he feels like he could send through a 70-yarder if asked to by the coaching staff. But his confidence not only resides in himself, it also resides in long snapper Trent Sieg and holder Bryan Anger.

“They’ve been incredible,” he said. “Obviously, I can’t do my job if they don’t do theirs first. I don’t remember a single bad operation this year. That’s really pivotal to the streak we have going.”

There’s obviously a lot left to write in the Brandon Aubrey story. His rookie season has seen him notch records that no other kicker has done – adding another record on Sunday night of being the first kicker ever to hit two 59-plus-yard field goals in the same game.

When these moments happen, he thinks back to the last time he experienced this: three years ago when he was practicing by himself envisioning where he is now.

“Going back three years, working as a software engineer and grinding away in my off time trying to get an opportunity, the USFL comes around,” he said. “I’m very grateful for that. These are my wildest dreams and they’ve come true. Just trying to keep going.”

PHILADELPHIA

Suddenly, the mighty Eagles can’t stop anyone (or at least they can’t stop the 49ers and Cowboys whom they probably will be meeting in January).  Numbers from Peter King:

Philadelphia’s defense is in trouble. Philly’s given up 34, 42 and 33 points in the last three weeks. Most disturbing: In those three games, foes have had 30 possessions. The Eagles have surrendered points on 19 of them: 13 touchdowns, six field goals. And only seven stops (five punts, one fumble, one interception). That is unsustainable football if you want to win in January and February.

Still, as Mike Tirico pointed out often on Sunday night – Philly finishes with at Sea, NYG, ARZ, at NYG.

And, if they go 13-3, they will tie a 13-3 Dallas team in division record and be one game better in conference record.

NEW ORLEANS

A milestone for GM Mickey Loomis, noted by Peter King:

I think the Saints being in a three-way tie atop the NFC South is only one of the headlines in New Orleans today. The victory over Carolina was Mickey Loomis’ 200th victory as an NFL general manager, and he’s the ninth GM to reach that plateau. Loomis tied Ozzie Newsome with his 200th win Sunday; others on the list, which includes all who are GMs or have total control over football operations: Al Davis, Bill Belichick, Curly Lambeau, Bill Polian. Loomis has done it mostly with Sean Payton and Drew Brees, but for six years on either side of Payton/Brees he fielded competitive teams as well. “Having 200 wins speaks to his discipline, strategy and consistency,” said Saints linebacker Demario Davis. “I have been part of one of the most talented locker rooms in the NFL year in and year out, and that’s a testimony to Mickey’s understanding of the game, players and our team needs.”

TAMPA BAY

Will Brinson of CBSSports.com makes the Buccaneers slight favorites among the those in the 3-way tie at 6-7.

Everything we’ve ever done or will do, we’re gonna do over and over and over again.” Rust Cohle (of “True Detective”) wasn’t talking about football when he opined on the recurrence of events in our lives, but he might as well have been in a deep discussion on the NFC South, a routinely disgusting division which once again finds itself in a flat circle of time, with Sunday’s results yielding a three-way tie for first with teams under .500.

The Atlanta Falcons stymied Mike Evans to the tune of just eight yards on Sunday, which would lead you to believe the Falcons romped past the Buccaneers. You would be incorrect — Baker Mayfield managed to gut out a fairly impressive offensive performance against a tough Atlanta defense en route to a 29-25 victory that vaulted the Bucs into first place at 6-7. Credit to Rachaad White, who has really developed into an underrated lead back this season, for a 100-yard game on the ground and a screen pass he housed from 33 yards out to give the Bucs a two-score lead late in the third quarter.

The Falcons would answer with a Bijan Robinson touchdown to make it a 19-17 game before a Desmond Ridder rushing touchdown and ensuing two-point conversion gave them the lead with around three minutes left. And that’s when Baker did Baker things — it felt like every single play on Tampa’s final drive was a dangerous scramble or a tight-window throw or a shocking fourth-down conversion before Mayfield hit tight end Cade Otton for the game-winning score.

Meanwhile, the Saints were hosting the Panthers, with the most shocking starting quarterback decision of the year, putting Derek Carr under center despite the QB coming off his second concussion of the season and battling rib and shoulder injuries. A cynic might suggest Carr loves to let the world know he’s very tough and a REAL cynic might suggest Carr is extremely insecure about losing his starting job to Jameis Winston. Fortunately I’m not a cynic (as far as you know), so I’ll simply give Carr props for playing a fairly efficient game against a hapless Panthers team that should be humiliated it’s not even sniffing this divisional race.

New Orleans flat-out overpowered the Panthers, who couldn’t muster more than six points on a pair of field goals. Carolina drove more than 50 yards once while compiling seven drives that went 25 yards or less. The Saints blew them out, but both of Carr’s touchdowns were in what amounts to garbage time even though the Saints were only up eight points.

The Panthers are only relevant for draft purposes and even then there’s far more interest in Chicago than there is Carolina. When I do local radio and spend segments talking about the offensive line’s inability to protect or the offense’s inability to push the ball down the field, I feel a lot like Matthew McConaughey spinning a crushed aluminum beer can. They’re eliminated from division contention despite the leaders sitting in a three-way tie at 6-7. The Bryce Young trade looks like one of the worst decisions in modern draft history right now.

So let’s look at the rest of the teams here.

For three teams tied within the division, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head, followed by divisional record followed by common games.

In this case the three-way tiebreaker eliminates New Orleans (0-2 against the Bucs and Falcons this year), then with a tie in the division, Tampa beats Atlanta with a better record in common games (4-2 to 3-3).

Tampa is 2-1 against the Falcons and Saints with a game remaining against New Orleans, and, for divisional purposes, a game left against the Panthers as well. Atlanta’s 2-1 against the Bucs and Saints with a record against the Panthers as well. New Orleans can win four more divisional games and create a tie in the head-to-head situation by beating Tampa and Atlanta the rest of the year.

In other words, given how close these teams are in terms of quality, this thing is WIDE OPEN. I’d give the Bucs and Falcons a slight edge because of games against the Panthers remaining but Tampa an even slighter edge because its matchup against the Saints is at home, with the Falcons on the road.

Tampa’s quarterback situation is maybe the most stable based on injury and performance — it’s probably a wash across the board in terms of skill-position guys for all three teams.

Expect this thing to come down to someone, likely with a losing record, managing to win a tiebreaker and hosting the Cowboys or Eagles in a playoff game to much public outrage.

Time remains, as always, a flat circle.

KANSAS CITY

This:

@ScottKacsmar

Chiefs lose back to back games without having a lead.

– – –

It looked at first like QB PATRICK MAHOMES tirade at the end of Sunday’s loss was a beef with someone in the Chiefs organization.  Turns out, he was mad at the officials for flagging WR KADARIUS TONEY.  Myles Simmons of ProFootballTalk.com:

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes rarely shows much anger on the sideline.

But the CBS broadcast showed that Mahomes was as irate as he’s ever been during a game toward the end of Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Bills.

Per the Chiefs, Mahomes was upset at the officials over the offside call on Kadarius Toney that negated a touchdown.

Mahomes slammed his helmet in frustration against a sideline bench. He continued to give the officials an earful as he walked to shake Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s hand after the final whistle.

Mahomes may have been upset, but replay showed that the officials made the right call. Toney was lined up well over the football, which is an inexcusable, preventable mistake.

The Chiefs are now the No. 3 seed in the AFC and two games back of No. 1 Baltimore. Moreover, the Broncos are just one game back at 7-6 in the AFC West.

The DB can’t recall such an extreme reaction to a flag that was thrown for such an obviously committed penalty.  Chris Branch of The Athletic sums it up nicely:

Mahomes threw an absolute tantrum on the sideline after the play got called back for Kadarius Toney lining up offside. Both he and Chiefs coach Andy Reid ripped the referees for not issuing a warning, which frankly baffles me. Toney was clearly offside. You can hem and haw all you want about protocol, but the right call was made.

Our thoughts:

“Everyone’s going 70 in this 55 zone, officer.  And I was only going 76”

“I am writing you a ticket for going 21 mph over the limit.”

“I demand my required dismissal with a warning.”

“You were going 21 miles per hour over the limit.”

Peter King has thoughts:

Kansas City seethes. Crazy scene in Kansas City as the clock wound down on Buffalo’s 20-17 win. Patrick Mahomes went uncharacteristically batcrap on the sidelines, enraged by a call that nullified what could have been the winning touchdown with 1:12 to play. Mahomes, on the play, threw from Buffalo’s 49- to Travis Kelce at the 25-, and before he could be tackled, Kelce threw a perfect backward pass to Kadarius Toney, who sprinted in for the touchdown. The crowd went bonkers at the oddity and the clutchness of such an incredible play, called at a perfect time.

Uh-oh. Flag. Offensive offside was called on Toney. An odd call—flagged once in 2021, twice in 2022, and 12 times this year, increasing because of the many times offensive linemen try to get an edge on the Tush Push maul of a quarterback sneak. Toney was clearly offside. “He was past the ball,” said NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay Sunday night. “It was not close. This had to be called. It was blatant.”

Andy Reid was steaming because he said officials always give teams warnings before violations like this. The replay on CBS showed Toney clearly over the line of scrimmage. One former official told me Sunday night it wouldn’t be uncommon early in a game for coaches and players to be warned on a play like this, but he said it wouldn’t happen later in the game, particularly on a clear violation such as this. The ref, Carl Cheffers, told a pool reporter: “Certainly, no warning is required, especially if they’re lined up so far offside where they’re actually blocking our view of the ball. We would give them some sort of warning if it was anywhere close, but this particular one is beyond a warning.” The pool reporter asked if it was an egregious violation. “Correct,” Cheffers said.

The play in this game that looked more egregious: the Latavius Murray bobbled catch ruled a catch on the field and not overturned. It’s ludicrous that was affirmed on replay review, because Murray never had clear possession. Another Sunday, another bunch of hissy fits over questionable calls. No end in sight.

– – –

More essential to the Chiefs’ fate – can a great quarterback win with standard to sub-standard receivers?  Connor Orr of SI.com:

The Chiefs’ wide receiver problem has risen from localized concern to public health emergency.

A gut-punched Arrowhead Stadium watched as Kadarius Toney lined up offsides, just before executing one of the greatest regular-season touchdowns we’ve seen in the past three decades (only, of course, to have it called back because he lined up offsides). Toney caught a potential game-winning legal lateral from tight end Travis Kelce, crossing the goal line high-stepping in a modified Deion Sanders impression. It took Toney about a full minute to realize that he was a full helmet’s length ahead of the receiver on the other side of the formation.

– – –

The Chiefs have now lost multiple games this season directly because of miscues caused by their receiving corps. Against the Eagles, Marquez Valdes-Scantling dropped an open touchdown on a second-and-1 in the fourth quarter, with Kansas City trailing by four and 1:45 left to play. (Later on in that drive, a far more difficult, but still catchable ball slid through the hands of Justin Watson on a fourth-down conversion attempt.) Toney bobbled a pass that became a Lions’ pick-six in the season opener. Skyy Moore dropped a touchdown pass on a fourth down attempt midway through the fourth quarter of the Chiefs’ loss to the Broncos. And these are just the headlines. Dropped passes, and related-receiver miscues, are like a virus embedding itself into every aspect of the Chiefs’ game, providing the only counterweight to a season in which Mahomes is still playing brilliantly, and the Kansas City defense is playing better than it has at any point during the Steve Spagnuolo era. Drives halt like frightened guests at a haunted house. There is so little rhythm from one play to the next.

Kansas City came into this game leading the league with 25 dropped passes. The 49ers, by contrast, came into Week 14 with five. All but one of Kansas City’s losses this season have been by one score, and, obviously, the loss to Denver would have been a one-score game had Moore caught the touchdown. The team’s inability to catch Mahomes’s throws is the difference between a first-round bye and a first-round playoff game against an unpredictable, battle-tested AFC North powder keg that snuck in on a wild card, and then a conference title game on the road in Miami or Baltimore.

We have reached the point where the admirable experiment has passed its time for academic reasoning. Up until this point, you could try and convince me that it was a worthwhile usage of Mahomes’s working hours to break in a group of receivers with tremendous athletic talents but who would cost a fraction of players such as Tyreek Hill. Think the Patriots of the post–Randy Moss era (and, really, the Patriots of the pre–Randy Moss era). But at what point do the Chiefs allow this charade to progress without any consequence? Without making a statement by benching or releasing someone? What damage is caused by allowing the status quo to exist, and what message does that send to every other properly performing corner of a locker room? It seems as though the Chiefs are uniformly behind Toney given their collective animus toward the officials, and, after the Terry McLaurin situation, it’s an understandable path to take given how inconsistent officiating has been throughout the season. But it’s not like Toney’s play has not been costly throughout the season, and it’s not like he was only a little tiny bit offsides, either.

Obviously, the time to act, from a personnel standpoint, has passed. Free agency and the trade deadline have come and gone. Now, the problem has been shifted into the lap of the head coach, who, one would assume, has the power to clean out a locker or two.

It sounds harsh, but a failure to act in any way only places a heavier burden on a group of maligned receivers who have consistently wilted under high pressure situations. We have seen great defenses try and stave off passive aggression toward their underperforming quarterbacks. We have seen goodhearted running backs try not to bury their porous offensive lines. It rarely ends with players who simply weren’t good enough turning into players who are. It rarely ends with a healthy atmosphere.

The rest of the AFC is dropping by the wayside, while the conference’s most consistent juggernaut is trying to just get by instead of grabbing hold of another Super Bowl berth. The 49ers and Eagles treat their windows of Super Bowl–caliber competitiveness as a last gasp of breath they must hold onto, like a moment they are trying to coddle forever. The Chiefs are treating the middle of Mahomes’s prime like an eternal fall, one in which it’s okay to lose games without the best players on the field it can possibly find.

But, we know how quickly collective greatness can tail off when a disproportionate burden is placed on just one player. Mahomes cannot fly with his passes like a support animal to ensure their safe destination. The Chiefs need to let him know, somehow, right now, that he shouldn’t have to feel like he needs to.

CINCINNATI

A point of general importance from Booger McFarland:

@ESPNBooger

Jake Browning has played well for the Bengals.  I remember people saying Bengals season was over without Joe Burrow. @danorlovsky7   So u don’t say a backup qb can play well !  Someone tell Boo Corrigan this please #seminoles

Peter King:

I think so many things overshadowed Jake Browning over the past seven days—but that shouldn’t diminish the performance of a backup quarterback who beat two playoff contenders Monday (Jacksonville) and Sunday (Indy)—and put up a 119.2 passer rating and 68 points in the process. It’s crazy. It speaks to the confidence Browning has in himself and that the coaches have in him. Now Browning’s got playoff-type games, potentially, four weeks in a row: Minnesota, at Pittsburgh, at Kansas City, Cleveland.

CLEVELAND

Chris Branch of The Athletic on the amazing QB JOE FLACCO:

Surprises: This is 38-year-old Joe Flacco’s world

Imagine telling someone three years ago that Joe Flacco was a better quarterback than Deshaun Watson. It was implausible then. Now, it feels impossible, but that’s exactly where we are in 2023.

A 38-year-old Flacco with gray flecks in his beard was awesome yesterday, and it was just an appetizer to what was a shocking Sunday of football.

Flacco, who went 26-of-45 for 311 yards and two touchdowns yesterday in 8-5 Cleveland’s 31-27 win over the 8-5 Jaguars. He clearly still has the arm to do this, and Cleveland’s defense might just be good enough to make a playoff run if he simply stays competent.

This from Albert Breer of SI.com:

Joe Flacco’s a great fit for the Browns—in part because that roster doesn’t need saving, and in part simply because of who he is. And that second part of the equation became clear to a few of his new teammates almost right away.

It was, to be exact, seven days after he signed. The team had set up shop for the week at UCLA, between road games against the Broncos and Rams, and on Nov. 27 the linemen and quarterbacks had a group dinner at Mastro’s in Beverly Hills. Over steaks and cocktails, the 38-year-old fresh off the couch blended easily with a group of players laced with longtime Browns, one of whom, Joel Bitonio, happened to be the roster’s longest-tenured player.

“You have a quarterback, he’s a Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP, unfortunately beat up on the Browns when he was in Baltimore,” Bitonio said, driving home Sunday. “It was just like, I’m one of the guys. I remember the first thing I talked to him about was if he felt old being around the young guys. He’s like, Honestly, I’m 38, but I feel like I’m 25 around the guys. Everyone makes me feel young. … And since then, he’s taken his time to be part of the group.”

Blending in off the field was one thing. Doing it on the field was another. And that part, somehow, is coming along just as seamlessly.

Flacco threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns in Sunday’s 31–27 win over the Jaguars. Eight different guys had receptions, five had multiple catches, and Flacco led touchdown drives to open the first, second and third quarters. And his ability to do it comes right back to the first part of the aforementioned equation.

Flacco knows he’s not there to pull the Browns from a ditch. It’s actually sort of the opposite. Cleveland’s good enough now that what it really needs is a guy to keep his hands at 10 and 2. Which, for the most part, is just what Flacco gave them Sunday.

Yes, there were moments where Flacco did more than that (namely, throwing across his body to David Bell for a catch-and-run, 41-yard touchdown on a fourth-quarter fourth-and-3). For the most part, though, what the Browns needed, as a team that had already won games with Deshaun Watson, PJ Walker and Dorian Thompson-Robinson under center, was just for someone to come in and keep the train on the tracks.

“It’s underratedly impressive,” Bitonio says, laughing. “I’ve been on some bad teams that have gone through three or four starting quarterbacks. Those teams don’t win games. You go 1–15 and 0–16 in those seasons. For [GM] Andrew Berry and coach [Kevin] Stefanski to have us just playing resilient football, it’s the most cliché thing ever, but it’s going 1–0 every week. You don’t know who’s going to be the quarterback or what situation you’re going to be in, but the focus on the week is like, Hey, we’re going 1–0 this week no matter what. …

“Our top three tackles have been out. Our center got hurt today. Our DBs are getting banged up. It’s not just the quarterback position. It’s been a lot of players. It shows the group’s resilience.”

Bitonio says it also shows their depth.

“We’ve had Myles [Garrett] for years. We’ve had Joe Thomas in the past, a guy like Nick Chubb,” he says. “But I think [now] if you look at every position group, you’re like, All right, that’s one of the better players in the league playing in that position group, helping lead. And when you keep the same system, you keep coach Stefanski, you keep Andrew Berry, you keep the same system for four years now, you learn the situations, and you learn how to win.”

As the Browns have, of course, it’s been as they’ve taken swings at quarterback, with Baker Mayfield and, more recently, Watson. But along the way, they kept building and building and, eventually, had something that didn’t require the quarterback to dress in a phone booth for the team to have a chance to win.

Which, evidently, has made for a pretty comfortable situation for a 38-year-old to walk into.

PITTSBURGH

While making QB MITCH TRUBISKY one of his goats of the week, Peter King indicts the Bears:

In the span of five days, Trubisky did his part to jeopardize what once looked like a sure playoff season. Entering in relief to play the last 31 minutes against Arizona (2-10 entering the game) at home last Sunday, Trubisky came in with a seven-point deficit and turned it into a shocking 14-point loss. Starting against New England (2-10 entering the game) at home Thursday night, Trubisky played with zero confidence and was the biggest culprit in another shocking Steeler loss. In the first 18 minutes, Trubisky threw one pick that was called back on a defensive penalty, threw a pick into triple-coverage that led to a short-field New England touchdown, and had a third one dropped by Patriot corner J.C. Jackson. The crowd was in full throat by then, and it felt like garbage time for the last two hours of the night. Steelers couldn’t dig out of the 21-3 hole and lost 21-18. Someday, there will be a very intelligent, very deep dive into how Ryan Pace could have picked Trubisky six picks ahead of Christian McCaffrey, eight picks ahead of Patrick Mahomes and 28 picks ahead of T.J. Watt in the 2017 NFL Draft—and Pace traded up to do so.

JACKSONVILLE

Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com looks at the Jaguars – losers of two in a row:

It was all set up for the Jags to make a late-season run and land the top spot in the AFC. At 8-3, they about to face a pair of backup quarterbacks in Jake Browning and Joe Flacco. With the Bucs, Panthers and Titans still to come, the only complete team they were facing down the stretch were the Ravens, and even that game was in Jacksonville. With six winnable games to finish their season, they were staring down the possibility of spending the AFC postseason in Florida.

Instead, just about everything has gone wrong. Christian Kirk injured his groin on the first drive last week and is on injured reserve. Trevor Lawrence was forced from the Bengals game with a high ankle sprain, and while he returned unexpectedly Sunday without missing a start, he threw three picks and averaged 5.1 yards per attempt. The Jaguars lost to the Bengals and Browns with their backup quarterbacks, which all but booted them out of the race for the 1-seed. About the only thing that has gone right is the Colts and Texans both losing this week; otherwise, they would be in a three-way tie for the top spot in the AFC.

Offensive line injuries and subpar play continue to plague the Jaguars. Last week, with Cam Robinson on injured reserve, the Jaguars moved Walker Little back to left tackle. He proceeded to get pushed backward by Trey Hendrickson into Lawrence and stepped on the quarterback’s ankle to help create the sack that injured the star quarterback. Little then left the game with a hamstring injury, didn’t return and missed the loss to the Browns.

Ezra Cleveland, who was playing guard for the Vikings before being acquired in a midseason trade, started outside for the Jaguars on Sunday. He played into the second quarter before suffering a knee injury. They replaced him with Blake Hance, who was now their fourth-choice left tackle. Hance then played the rest of the day across from Myles Garrett, who spent virtually the entire game lining up on the right side of the defense. The Defensive Player of the Year candidate proceeded to overwhelm a banged-up Jacksonville line:

It was always going to be tough for a compromised Lawrence to thrive against a great pass defense at home. He looked a little more mobile than I expected, given that he scrambled twice in the opening quarter for gains. Quarterbacks with high ankle sprains often sail passes because they hesitate to plant their feet as normal, though, and two of his three interceptions came on overthrows. (The third appeared to be miscommunication with his receiver.)

In an ideal world, the Jags would have a great running game to take some of the load off Lawrence, but that’s not the case. Their rushes this season have the fifth-fewest expected yards per carry of any team, and their backs have come in 136 rushing yards below that expectation, which is the second-worst mark of any team. Travis Etienne was hyperefficient in generating 234 rush yards over expectation (RYOE) on 220 carries last season, but after a heavy workload to start 2023, he is at minus-51 RYOE across 219 attempts. He also has come in nine first downs below expectation, which has been a noticeable problem in short yardage.

Earlier this season, the Jacksonville defense was really the team’s driving force in winning games. With top cornerback Tyson Campbell in and out of the lineup with injuries, that defense has begun to spring leaks. It is allowing too many big plays, a habit that has cost it in back-to-back losses.

Before the bye, a 6-2 Jaguars team allowed just 10 deep completions all season. That’s about league average, as teams allowed about 1.4 deep completions per game over that stretch. They picked off four of those pass attempts, which helped offset some of the completions.

Over the past five games, though, the defense has allowed 12 such completions. Only the Bengals have allowed more deep completions over that stretch, but they’ve also faced 10 more long attempts than the Jags. Opposing quarterbacks are 12 of 19 for a league-high 432 yards and five touchdowns on deep passes against Jacksonville over the past five weeks.

Last week, it was Ja’Marr Chase beating Campbell and racing downfield for a 72-yard touchdown. This week, the big play came with nobody at all in coverage. With a third-and-1 on the opening drive, the Browns came out with seven offensive linemen and two tight ends in a Jumbo personnel package. With run personnel on the field, Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski instead dialed up a play-action pass. It’s tough to see who was supposed to take David Njoku, but the widest defensive player was safety Rayshawn Jenkins, who shot into the backfield. Njoku waltzed downfield and had nobody within 10 yards of him for the easiest touchdown he’ll ever score.

While it wasn’t a deep pass, another coverage bust plagued the Jags on a fourth-and-3 touchdown pass to David Bell. On the play, the defense sent seven blitzers after the quarterback, which meant it was playing Cover 0 without any safety help in man coverage behind the pressure. The Jacksonville defenders in coverage didn’t pass off a stacked alignment from the Browns correctly, which left Jenkins and Darious Williams covering Elijah Moore and nobody on Bell. Williams slipped as he tried to rectify the problem, leaving Bell to run upfield for a 41-yard score.

We don’t have numbers on this sort of stuff, but it’s difficult for a team to survive two blown coverages for touchdowns, let alone one that also throws three interceptions and runs the ball 20 times for just 59 yards. The Jaguars turned two short fields into touchdowns and got a late score to make things close, but they trailed for nearly 57 minutes Sunday in a game against a team missing its best cornerback, best offensive playmaker, both starting tackles and running out its fourth starting quarterback of the season.

The Jags had ambitions to challenge the best teams in the AFC and compete for a first-round bye. Now, with the Ravens coming to town on Sunday, they are holding onto their division lead for dear life.

BUFFALO

Peter King on the Bills resolve in the face of Tyler Dunn’s hit piece – and most importantly, King as the conscience of the NFL gives Sean McDermott absolution:

For a team we thought might be in crisis Sunday, the Bills hung on to win a game they had to have. And for a coach whose job seemed to be on the line, it’s pretty telling that Buffalo played valiantly to beat Kansas City 20-17 on the road. More telling, perhaps, is that the Bills have now beaten Kansas City in three straight regular seasons at Arrowhead Stadium.

Telling, too: When Sean McDermott got in front of his team after this game, one player yelled out, “We got your back coach!” And a minute later, GM Brandon Beane put his arm around McDermott and said to the players, “We got this man’s back!”

So any question that the team wouldn’t respond to McDermott, or play hard in a massive game, disappeared with the effort and result of this game. “I feel like anyone in the building who comes in contact with [McDermott] knows his character, and knows who he is as a man. We don’t pay a lot of attention to what people on the outside think.”

Much has been written and said about the speech McDermott made to his team in training camp in 2019 about communication and sticking together, in which McDermott used the 9/11 terrorists as an example of a cohesive unit. Veteran pro football writer Tyler Dunne broke the story of McDermott’s stunning four-year-old training-camp speech Thursday in his Golongtd.com Substack.

It’s incredible that a human being who lives in the United States would use the actions of terrorists on our soil—in the same state as Buffalo—as an example of teamwork for his players. Obviously.

Dunne wrote a critical three-part series on his Substack on the failures of McDermott regarding Buffalo continually falling short in its Super Bowl quest. If you don’t subscribe, you can’t read it. But you can see enough of it to get the drift. Dunne’s main point about the 9/11 speech to his team in the story: “At St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, N.Y., McDermott’s morning address began innocently enough. He told the entire team they needed to come together. But then, sources on-hand say, he used a strange model: the terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. He cited the hijackers as a group of people who were all able to get on the same page to orchestrate attacks to perfection.”

That same day, he apologized to his team for saying it. He repeated that apology Thursday to the press in Buffalo after Dunne’s series was posted. He seems repentant to the point of being aghast over the mistake he knows he made. Can he come back from it? Well, he has. He’s four-and-a-half seasons beyond it, and I’ve not heard of the team rising up against him in any way. Indeed, in some of the toughest moments a team can have, such as the Damar Hamlin near-death experience on the field in Cincinnati last season, McDermott has had the clear support of his team—particularly after being clear in discussions with the league on the night Hamlin went down that the game should not be continued.

We’re in the madhouse of the season now, but I know what I’d do if I were McDermott to address this for good. Quietly next spring, I’d arrange a trip to talk to New York City firefighters—who must be seething over this—and make a direct, sincere apology. No cameras, no reporters. Whether the firefighters accept or not isn’t the point; McDermott should make the effort to put salve on the wound he created, as penance for his hurtful words.

In this world, it’s usually wins and losses that decide a coach’s future. I believe that’s how McDermott’s will be decided in this disappointing season. McDermott’s team is just 7-7 since the morning of the AFC divisional nightmare loss to Cincinnati. If the Bills continue to rebound from bad losses to the Jets and Patriots and Broncos, with solid performances like Sunday’s, there won’t be any question about McDermott’s future being in Buffalo. But if the Bills divebomb down the stretch, his future could be in doubt, and probably should be.

But I don’t favor firing a person for saying something profoundly inappropriate and apologizing (in a heartfelt way, seemingly) the same day, then apologizing to the world when it surfaces years later. We’ve gotten to an off-with-his-head point of anger on dumb things said in this country, in all walks of life. I don’t think it’s healthy, except in the cases of unrepentant hate speech. McDermott erred, apologized, apologized again. Now he should be judged on football, not retribution.

McDermott had a good day Sunday, and not just because of the win. The defense is his now, and in holding Kansas City to 17 points, Buffalo’s D made Patrick Mahomes uncomfortable with a series of disciplined blitzes. “Part of the plan,” middle linebacker Terrel Bernard said post-game, “was when you blitz [Mahomes], everybody be on a disciplined track. Make sure every game is accounted for. When we sent pressure, we didn’t want to let him extend plays.” So score one big one for McDermott and the Bills—but the reward is one of football’s hottest teams, the Cowboys, bringing the traveling circus to western New York Sunday. It’s still proving time for McDermott and the Bills, but give them a few minutes at least to soak in a very significant win in Kansas City.

MIAMI

Merry Christmas, Tua!  Peter King:

“Michael Buble’s a beast. I freaking love Michael Buble.”

–Miami QB Tua Tagovailoa, who reveals in “Hard Knocks” this month that he’s a huge fan of Christmas, and of Christmas music, and of Christmas movies.

NEW YORK JETS

Desperate times call for desperate measures, so the Jets took the training wheels off QB ZACH WILSON.  Zach Rosenblatt of The Athletic:

All week, Zach Wilson told his New York Jets teammates he just wanted to let loose, have fun and let it rip. That’s not what he did last year.

When he was benched in 2022 and then asked to start again a few weeks later — that was not fun. Wilson has admitted he’d lost his confidence. Then he was benched again a few weeks ago for Tim Boyle. Boyle struggled enough in two starts that he was cut on Tuesday, so the Jets made the move back to Wilson, who was initially reluctant to return to the starting lineup.

Coach Robert Saleh said after naming Wilson the starter on Wednesday, though, that Wilson was “fired up” for the opportunity. When Wilson took the field Sunday to face the Houston Texans, fans in a sparse MetLife Stadium crowd cheered. It was an unexpected sound for a quarterback who has been booed off that field more than once.

Wilson walked into the huddle with a smile on his face. He laughed.

The Jets faced third-and-long three plays into that first drive, and Wilson hit Garrett Wilson for a 16-yard gain, and then another 7-yard completion right after. He completed a pass to tight end Tyler Conklin for 20 yards, and running back Breece Hall for 6 yards. The drive stalled out when Wilson took a sack on third down to pull the Jets out of field-goal range, and they failed to score the entire first half.

But it didn’t linger after the break. Instead, something changed.

Wilson took over.

The Jets dominated in the second half, in all phases, and Wilson was at the center of it: He completed 18 of 21 passes for 209 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions in that second half, powering the Jets’ best — only? — great offensive performance of the season. They won 30-6 against a Texans team (7-6) with legitimate playoff hopes.

“I thought Zach probably played the best game of his career,” Saleh said. “He’s out there having a good time.”

Maybe the Jets (5-8) don’t have real playoff hopes anymore, but at least they ended the offensive misery that threatened to turn this into an all-time bad collapse to end the season. They lost five games in a row before Sunday and had scored four offensive touchdowns in their last 88 possessions.

Sunday, though, they scored three touchdowns in seven second-half possessions, and three of those other drives ended in field goals. The offense scored all 30 points, a season high for the unit. The previous best was 22 offensive points against the Denver Broncos in Week 5.

“It felt great. Being on the sideline after scoring a touchdown, it’s something we haven’t felt in a long time,” Conklin said. “So to come off the field after scoring multiple touchdowns, scoring 30 points in the second half, it’s a feeling we haven’t had and it felt really good.”

Garrett Wilson said the Jets “wanted to shake the funk and finish the season in the right way. This was a good start.”

It helps to have some quality quarterback play, which the Jets have rarely found this season. Wilson did it despite playing behind a makeshift offensive line on its 10th iteration in 13 games, a group that itself couldn’t even last four quarters. Center Joe Tippmann missed a few plays and right tackle Max Mitchell left with an injury, replaced by Billy Turner. The starting right guard (Jake Hanson) had one career start before Sunday and had just joined the practice squad on Nov. 6. It was ugly at times: The offensive line allowed 15 pressures, five sacks and two quarterback hits, per TruMedia, but it didn’t seem to bother Wilson outside of when he lost a fumble on a scramble in the third quarter.

The key, Wilson said, was completing easy passes — but it was his most challenging completion that really set up his career-best performance.

In the past, Saleh had talked about trying to get Wilson to play a more “boring” style of football, to avoid turning the ball over. This season, that became too boring, to the point where Wilson wasn’t taking any risks, wasn’t playing with much confidence and so the offense went stagnant and he was benched. The message this week: Let it out.

In the third quarter, when the game was still scoreless and the Jets were at third-and-12 at the Texans 40-yard line, Wilson snapped the ball, got pressured by defensive end Jonathan Greenard, evaded him and spun out to the left side. As a Texans defender inched near, he “flipped his hips,” he said, to look for Allen Lazard, saw a safety on him, knew where Garrett Wilson was cutting and decided to take the risk and let it rip to the middle of the field, into a sea of defenders, with a flick of the wrist.

“It’s one of those you don’t really want to throw the ball back across the middle very often, but I thought I had a pretty good look at it being a clean picture,” Wilson said. “So it’s just being aggressive and taking a shot.”

He threw it right to Garrett Wilson, perfectly placed for a 25-yard completion. It set up the next play, an easy 15-yard touchdown pass on a short catch-and-run from Randall Cobb. The Jets offense was finally off the schneid.

“He can make that throw nine or 10 times out of 10, which you can’t say about a lot of dudes in this league, a lot of people in the world,” Garrett Wilson said. “He’s a really special talent and it’s all about toughness. And he’s got that. I’m excited to keep working so I can be open for him. I know the rest of the receiver group feels the same.”

After that, the floodgates opened. The Wilson-Wilson connection inflamed (Wilson: nine catches for 108 yards), the QB kept finding Hall (eight catches, 86 yards, one touchdown) out of the backfield and connected with Conklin (four catches, 57 yards) on a few impressive throws, too. Wilson finished 27 of 36 for 301 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, only the third 300-yard performance of his career — and the first that ended with a victory.

“It’s easier to make those big plays when you’re making the easy ones,” Zach Wilson said. “When your offense is pretty stagnant and we’re not doing a lot and then you start pressing and trying to get those big ones, most of the time it becomes bad things. So, you need to get the easy ones first. You need to show that you can move the ball efficiently first and then the other ones will come.”

The Jets converted 6 of 15 third downs, which might not sound like a lot, but it’s progress for an offense with the worst conversion rate in recorded NFL history. They were 3 for 3 in the red zone, with touchdowns coming on passes from Wilson to Hall (for 3 yards in the fourth quarter) and Cobb, plus a rushing touchdown from wide receiver Xavier Gipson in the third quarter. And finally, the Jets offense held up its end of the bargain on another dominant day for the Jets defense, which stifled rising star quarterback C.J. Stroud (who went 10 of 23 for 91 yards before entering concussion protocol in the fourth quarter) and further cemented defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich as a head coaching candidate.

The Jets are only 5-8, the playoffs are almost certainly out of reach and it’s fair to wonder why it took them this long to use Wilson like this, for offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett to finally open up the playbook.

“It was one of those games where all of these beautifully designed plays were not going to be left in the bag,” Saleh said. “Just let it out. Let the bag loose and see what happens.”

But, at least for one week, the Jets had fun again.

It has been a while.

“That’s what we want every game to look like,” Zach Wilson said.

The Jets have two tough game left (at Dolphins, at Browns) and two easier (Washington and at Patriots).  Probably not going to make it to 9-8 which might be the playoff line.

THIS AND THAT

FRANK WYCHEK

A fall at home, and 52-year-old former Tennessee tight end Frank Wychek had passed away.  Jason Owens of YahooSports.com:

Former Tennessee Titans tight end Frank Wycheck has died at 52 years old.

Wycheck’s family confirmed his death Sunday morning in a statement shared by the Titans.

“At this time, it appears Wycheck fell inside his Chattanooga, TN home and hit his head Saturday morning,” the statement reads. “He was found unresponsive that afternoon.”

Per the statement, the family “plans to work with experts for ongoing brain injury (TBI) and CTE research.”

Wycheck played 11 seasons in the NFL from 1993-2003. He started his career in Washington for two seasons before joining the Houston Oilers in 1995. He remained with the franchise when it moved and became the Titans in 1997 and through the end of his career.

Wycheck made three Pro Bowls from 1998-2000 and was named All-Pro in 2000. He threw the lateral in the famed “Music City Miracle,” a kickoff return for a touchdown that secured a wild-card win for the Titans over the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs after the 1999 season.

On the play, fullback Lorenzo Neal took the kickoff with the Titans trailing 16-15 and 16 seconds remaining in regulation. He handed the ball to Wycheck, who ran right, then turned around and threw a cross-field lateral to receiver Kevin Dyson. Dyson then ran 75 yards down the left sideline untouched for the winning touchdown.

The Titans advanced to the Super Bowl that season, where they lost to the famed “Greatest Show on Turf” St. Louis Rams.

Wycheck finished his career with 505 receptions for 5,126 yards and 28 touchdowns. He led the Titans in receiving for three seasons from 1999-2001. He caught most of those passes from MVP quarterback Steve McNair, who was killed in a shooting in 2009.

Wycheck is a member of the Titans’ Ring of Honor and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. He played in college at Maryland, and the Terrapins also offered a remembrance on X, formerly known as Twitter.

INTERNATIONAL GAMES GONE WILD

Peter King:

When the NFL played in Frankfurt last month, six delegations quietly attended one of the two games as guests of the league. They were representatives of the next wave of strong candidates to host NFL regular-season games overseas: Barcelona and Madrid (Spain), Rio de Janiero and Sao Paolo (Brazil), Paris (France) and Berlin (Germany). There are other candidates behind those, including Dublin (Ireland), where the Steelers would love to play a regular-season game.

I reported a month ago that the NFL would almost certainly expand its inventory of games outside the United States in the near future. Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal has now put a possible timeline on it, reporting that at league meetings in Texas this week, owners will be asked to vote on a measure that would require each team to play one designated home game outside the United States every four years. Currently, the league mandates each team play outside the country as a home team once every eight years.

This is significant, because it means that, as early as 2025, the NFL could play as many as nine games outside the country. In the last two years, and likely next year as well, the NFL has scheduled five games overseas. In 2022 and ’23, there were three games in England and two in Germany. Next year, the rotation is likely three in London, one in Germany and one in either Brazil or Spain. In 2025, Mexico City will return to the rotation after an extended period of renovation of Estadio Azteca for the 2026 World Cup, with an international lineup TBD.

I’m hearing the measure to require the 32 teams to play one home game internationally every four years instead of eight has a very good chance of passing. “I don’t sense any organized opposition,” one plugged-in executive told me. “I think it sails through.”

It’s amazing what’s happened in this movement over the past few years. As one club president said to me maybe five years ago at a league meeting: “I don’t know what we’d hate more—being on ‘Hard Knocks’ or having to play one of our home games overseas.” The change has happened because franchises are working on marketing deals and building fan bases in foreign markets, and these foreign markets treat NFL games with only slightly less fervor than if Taylor Swift had a gig there. At least the business sides of teams now very much want to play out of the country.

I wasn’t that surprised, then, to hear the president of the Super Bowl champs, KC’s Mark Donovan, tell me this in Germany last month: “We don’t want to wait another eight years to play overseas.” Donovan knows no opponent would want to give up a home game against Patrick Mahomes in the near future, so KC might have to surrender a home game to play in Germany again before the eight years is up. Kansas City seems willing to do that. Donovan said it’s all a long-term play: “The true benefits for us will be 30 years down the road.”

For those fans who don’t want to lose any home games, I get it. But the advent of the 17-game schedule means every team plays nine home games every other season. So teams (other than Jacksonville, which has a separate agreement to play at least once a year in London) should have eight home games, minimum, well into the future.

Let’s talk about one other factor that makes more games outside the country attractive to the league. Say the NFL, in 2025, plays three games in England, two in Germany, one in Mexico, one in Paris, one in Spain and one in Brazil. The Mexico City game would likely be a primetime game, possibly Monday or Thursday night. The other eight could be sold off as a new package of 9:30 a.m. games, either streamed or made a franchise anchor for NFL Network or for fledgling media property NFL+. (Brazil is two hours ahead, so a game there could, theoretically, start at 11:30 a.m. local time to fit into the 9:30 ET window.) So it’s not only the fact that more teams want to play overseas; it’s the fact that the NFL could turn the 9:30 window into a real, live new territory for media rights. I don’t think this is probable, but if the NFL wants to make this happen, it can.