| We’ll get to “If The Season Ended Today” tomorrow after Eagles-Chargers, but the big story is that two of the AFC’s biggest brands – Baltimore and Kansas City – are 6-7 and out of the playoffs. With four games to go, they are each two below the cut line for the Wild Card and the team currently at 8-5, the Texans, now has a head-to-head win over each of them. The Ravens are in a bit of a better spot, now one game behind Pittsburgh in the AFC North after the Steelers win in Baltimore on Sunday. The Bills, the AFC’s other big brand, are doing a bit better, firmly in the playoffs at 9-4. But even if they beat the Patriots in Foxborough this Sunday, they still will be a game behind in the AFC East. Thoughts from Mike Sando of The Athletic: One percent. Those were the Kansas City Chiefs’ chances to reach the Super Bowl after the game clock finally expired on their 20-10 home loss to the Houston Texans, according to The Athletic’s model. The team that has played in seven consecutive AFC Championship Games is on the brink, seven weeks before the next one will be played. The fear factor is all but gone from the Chiefs after the Texans’ defense bullied Kansas City. Hurt by six dropped passes, Patrick Mahomes posted a passer rating (19.8) less than half of his previous career low (44.4, set last season against San Francisco). The Pick Six column sorts through the rubble to re-stack AFC contenders heading into the season’s final stretch. Who would have believed New England and Denver would emerge from Week 14 as favorites to reach the Super Bowl from a conference Kansas City has dominated for so long? The Buffalo Bills might not believe it yet — might this finally be their year? 1. The Chiefs are just about finished at 6-7. Who will take their usual spot in the Super Bowl?Before we run through the teams, let’s take a big-picture look at projected Super Bowl chances for the AFC, shown in the table below. Kansas City, Baltimore and Buffalo were the AFC’s consensus top three entering the season. Watching the Chiefs and Ravens take losing records into the season’s final four games once would have seemed unimaginable in the absence of catastrophic quarterback injuries. It’s true, though, and that’s why you’ll need to scroll a bit before finding either team here. Now, a conference ruled by Mahomes, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning for nearly a quarter century appears wide open for the first time since perhaps 2008, when Brady tore his ACL in Week 1 and Manning’s Colts lost their playoff opener as a wild card. • New England PatriotsW-L: 11-2 | Playoff chance: >99 percent | Super Bowl chance: 32 percentAre these a modern-day version of the 2001 Super Bowl-winning Patriots? Current coach Mike Vrabel was a first-time starter on that team. Current offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was a personnel assistant. Quarterback Drake Maye is in his second season, same as Brady was then, and while no one should compare the two players based on what we know about Brady’s full career, Maye has been at least as impressive this season as Brady was in the 2001 regular season after replacing the injured Drew Bledsoe. Maye entered the Patriots’ Week 14 bye as the MVP betting favorite, after all. “Vrabel is a modern version of Bill Belichick — understands all the fundamentals and is really good at situational football,” a coach from another team said. “The difference is, Bill would never drop the red challenge flag like he’s dropping a water balloon on his friend’s toe. Bill never would win a challenge or have a big call on the field and motion for a first down on the sideline like he’s Michael Irvin in the middle of the star.” That’s part of what makes this version of the Patriots refreshing: They’re new, but playing like New England teams of old. Denver owns the tiebreaker over New England for the AFC’s No. 1 seed, but The Athletic’s model views the Patriots as a stronger team with a weaker remaining schedule, giving them the edge for home-field advantage and the lone first-round bye. • Denver BroncosW-L: 11-2 | Playoff chance: >99 percent | Super Bowl chance: 21 percentAt least our model respects the Broncos’ chances. Do you? Denver’s 24-17 victory over the Raiders made them the 57th team in NFL history to win at least 10 in a row during a regular season. Their average point differential in those games (6.9) ranks last by a wide margin (the 1999 Colts rank 56th with an 8.7-point average margin during an 11-game win streak, while the current Patriots are 45th with an 11.8-point average margin during their 10-game streak). That’s not surprising given how many times the Broncos have struggled on offense until late before rallying behind quarterback Bo Nix in the absence of structure. Sunday’s game offered encouragement on that front, albeit against a terrible team. Denver put together three scoring drives spanning at least 14 plays and 80 yards. No team has had more drives fitting those specs in a game since at least 2000. It was the seventh time this season that a team controlled the ball for at least 39 minutes and won. The other six teams won by 27, 24, 31, 19, 11 and nine points. “We all know you can have the one season winning the close games,” an exec from another team said. “Minnesota did it a couple years ago. Kansas City did it last year. But it’s a dangerous roulette game, because when you don’t do it, is that the first playoff game? Then you are Minnesota losing to the Giants with Daniel Jones at the controls. That is why New England is more interesting.” The Broncos’ defense has carried the load, but the numbers suggest it is not quite elite. Denver ranks sixth in defensive EPA per play at 0.07, half of Houston’s league-leading figure. Of 160 defenses since 2021, the Broncos’ ranks 30th (20 spots behind their 2024 unit), while the Texans’ ranks second. • Buffalo BillsW-L: 9-4 | Playoff chance: 98 percent | Super Bowl chance: 16 percentThe Bills won one of the season’s most exciting games Sunday, 39-34 over the Bengals. Christian Benford’s incredible pick six off the Bengals’ Joe Burrow was the difference on a day when both defenses were holding on against dominant quarterbacks. Reigning MVP Josh Allen suddenly leads the league in combined EPA when passing, rushing or scrambling. A few more games like this one, and he might win the award again. The question remains whether Buffalo can win without its offense playing well. The team is 0-4 this season and 1-7 over the past two seasons when the offense was below average (negative EPA). Defense travels, right? Well, the Bills are 12-11 on the road over the past three seasons after going 23-9 away from home over the previous four, and in all likelihood, they will be hitting the road in the playoffs. The Bills’ margin for error has shrunk, even with Kansas City almost out of the picture. • Jacksonville JaguarsW-L: 9-4 | Playoff chance: 98 percent | Super Bowl chance: 9 percentBefore the season, The Athletic’s model gave the Jaguars a 33 percent shot at reaching the playoffs but only a 1.4 percent chance of reaching the Super Bowl in what was looking like a rugged AFC. Those Super Bowl chances have grown sixfold. The Jaguars own five victories over teams that currently have winning records, one fewer than the league-leading Los Angeles Rams (Denver, by comparison, has two). The Jaguars had zero last season. Jacksonville has done it by improving on defense by an NFL-best 10.7 EPA per game from last season. There has been no offensive gain by that measure; Jacksonville is the only team averaging the same offensive EPA per game this season as last. That’s what makes this a fascinating first season under new coach Liam Coen. Hired partly to revive quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who played one of his better games of the season in beating Indy on Sunday, Coen came out throwing early in the season. Jacksonville ranked fifth on the Cook Index through Week 9, passing 60 percent of the time on early downs in the first 28 minutes of games, before time remaining and score differential exert more influence. The Jaguars have passed 43 percent of the time in those situations since Week 10, which ranks 27th. That’s a recalibration. “The nice thing is, Jacksonville and Chicago are winning enough that the coach gets the juice, not the incumbent quarterback,” another exec said. “Two years ago, when Lawrence got his deal, he had the juice. Last offseason, when Caleb’s dad said the Bears were a quarterback graveyard, well, now we have a new caretaker in the graveyard.” Coen, Lawrence and the Jaguars remain very much alive. • Houston TexansW-L: 8-5 | Playoff chance: 92 percent | Super Bowl chance: 9 percentHouston leads the league in defensive EPA per play. Will that be enough to overcome an offense that ranks 26th, just ahead of the Saints, Jets and Vikings? It was enough against the Chiefs, who were playing without both starting offensive tackles, even before their starter at left tackle Sunday night, Wanya Morris, suffered an injury on the first play from scrimmage. “It is all four-man rush, and the rush is hot,” a coach from another team said. “That menu is small in size, but great in depth of understanding.” The Texans held the Chiefs to 4 of 14 conversions on third down without sending more than four pass rushers even one time. They rank fourth among 224 defenses since 2019 in third-down EPA per play when rushing four or fewer, per TruMedia. Only the 2020 Ravens, 2019 Patriots and 2020 Dolphins rank ahead of them over that seven-season stretch. • Baltimore RavensW-L: 6-7 | Playoff chance: 31 percent | Super Bowl chance: 4 percentLamar Jackson has failed to complete even 60 percent of his passes in any of his past five games. He has two touchdown passes and four interceptions over that stretch. His streak of five consecutive starts without posting a passer rating of 90 or higher is his longest since a seven-game stretch of the 2021 season. Something is very wrong with Jackson and the Ravens. It couldn’t come at a worse time, with the Chiefs and Bills — who have handed Jackson his last three playoff losses — looking vulnerable. • Los Angeles ChargersW-L: 8-4 | Playoff chance: 65 percent | Super Bowl chance: 4 percentIf losing by 29 points to Jacksonville, 17 to Washington and 14 to Indianapolis seems unbecoming of an 8-4 team, that’s because it is. The Chargers are the 89th team to start 8-4 since divisional realignment in 2002. They are only the seventh among the 89 to lose three of those games by at least 14 points. Let’s see how they fare at home against the Eagles on Monday night. • Pittsburgh SteelersW-L: 7-6 | Playoff chance: 67 percent | Super Bowl chance: 2 percentUpon further review, the Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers rental paid off Sunday when he shockingly completed four passes traveling at least 20 yards past the line of scrimmage, a total he has surpassed just six times in 274 total starts, the last time in Week 1 of his 2020 MVP season with Green Bay. The aerial show, sustained in part when replay turned a bizarre fourth-quarter interception into an incomplete pass in a 27-22 victory over Baltimore, included three completions traveling more than 25 yards downfield, matching a career high for the future Hall of Famer. On one play, Rodgers held the ball for 7.2 seconds before finding DK Metcalf 26 yards downfield for a 41-yard gain. Calling out his receivers after a rough outing last week might have worked for Rodgers, who led five scoring drives but also four three-and-outs. • Indianapolis ColtsW-L: 8-5 | Playoff chance: 30 percent | Super Bowl chance: 2 percent Before the Colts lost quarterback Daniel Jones to what they fear is a torn Achilles tendon in their 36-19 loss at Jacksonville, I was preparing to write about how their formula for winning was becoming unsustainable. They were too reliant on the run game even before Jones got hurt. It’s not just the Colts’ 2025 season that’s in peril. Their franchise’s future is, too.Before Sunday, the Colts were 6-0 in games when they rushed for at least 50 yards in the first half, but only 2-4 otherwise. This seemed like a decent way to filter out rushing gains Indy made while protecting leads later in games. The results matched the eye test. “They were 7-1 and busting 80-yard runs for touchdowns, not winning on third down or in the red zone,” an opposing coach said. “That is not sustainable in the NFL anymore because the linemen aren’t good enough. There are no ‘Hogs’ (as with the 1980s Washington Redskins). There is no ‘Riggo’ (John Riggins) telling ‘Buges’ (line coach Joe Bugel), ‘Hey, tell Gibbsy (head coach Joe Gibbs) to give me the ball because there are 50,000 in the stands and they all came here to see me.'” • Kansas City ChiefsW-L: 6-7 | Playoff chance: 16 percent | Super Bowl chance: 1 percentAndy Reid’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 from Kansas City’s 31-yard line with 10:22 remaining in a 10-10 game affirmed what Mahomes and Chris Jones had already made clear through their play: Kansas City was going to go down swinging. Every unnecessary hit Mahomes took felt necessary under the circumstances. Jones, known to pick his spots as a pass rusher, played all-out much of the time. Still, it was not enough. Two weeks ago, we argued the Chiefs might be better off missing the playoffs if it meant the team would make meaningful improvements. We are much closer to seeing if that happens sooner than anyone could have anticipated. |
| NFC NORTH |
| MINNESOTAQB J.J. McCARTHY won’t be getting on the bus to Bustville just yet. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com: Quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s return to the Vikings lineup on Sunday couldn’t have gone much better. The Vikings took the opening kickoff and easily moved through the Commanders defense before McCarthy threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to tight end Josh Oliver. McCarthy would throw two more touchdowns while going 16-of-23 for 163 yards in a 31-0 win. It’s likely too little and too late to help the team’s playoff chances, but McCarthy said it was a “step in the right direction” during a season that has featured multiple injuries and underwhelming play for the 2024 first-round pick. “It’s definitely reassuring,” McCarthy said in his postgame press conference. “I always knew I had that and I always knew the potential is there, but I’m looking at it right now and there’s so many ways I could get better. I’m so far from where I want to be, so it’s just great to get the win and grow in this game.” The next step for McCarthy and the Vikings will be to stack a string of performances like Sunday together to close out the year. If they can do that, they will be able to head into the offseason with some positive momentum to balance out all that went wrong over the first 12 weeks of the season.. |
| NFC EAST |
| PHILADELPHIAWe hear Nick Siriani is more involved with the Eagles offense this week. More from Brooks Kubena of The Athletic: The creators, stewards and members of the Philadelphia Eagles offense know their production is insufficient. They know their system has bugs that need fixing. They insist they are taking actions to do so. They just have no interest in discussing how that is being done — even to the vaguest degree. At the gates of The House of Silence is Nick Sirianni. The head coach began the 14th week of his fifth season by telling reporters “everything” was evaluated over the team’s mini-bye weekend after getting bullied in its Black Friday home loss to the Chicago Bears. Going forward, Sirianni said “we will think about some different things that we want to do all over the place,” which involves “everything,” he repeated. What exactly is everything? “I don’t think it benefits us for me to share in particular what that is,” Sirianni said. “Just know this: We want to get this thing fixed more than anybody. We live it, breathe it, and are involved in it every waking second of our lives. That’s what we’re working on right now.” Everything can be convenient framing. It evokes the holistic idea of every inch of The House of Silence being supervised without having to address the wiring issue that’s mucking up the wall sockets. Or more. That’s the flip side: How many problems are there in everything? When Sirianni says, “obviously, we’re evaluating everything,” that invites the alarming possibility that there are problems with, well, everything. And Sirianni’s silence leans on both organizational and public trust that his process can fix whatever everything is. Sirianni is certainly operating the 2025 season with organizational trust. Owner Jeffrey Lurie extended Sirianni’s contract after the Eagles won Super Bowl LIX. They’d reached the Super Bowl twice in three years. Sirianni’s career win percentage (.700) remains higher than anyone who’s coached the Eagles. And Sirianni exercised that organizational trust by promoting his long-time assistant, Kevin Patullo, to replace New Orleans Saints-bound Kellen Moore as his offensive coordinator. That decision drew scrutiny before it was officially made. Scrutiny has intensified as its surface-level concern was realized: The Eagles are once again stagnating offensively after another internal hire. The Eagles offense’s season-total -5.22 EPA ranks 16th in the NFL. In a more alarming view, the Sirianni-era Eagles had never owned a negative total offensive EPA beyond Week 11 until this season. Despite returning all but one starter from their Super Bowl LIX lineup, despite Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley playing in every game, despite deploying A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith together in all but one game, despite fielding at least four of their usual starting five offensive linemen all season, Sirianni and Patullo’s system is on pace to be the team’s least efficient offense since Sirianni was hired. The stagnation threatens Patullo’s job security and could force Sirianni to adapt yet again during the offseason. An aggravated Eagles fanbase has increasingly hollered boos and curses and “Fire Kevin” chants from their seats. An extreme and reckless contingent hurled eggs at Patullo’s home after the Bears game and is being investigated by local law enforcement. “It’s perfectly acceptable to sit up here and talk about what’s going on, how to fix it, what we’re going to do going forward, and we know that,” Patullo said. “But when it involves your family, obviously it crosses the line. That happened, and at this point, we’ve just got to move on. We’re trying to win.” Sirianni and Patullo’s rallying cries for their on-field product echo those in 2023. Former OC Brian Johnson was trying to win, too. But the details within that season’s dysfunction were indeed different. Sirianni later admitted to being too involved in the day-to-day oversight of that offense. Patullo leads the 2025 offensive game-planning and calls plays, an adapted framework Moore operated within last season. Still, Sirianni and Patullo’s long-shared history somewhat devalued the relevance of any autonomy Patullo held, and moreso launched the ultimate test of the offensive principles they’d formed together. This is reinforced by Sirianni’s constant defense of Patullo as the offense’s play-caller. That steadfastness underlines the unique predicament this year’s Eagles are in. Sirianni has twice changed play-callers midseason. He called offensive plays to begin his inaugural 2021 season, but delegated the job to former OC Shane Steichen. In 2023, Sirianni stripped defensive play-calling from former DC Sean Desai before their Week 15 loss to the Seattle Seahawks and gave those duties to former senior defensive assistant Matt Patricia. Steichen, who’d called plays for the Los Angeles Chargers, galvanized the Eagles in two straight playoff runs before the Indianapolis Colts hired him as their head coach in 2023. Patricia, a long-time New England Patriots DC and former Detroit Lions head coach, did not improve a defense that required the personnel overhaul it received during the subsequent offseason. This year, Sirianni has stuck by Patullo while offering repeated variations of, “It’s not about one person.” Asked why this year is different from 2021 and 2023, Sirianni called them “different scenarios” without saying why he believed they were. As for the 2023 season, which contained the biggest blot on Sirianni’s otherwise exemplary record, he said “the lessons we learned” resulted in their Super Bowl LIX championship. “I have very specific thoughts and have written down exactly what we learned and how we learned it and what we did for that,” Sirianni said. “Obviously, those lumps that you take, if you allow them to, can knock you down and keep you down, or those lumps that you take can let you rise up above everything.” Sirianni is once again leaning on those notes to combat an offensive lull few NFL head coaches have conquered by standing pat with their staff. In 2003, Mike Tice stuck with his Minnesota Vikings coordinators through a 6-0 start that devolved into a 9-7 finish. (Tice fired DC George O’Leary that offseason.) In 2008, Eric Mangini stood by OC Brian Schottenheimer despite the New York Jets’ backslide from 8-3 to 9-7. (The Jets fired Mangini afterward.) In 2014, Chip Kelly’s Eagles started 9-3 and missed the playoffs at 10-6. (Kelly fired DC Bill Davis afterward and was fired himself in 2015.) Onlookers can point to past head coaches who executed midseason firings and believe it’d also yield the Eagles dream results. In 2012, John Harbaugh famously fired OC Cam Cameron in Week 14, promoted former Colts head coach Jim Caldwell, who was on the Baltimore Ravens’ staff as their quarterback’s coach, and the Ravens eventually won Super Bowl XLVII with record-setting games by quarterback Joe Flacco. In 2015, Mike McCarthy took back play-calling from OC Tom Clements in Week 14, which boosted the play of Aaron Rodgers and carried the Green Bay Packers through a two-game playoff run. Unlike Harbaugh, Sirianni does not employ a former offensive-minded NFL head coach. And unlike McCarthy, Sirianni did not climb the coaching ranks because of his proficiency as a play-caller. The former of those two factors reinforces Sirianni’s belief that Patullo, himself and his staff of subordinates will succeed. The latter reinforces the organization’s belief in Sirianni’s process. Both are facing major tests. The framework of Sirianni’s offensive staffing is noteworthy. He has never hired someone with experience as a full-time NFL offensive play-caller for a position at a lower rank than offensive coordinator. (Passing game coordinator Parks Frazier and tight ends coach Jason Michael both previously called plays on an interim basis.) This inherently creates a natural pecking order that was jostled on the defensive side when Sirianni added Patricia to the 2023 staff behind Desai. Given that Sirianni did not employ a former DC behind Jonathan Gannon in 2021 or 2022, Sirianni effectively used Patricia as a break-the-glass option for Desai, whom Sirianni hired because his preferred option, Vic Fangio, was not yet available. The only shadow looming over Patullo is Sirianni, who is most comfortable not calling plays. Instead, Sirianni oversees the collective work of a coaching staff that he often calls a “collaboration.” One could argue that first-year quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler, a four-time collegiate OC and former Bowling Green head coach, is qualified to call NFL plays. (Johnson was a three-time collegiate OC.) But Sirianni hired Loeffler because of his expertise as a quarterbacks coach and the distinct portfolio of offensive systems and concepts he’d contribute to the collaboration. Loeffler and Frazier were Sirianni’s two external hires in the offseason. Their collective history contributed to Sirianni’s belief that his staff contained enough fresh ideas to prevent the long-term stagnation that doomed the 2023 season. Asked how Loeffler and Frazier have specifically been involved in the staff’s recent system evaluation, Sirianni instead spoke the name of every offensive staff member and talked about them in general terms. “Everyone’s in there talking through everything and that’s what you do,” Sirianni said. “You have to have a guy that’s leading the charge, but those coaches meetings are so valuable of how you kind of go through that because you want everybody on the same page. You go through it with everybody together, and, naturally, everyone’s looking at it as a slightly different vantage point. And so everybody helps in those processes.” No team is quite alike, but Sirianni’s commitment to his offensive staff amidst considerable snags contains similarities to a 2015 Atlanta Falcons team in which their coach, Dan Quinn, stood by then first-year OC Kyle Shanahan through a 6-1 start that gave way to a six-game losing streak. Quarterback Matt Ryan’s career-low struggles confounded the fanbase considering the enviable talent he had around him in All-Pro wideout Julio Jones and Pro Bowl running back Devonta Freeman. The defensive-minded Quinn still held strong confidence about the direction of their offensive system, like Sirianni. Quinn told reporters during their bye week that they’d made only “subtle” changes to their offense. After Atlanta’s fifth straight loss, Quinn doubled down by saying, “We have a core philosophy that we absolutely, 100 percent believe in and won’t back off from.” The Falcons still tumbled, lost two of their next four games, and missed the playoffs at 8-8. Quinn retained Shanahan, and, in 2016, the Falcons reached Super Bowl LI and Ryan won league MVP. “Oddly enough, I think one of the things that was interesting is while we finished that season 8-8… I actually felt like we were making strides as an offense and getting better and moving in the right direction,” Ryan, now an NFL analyst for CBS Sports, told The Athletic. “And I think that’s one of the hardest things in sports is to feel like you’re living in this area where your process is really good, your preparation is really good, but you’re not seeing the outcomes that you want. Because that inherently makes you question whether you’re doing it.” Play-callers and players are graded on results. Wins and losses. Points and yards. Efficiency and consistency. Absent of those things, how did Ryan feel like the Falcons were making progress? He said when the process they had during the week started showing up on tape — success even in small sample sizes. Not fluke plays. Not improvisation. When a play or concept they’d installed for that week’s game plan — a blitz protection, a route dependent on adjusted timing, et. al — made it to the field and worked. “In a lot of ways, it is a result,” Ryan said. “It’s a result on a specific play or a specific protection or a run scheme of a back trusting his reads, his keys, those things, and you see a positive gain. And it might be followed by one that’s not there, but we’re having more positive results than we are negative.” Indeed, the 2015 Falcons recorded a net-positive total offensive EPA in four of their final five games, per TruMedia. Conversely, the 2025 Eagles haven’t played a game with a net-positive total offensive EPA since their Week 8 win over the New York Giants. Within that four-game stretch, 188 of Philadelphia’s 238 offensive plays (79 percent) carried a negative EPA. They include 49 incomplete passes, 21 penalties and 11 negative runs. Hurts’ 0.01 EPA per dropback in that span ranks 18th among league quarterbacks. Barkley’s -28.65 total rush EPA in that span ranks last among running backs. Hurts and Barkley have both held themselves accountable publicly. So have a number of other offensive players. But there is also little evidence to suggest that an offensive staff with Sirianni at the helm and Patullo spearheading game plans and play calls is affording a talent-laden roster a schematic advantage. “Of course none of us are doing a good enough job right now,” Sirianni said. “We all have to look internally and get better.” Sirianni’s evaluation of “everything” operates within a workflow process he still holds confidence in. The framework of the team’s day-to-day schedule has remained unchanged in the Sirianni era, although it truncates on short weeks and shifts over for Monday night games: Monday: Review the previous game, then take a big-picture look at the next opponent Tuesday: NFL-mandated off day for players Wednesday: Early-down play installation Thursday: Third-down play installation Friday: Red-zone play installation Saturday: Four-minute and two-minute situation installation Sunday: Game day Several players said they appreciate the consistency. The items within the days have changed over the years (for example, the Eagles close their days with practice this year when they practiced earlier in previous seasons), but the subject matter stays the same. For comparison, Ryan said he had to adapt to different installation schedules while playing for five offensive coordinators with the Falcons. Sirianni’s daily framework allows the players to work ahead on their own time while knowing when they’ll meet with coaches over specific plays. “It’s good that way because you know what you’re getting yourself into,” wide receiver Jahan Dotson said. “You know how to attack your weeks, how to attack your day, and how to use your time most efficiently.” The Eagles’ coaching staff molds their preparation around that framework. Sirianni has balked when asked what responsibilities each assistant holds. But in terms of their day-to-day approach, Sirianni said “the guts” of his process “stay pretty similar, but there are constant tweaks.” “There are definitely days that you go in and say, ‘Okay, I’m devoting eight hours to red zone,’ and then that day it takes eight and a half or nine or 10 or five,” Sirianni said. “It just depends. Your schedule may be this, but we have the ability as coaches to stay later. We don’t have to punch a clock; we don’t get overtime for anything. Although, I did get overtime when I was at (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) as a (wide receivers) coach. That was nice.” It is clear Sirianni and his coaching staff are working overtime. Left guard Landon Dickerson said he often receives 10 p.m. text messages with addendums to the game plan ahead of the next day’s installations. “You just kind of look over those at night or when you wake up in the morning,” Dickerson said. “You don’t have a ton of time here together in this building. So, you got to get the information out somehow. So a lot of times it’s you send stuff out, pictures and texts and videos and all that stuff just so you can get it hammered out and kind of put this day in and make sure you get all the information you need before you get to the next day.” By sticking with the framework of his staff, Sirianni is placing belief in his process with Patullo as his play-caller. By committing to a workflow that every play-caller has operated within under Sirianni, the Eagles at the very least have an established constant for how they managed their time. And they will know which variables contributed to this offense’s problems — or its solutions. |
| WASHINGTONWhile the Vikings were tearing up the Commanders, they also tore the ACL of TE ZACH ERTZ. NFL.com: Tests confirmed that Washington Commanders tight end Zach Ertz tore his ACL in Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings, head coach Dan Quinn announced on Monday. Ertz suffered what appeared at the time to be a serious knee injury in the second half when he was hit by Vikings safety Jay Ward while attempting to catch a pass from backup quarterback Marcus Mariota. Ertz had to be helped to the sideline and then was carted to the visitor’s locker room at U.S. Bank Stadium before he was ruled out for the remainder of the game. Quinn did not paint an optimistic picture regarding Ertz’s status, telling reporters after the loss that there was concern for the tight end’s ACL. Monday’s tests confirmed the initial fear. “Tough news,” Quinn said on Monday. “He has meant a lot to our team both on and off the field.” Quinn also gave an update on Jayden Daniels’ status after he left Sunday’s loss early after aggravating a left elbow injury that had sidelined him the previous three games. Quinn said on Monday that tests showed that there’s no long-term concern with Daniels’ elbow and that they’ll monitor how the week progresses before determining if Daniels can play Week 15 against the Giants. Ertz, 35, was in the midst of his second season in Washington, where he has emerged as a veteran leader and one of Daniels’ most trusted targets. Ertz was instrumental last year during the Commanders’ turnaround to the conference title game, catching 66 passes for 654 yards and seven touchdowns, and he re-signed with D.C. this past offseason on a one-year deal. It’s been a trying season for the 3-10 Commanders, but Ertz had maintained the consistency he’s flashed across 13-year career with 50 receptions for 504 yards with four TDs. Given Ertz’s age and the severity of his injury, it’s fair to wonder if he’s played his last down in the NFL. If that is indeed the case, Ertz will go down as one of the most prolific tight ends in league history (his 825 career receptions are No. 5 all-time among tight ends). |
| NFC SOUTH |
| NEW ORLEANSQB TYLER SHOUGH now has wins over the two teams tied atop the NFC South. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com: Saints quarterback Tyler Shough is trying to show that he can be the team’s long-term answer at the position and Sunday’s game against the Buccaneers was a good showing on that front. Shough was 13-of-20 for 144 yards and an interception on a rainy afternoon in Tampa, but he ran seven times for 55 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-20 upset win. Shough had a 34-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to give the Saints a lead and his 13-yard scramble in the fourth quarter put the Saints ahead for good. The win was the second in Shough’s five starts and he said after the game that those touchdown runs were a sign of his growing confidence in what he can do on the field. “One hundred percent,” Shough said, via a transcript from the team. “Every single practice, every single week, I feel my confidence growing more and more – just the ability to go out there [and] put points on the board in any way we can, so there’s a lot of plays that we can look at, and I can look at, and continue to continue to grow with, but we’re just really proud of everybody, especially against a defense like that in those conditions to kind of turn out a win.” The Saints have a home date with the Panthers — who they beat 17-7 on the road in Shough’s second start —next Sunday and playing spoiler to their NFC South rivals would be another entry in the plus column for Shough’s bid for a long run in the starting lineup. |
| AFC WEST |
| KANSAS CITYIs Kansas City’s suboptimal season a one-and-done or will it linger? Tyler Sullivan of CBSSports.com: The Kansas City Chiefs are on the ropes. Following Sunday’s home loss to the Houston Texans, Patrick Mahomes and Co. are firmly at risk of missing out on the playoffs entirely. K.C. dropped to 6-7 on the season, which triggered some statistics that you would’ve found jaw-dropping had we told you they’d unfold before the 2025 campaign. Most losses (7) in a season since Patrick Mahomes became the full-time starter in 2018. Latest the Chiefs have been under .500 since 2012, the season before hiring Andy Reid. Already eliminated from winning the AFC West, snapping a nine-season streak as division champions. According to SportsLine’s projections, Kansas City has just a 10% of making the playoffs at this stage with four games to go in the regular season. On top of winning out, the Chiefs will need extraordinary external help in order to squeak in. As those projections indicate, however, those hopes are dwindling in a hurry. If/when the Chiefs are officially eliminated from playoff contention, it’ll mark a seismic moment for their dynasty and the NFL landscape as a whole. And it could be just the top of the iceberg, as the road forward through 2026 could be even worse for Kansas City. Looking ahead to next season, we already know most of their opponents as the AFC West is slated to play the AFC East and NFC West in 2026. That’s arguably an even tougher division draw than what they were dealt during this trying 2025 season, squaring off against the NFC North and AFC South. Here’s a look at who the Chiefs are slated to play in 2026, and where (Not including their AFC West rivals: Broncos, Chargers, and Raiders). Home Away New England Patriots Buffalo BillsNew York Jets Miami DolphinsLos Angeles Rams Arizona CardinalsSan Francisco 49ers Seattle SeahawksAFC South (Indy? TBD) AFC North (Cincinnati? TBD)NFC South (Atlanta? TBD) Specifically, Kansas City’s road schedule in 2026 is projected to be a gauntlet with trips to Buffalo, Los Angeles, and Seattle on deck, with the possible addition of Cincinnati. Collectively, their road opponents (excluding the rest of the AFC West) are 43-35 this season through Week 14. Their home opponents (excluding the rest of the AFC West) are 34-31. While the home schedule is a touch lighter, hosting the Patriots and 49ers won’t be gimmies whatsoever. Of course, the “when” piece of Kansas City’s schedule won’t be revealed until the spring, which is a key element still looming. Nevertheless, the opponents are slated to be just as, if not more, daunting in 2026, creating the potential for this stumble to continue through next year if they don’t rectify some of their issues. And addressing some key needs may not be the easiest endeavor, as they are currently projected to be $42.7 million over the salary cap, which is the second-lowest amount of space in the league (via Over the Cap). While they can do some cap gymnastics to under the threshold through restructures and releases, it’ll be a process. But let’s look at a couple of key areas they need to address this offseason to better gear up for this upcoming slog of 2026 opponents to avoid the disaster that has been the 2025 season. How can the Chiefs fix issues this offseason? Bolster the backfieldOne thing that stands out when watching the Chiefs is the lack of an explosive ground attack. Sure, Kareem Hunt has been good in short-yardage situations, but neither Hunt nor Isiah Pacheco has shown us the ability to break off an explosive run. Through Week 14, Kansas City has just three rushes for 20-plus yards, which is tied for the second-fewest in the NFL. Bringing in someone like New York Jets running back Breece Hall — a pending unrestricted free agent — could give the Chiefs the type of dynamic back they’ve been sorely missing. Hall has seven runs of 20-plus yards this season, and would give Patrick Mahomes a trusted option as a pass-catcher out of the backfield as well. Find a Travis Kelce replacementFather Time is ticking when it comes to Travis Kelce, who has looked a step slower in recent years. After mulling retirement last offseason, it’s fair to wonder if this will be it for the future Hall of Fame tight end. Regardless of whether it’s this offseason or some point down the line, Kansas City needs to bring in his replacement. And that doesn’t just mean a tight end; they need to identify the next go-to target for Patrick Mahomes in the passing game. Could that simply be Rashee Rice? Sure. That said, K.C. may want to add as many playmakers as possible. Pending free agent tight ends like David Njoku, Kyle Pitts, and Isaiah Likely could be intriguing options to fill Kelce’s shoes at his position and be another weapon for Mahomes. Refresh the secondaryKansas City’s secondary could go through an overhaul this offseason, with corner Jaylen Watson and safety Bryan Cook slated to hit free agency. Meanwhile, corner Trent McDuffie has just one year left on his rookie deal after the Chiefs picked up his fifth-year option for 2026, so he could be due an extension as well. Kansas City is allowing a 92.7 passer rating against this season, which ranks 18th in the NFL. The secondary is allowing quarterbacks to complete 67.7% of their passes against them, which is 28th in the league. Something needs to change there, maybe with the infusion of some young talent via the NFL Draft, especially with the group of elite quarterbacks they are slated to play in 2026. |
| AFC NORTH |
| BALTIMOREZachary Pareles of CBSSports.com on why the Ravens were losers on Sunday: The play at the center of the controversy didn’t need to be the one at the center of the Ravens’ latest disheartening loss. Yes, a few close calls didn’t go their way. How the Ravens responded to them, though, is ultimately what doomed them in a 27-22 loss to the Steelers, a defeat that leaves Baltimore (6-7) one game behind Pittsburgh (7-6) in the AFC North and behind in the head-to-head tiebreaker with four weeks to go. The Ravens appeared to have taken the lead with under three minutes left after Lamar Jackson found Isaiah Likely for a 13-yard touchdown. After review, however, the call was overturned. Joey Porter Jr. had managed to rip the ball out before Likely could get a third step down in the end zone. “The receiver controlled the ball in the air, had his right foot down, then his left foot down,” NFL vice president of instant replay Mark Butterworth told PFWA pool reporter Jeff Zrebiec. “The control is the first aspect of the catch. The second aspect is two feet or a body part in bounds, which he did have. Then the third step is an act common to the game, and before he could get the third foot down, the ball was ripped out. Therefore, it was an incomplete pass.” The Ravens didn’t need nearly as many words. “They made a call,” Likely said with a smile masking his frustration. “I thought [it was a touchdown], but at the end of the day, they made a call, gotta go with it, gotta put points on the board after that.” “If you was on the field with us, I believe you’d have thought it was a touchdown too, but it is what it is,” Jackson said. “I thought so, but it’s not me to make the decision,” Derrick Henry said. What Jackson, Likely, Henry and others all acknowledged, though, was that there were still opportunities to score. The offense only backed up a few yards — instead of its next play being a two-point conversion attempt to try to go up 30-27, it faced second-and-10 at the Pittsburgh 13 — but the difference in execution, in attitude and potentially in the Ravens’ season could have been measured in miles, not a few steps. Jackson completed a checkdown to Henry. But Henry got stonewalled for a 3-yard loss on third down — a complete breakdown up front — and Jackson couldn’t connect with Mark Andrews on fourth down. “There’s stuff throughout the game that, it happens, and you gotta be able to respond to it,” Tyler Linderbaum said. “We’re still in a situation there, on Isaiah’s touchdown that got called back … Still gotta find a way to get a first down, find the end zone.” Missed call? Maybe. One can debate it until the cows come home. Missed opportunity? Most certainly. And the Ravens are running out of opportunities to take advantage of. “Through the roof,” Jackson said of his level of frustration. “I felt like Thanksgiving game, we shouldn’t have lost that game — turnovers, unfortunately. This one here, I don’t know what happened.” Here’s what happened: The Ravens, playing at home with the division lead on the line, outgained the Steelers by 102 yards, had nine more first downs and out-rushed Pittsburgh 217-34 … and lost. Teams with that large of an advantage on the ground had won 26 straight games entering Sunday. “Just let it slip away,” Henry said. “Just disappointed. Let this one slip away. We had an opportunity, we just didn’t capitalize on it, and I need to be better, so I just focus on myself, but as a whole we just didn’t capitalize on the moment to win.” Not only did they fail to capitalize on moments to win, but they failed to show the resilience and simple execution required of a playoff-caliber team in a December divisional showdown. When Travis Jones committed a questionable personal foul by contacting the long snapper on a Chris Boswell field goal, giving Pittsburgh a first down, the defense couldn’t rally; Kenneth Gainwell scored on the very next play. When Teddye Buchanan appeared to intercept a wild deflection, only for Aaron Rodgers to be ruled down by contact, the offense couldn’t capitalize on the ensuing drive. When the Ravens defense had the Steelers’ offense facing a crucial third-and-4, with the home crowd making things even tougher on Rodgers and co., it completely collapsed, allowing a short dump-off to Jaylen Warren to go 38 yards untouched for a touchdown. “There were a lot of breakdowns — a lot of misunderstandings, I guess you’d say,” coach John Harbaugh said. “We weren’t on the same page with assignments and things like that. That was one of our worst plays that we had [today].” And even then, even after all of those missed opportunities and miscues, the Ravens got the ball back with 1:56 remaining and one timeout. But Andrew Vorhees committed a holding penalty, Baltimore managed only a few short gains that failed to get out of bounds, and by the time Baltimore had finally gained its first first down of the drive and spiked the ball, there were only 30 seconds left. It took one minute and 26 seconds to gain 16 yards on a must-have drive. “We weren’t as crisp as we needed to be on that last two-minute drive for sure,” Harbaugh said. It’s a refrain that’s come to define this season, and one that surely defined the last few desperate plays, too. Baltimore eventually got to the Steelers’ 30-yard line with nine seconds left. Then Jackson took a sack — again, the one thing that can’t happen in that scenario — to end the game. Jackson tossed his helmet aside in frustration. Mike Tomlin blew kisses to the camera. The two images couldn’t have provided a starker juxtaposition. So now Baltimore, the preseason Super Bowl favorite, given second and third and fourth lives thanks to an underwhelming division and a soft stretch in its schedule, has absolutely run out of room for error. Again, the Ravens came into Sunday with a chance, at home, to take the lead in the division and prove it was gearing up for a playoff push and playoff run. Jackson, after all, entered Sunday with a 20-4 record in December. SportsLine projections said Baltimore’s playoff chances would have climbed to about 70% with a win. It was all right there, and they missed it all. |
| CINCINNATIDE TREY HENDRICKSON is done for the season and maybe done with Cincinnnati. Trey Hendrickson’s injury-laden season might be coming to an official close. The Cincinnati Bengals defensive end is set to visit Dr. William Meyers in Philadelphia’s Vincera Institute and is likely to undergo core muscle surgery, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported Monday, per sources. Surgery would end Hendrickson’s 2025 season, per Rapoport and Pelissero. Hendrickson hasn’t played since Week 8 with what has been listed as hip and pelvis injuries. Following consecutive 17.5-sack seasons, Hendrickson reworked his contract after a lengthy dispute with the club. He’s set to be a free agent in 2026. |
| CLEVELANDQB SHADEUR SANDERS actually was good, maybe better than good, on Sunday. As such he starts the final four games. Myles Simmons of ProFootballTalk.com: The Browns did not win on Sunday, but quarterback Shedeur Sanders put together an impressive enough performance to solidify his spot as QB1. Head coach Kevin Stefanski announced in his Monday press conference that Sanders will remain Cleveland’s starter for the rest of the 2025 season. “I think all along with our quarterbacks and our young players, you’re always making sure that you’re making the right decisions for our guys,” Stefanski said. “And I think he has constantly and consistently gotten better in each one of these games. And how he’s approached this game, he’s been working very hard. So, I feel good about where his development is heading. He knows there are always going to be plays where he can be better and those types of things. But he’s very intentional about getting better each and every game he’s out there.” Sanders took over as the starter after Gabriel suffered a concussion against the Ravens in Week 11 and has started the team’s last three games. In his four appearances with three starts, Sanders has completed 52.4 percent of his passes for 769 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions. In Sunday’s loss to the Titans, Sanders finished 23-of-42 for 364 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. He also took three carries for 29 yards with a TD. Sanders’ next start will come on the road against the Bears in Week 15. Cleveland will follow that with games against Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati to cap the 2025 season. |
| PITTSBURGHQB AARON RODGERS and WR DK METCALF were in synch together Sunday in the big win over the Steelers. But Metcalf did take a hard hit that left him distressed after the game. Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com: Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf did not travel back to Pittsburgh with the team after Sunday’s 27-22 win. The team confirmed, via Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, that Metcalf remained in Baltimore after experiencing stomach pains. Metcalf went to a hospital for evaluation before sleeping in a hotel and he is expected to return home on Monday. Metcalf’s hospital visit was to rule out any significant internal injuries resulting from a hit he took while catching seven passes for 148 yards from Aaron Rodgers. The coming days will provide more of an idea about Metcalf’s availability for Week 15 and the Steelers will have an extra day to assess where things stand before they play the Dolphins next Monday night. Mike DeFabo of The Athletic on the buzz around Coach Mike Tomlin after the win over the Ravens: The last time this patient approach was truly tested was in January of 2024. Tomlin’s Steelers were blown out in the playoffs against the Bills, marking seven consecutive years without a playoff win. With just one year remaining on his contract at the time, the team and Tomlin had reached a crossroads. Asked about his contract situation during the postgame news conference, Tomlin abruptly turned and walked out of the interview, refusing to give the question credence by even acknowledging it. The moment has been immortalized as a meme. Sure enough, rather than moving on from Tomlin, the Steelers did the exact opposite: They gave him a contract extension and a raise that made him one of the highest-paid coaches in all of professional sports. While that viral moment provides a good reminder of how the Steelers do business, the contract itself is also a critical part of this conversation. Simply put, the Steelers almost never pay coaches not to coach. In the middle of the Matt Canada disaster, the Steelers hung onto the failing offensive coordinator well past his expiration date (at the risk of stunting Kenny Pickett’s development) and tried to get the coach to finish out at least the final year of his contract. It took weeks of “Fire Canada” chants for the team to, reluctantly, dismiss him mid-season in 2023. That long-overdue move was the first time in 92 years the Steelers fired a coordinator mid-season. Tomlin, who is now just three wins away from tying Noll’s regular-season win total, is a much better coach than Canada. Just as central to this discussion, he’s also a lot more expensive, with a reported salary of $16 million per year. When the Steelers announced that contract, they said it would run through at least the end of the 2027 season. However, the Steelers have to decide by March 1 if they’re going to pick up the option for the 2027 season or if they want to decline it, which would make 2026 the last year, according to multiple reports. It would be impossible at this exact moment to say what comes next for Tomlin. But when you consider all these factors, it seems that Tomlin himself will have the largest say in where this nearly two-decade-long marriage goes from here. If Steelers fans continue to make it loud and clear in stadiums that they no longer want Tomlin, could he eventually decide he doesn’t want to coach in a city that no longer appreciates him? If the season unravels and the Steelers choose to decline the 2027 option after this year (there’s no indication they’re planning to do so), could Tomlin decide he doesn’t want to be a lame-duck coach in 2026? Or will Tomlin, an individual obsessed with competition, want to fight until the very end no matter how much his approval rating dips in Pittsburgh? Depending how this season ends, we may not need to even ponder those questions. While Tomlin has a large say in his future, the 2025 Pittsburgh Steelers now control their own destiny — and they gained that power with a classic Tomlin-esque win. Over the years, players say that Tomlin’s consistent approach is what makes him unique. That was especially true this week. “He didn’t get out of character and say, ‘Oh the sky is falling and we have to act completely different,’” said Cameron Heyward, the Steelers’ longest-tenured player. “Our message is the same. Get better. Own your mistakes. “Everybody talks about what Tomlin needs to do. It’s what the players have to do. I think it starts with our leadership. We own our mistake. When we lose, we take it the worst. It shouldn’t be coach Tomlin. Players play, coaches coach.” When Steelers team president and owner Art Rooney II signed Tomlin to his current deal in 2024, he said, “The players still respond to Mike, and that’s No. 1. He can keep the attention of 20-year-olds for a whole season and keep them in the fight the whole way.” This week, especially, that was true. Losing five of their last seven games could have planted seeds of doubt. Calls for their head coach to be fired could have fractured the locker room. However, based on the way the Steelers played, they continue to be invested and have a desire to support their coach. “To be blunt, we don’t care at all,” receiver Calvin Austin III said, channeling another famous Tomlin meme. “The whole world could be chanting ‘Fire Coach T.’ We’re going to be with Coach T. At the end of the day, all that matters is us players are behind him.” |
| AFC SOUTH |
| INDIANAPOLISThings can turn fast in the NFL. The Colts started the season 7-1. After falling to the Jaguars on Sunday, they are 8-5, out of the playoffs and with banged up rookie QB RILEY LEONARD their best QB option. Bridget Reilly of the New York Post: It seemed all for Daniel Jones’ taking this NFL season. After being cut by the Giants and a brief stint with the Vikings’ practice squad, the quarterback found his home in Indianapolis and led one of the hottest NFL teams to a big 7-1 start to the year. It all came crashing down on Sunday when Jones collapsed on the field with a season-ending non-contact Achilles injury during the first half of the Colts’ 36-19 loss to the Jaguars. Jones’ reaction — slamming his helmet on the ground in frustration as trainers loomed over him — said it all, about how much was at stake for the team and for his future. The timing couldn’t be worse. “Anytime you lose a guy that puts in so much work and so much effort and is always there for his team and showing up with a fibula injury and goes out there and friggin’ plays, just so much respect for him,’’ coach Shane Steichen said after Sunday’s game. “Just so much respect.’’ Jones, who signed a one-year deal with the Colts, has been in talks to receive his second huge payday in a contract extension. Through eight games, he led one of the league’s best offenses, averaging six more points than any other team while putting out 6.5 yards per play. The No. 6 overall pick in 2019 was seemingly the Colts’ answer to their ongoing quarterback question; however, now there are more questions than answers. Jones is set to become a free agent following this season and can expect to be recovering from his injury for around a year. The Colts could take the risky path and sign Jones to a reduced deal, but they also could move on to try to find another solution. It’s clear that Jones’ influence within the team is something that will be difficult to replace. “That’s our team leader,” receiver Alec Pierce said. “That’s our team captain right there. Everything runs through him. That was brutal.” The Colts could also continue down a downward spiral and finish with another lost season..Before Jones’ injury, the Colts (8-5) lost three straight games, and after their AFC South first-place showdown on Sunday, the Jaguars (9-4) sit atop the division as Indianapolis inches closer to the wild-card standings. Now, they have to put their faith in rookie Riley Leonard — also dealing with a knee injury, Steichen revealed Monday — under center as backup Anthony Richardson remains on injured reserve with an orbital fracture. Without Jones, the spotlight will continue to grow on Steichen and general manager Chris Ballard, who were both already in question after a 8-9 season in 2024. Late owner Jim Irsay, who died in May at 65, vowed to give the duo a last chance this season. Jones’ injury could lead to a whole undoing in Indianapolis despite their hot start. |
