Every week this NFL season, we will break down the highs and lows—and everything in between—from the most recent slate of pro football. This week brought us a sad and painful end to the Chiefs’ season from hell, a serious injury to the Packers’ best player, Philip Rivers’s almost-triumphant return, a Bo Nix statement game, and more. Welcome to Winners and Losers.
Loser: Chiefs Invincibility
It’s over. For real this time. Kansas City’s run of nine straight division titles, seven consecutive trips to the AFC championship game, and three straight Super Bowls has come to an end after a 16-13 home loss to the Chargers on Sunday. The loss (combined with wins by Buffalo and Houston) knocked the Chiefs out of the playoff race with three weeks remaining in the regular season.
That’s hardly the worst news coming out of the game, as Patrick Mahomes went down with a torn ACL after being rolled up on Kansas City’s final drive.
Mahomes was replaced by Gardner Minshew, who promptly threw the game-losing interception when the Chiefs were on the fringe of field goal range in a three-point game. The dynasty, or at least this iteration of it, has come to an unceremonious ending—but this particular loss was a fitting conclusion for this season from hell. The Chiefs couldn’t muster much offense on Sunday outside of a few moments of Mahomes magic. The final touchdown drive he led in 2025 was capped off, appropriately, by a scramble touchdown.
Kansas City built its lead up to 10 late in the first half but never really threatened to score again until getting into field goal range after Mahomes’s injury. The Chiefs defense kept the game within range thanks to Steve Spagnuolo’s pressure package, which had a banged-up Chargers offensive line spinning in circles. The Chiefs’ run defense wasn’t so formidable and was eventually ground down in the second half. The Chargers had two second-half drives that dragged on for at least 11 plays, and though those drives resulted in only three points, they took over 13 minutes off the clock.
The Chargers controlled this game like so many Chiefs opponents have this season, especially down the stretch. Since Week 9, Kansas City has run just 16 offensive plays while holding a lead in the fourth quarter, per TruMedia. That’s tied for last place with the Jets, and behind teams like the Raiders, Titans, and Browns. It would be easy to chalk this lost season up to bad luck in one-score games—the Chiefs are now 1-7 in close games after Sunday’s loss—but it’s not like they’re blowing leads late. They’ve had to scratch and claw just to stick around in games, and this recent 1-5 skid feels like a just result for how they’ve played during it.
The 2025 Chiefs weren’t a bad football team, but they weren’t a good one, either. They were a mediocre team being propped up by the league’s best quarterback. And now he’s out, and the playoffs are out of reach. The only thing left to watch is how far this team sinks without its savior.
Winner: The Bo Nix Confidence Index
The Broncos have the best record in football after beating the Packers 34-26 on Sunday, and it’s getting increasingly difficult to argue against the notion that they’re the best team in the league. Denver’s defense had already been validated, but quarterback Bo Nix and the offense made a statement in the win over Green Bay. Considering the quality of the opponent, this may have been the best performance of Nix’s young career. He completed 23 of 34 passes for 302 yards and four touchdowns. There were plenty of highlight throws in Nix’s comprehensive display, but two throws stood out. Nix put Denver up for good late in the third quarter with a strike up the seam that required the kind of timing and anticipation that he’s lacked at times early in his career.
Later in the game, Nix hit Courtland Sutton with a cold-blooded deep ball on fourth down that put the Broncos in position to stretch the lead to eight midway through the final quarter.
You could see Sean Payton’s confidence in Nix down the stretch. The Broncos coach didn’t just try to sit on the lead late. He asked his young quarterback to win the game with his arm and kept his offense out on the field for three fourth-down attempts, including two near midfield when the Packers needed just a touchdown and two-point conversion to tie the game.
Payton’s late gambles didn’t pay off, but his dominant defense was able to get to Jordan Love and close out the game. The Broncos sacked Love twice in the final four minutes of the game, and his last four pass attempts fell incomplete.
But Love had the Packers offense rolling early. Green Bay scored on each of its first five drives and built a 23-14 lead early in the third quarter. The game turned in Denver’s favor on Patrick Surtain II’s diving interception in front of Christian Watson, who left the game after the play with a chest injury. Watson was taken to a local hospital in an ambulance for further testing.
As many of Denver’s opponents have done, the Packers spent much of the game avoiding Surtain and picking on Riley Moss, who was targeted nine times. The results from the Broncos’ CB2 were a mixed bag. Moss gave up 86 yards on seven receptions allowed, per Next Gen Stats. While the Packers had some success against Moss, he also came up with two big pass deflections and a crunch-time interception.
“Ball doesn’t lie,” Moss said of his big plays after he was flagged for a soft defensive pass interference penalty that set up Green Bay’s lone second-half touchdown.
The cornerbacks made the splash plays, but the pass rush provided the foundation for the defensive success, pressuring Love on 54 percent of his dropbacks, per TruMedia. Love hit a few of his trademark fadeaways in the face of that pressure early, which sustained the Packers offense. But once those tight-window throws started falling to the grass more often, Green Bay’s offense stalled out.
As good as the defense was in the second half, Nix was the story of the game. A big game against a tough opponent doesn’t erase all of the questions we’ve had about him or the role he’s played in Denver’s 12-2 start, but it shows what he’s capable of against a legit Super Bowl contender. Nix will continue to be the story the rest of the way. His play will ultimately decide how far this Broncos team, which became the first AFC team to clinch a playoff spot, can go in January. If it looks anything like it did against the Packers, it could be playing into February.
Loser: The Packers Defense
What a catastrophic day for the Packers. The loss in Denver probably ended any chance the team had of earning the no. 1 seed in the NFC, and Micah Parsons’s suspected ACL tear almost certainly ruined any real chance this banged-up team has of winning a championship. An NFL season can take a dark turn in a hurry. Just last week, the Packers were celebrating a season-defining win against the rival Bears. Now they’ll likely go into next week’s rematch with Chicago down the best player on the roster.
Parsons’s dominance in Sunday’s game only highlights how big of a loss this is for Green Bay. He’s become a load-bearing presence along the defensive line. He opened the game with a splash play after standing up Denver right tackle Mike McGlinchey and punching the ball out from R.J. Harvey’s possession.
Parsons was shut out in the sack column before leaving the game, but did pressure Nix on five dropbacks and forced a few wayward throws. While Denver had already grabbed the lead before the injury, the game did seem to change after Parsons limped back to the locker room. Nix had more time in the pocket to pick on Green Bay’s vulnerable cornerbacks. Defensive backs Carrington Valentine and Keisean Nixon both allowed at least 90 yards and gave up three touchdowns combined, per Next Gen Stats. Valentine and Nixon have punched above their weight all season, but Parsons wreaking havoc in the pocket had made their jobs in coverage significantly easier.
If defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley has to dial up more blitzes to make up for the loss of his only reliable pass rusher, Sunday’s issues could carry over to the final few weeks of the season and beyond.
Winner: The Five-Time Defending AFC East Champs
The Bills weren’t ready to give up the AFC East crown just yet, but early on in Sunday’s game against New England, it looked as if they’d hand it over to the upstart Patriots without much of a fight. The five-time defending division champs spotted New England a 21-0 lead in the first half and were struggling to do much of anything on either side of the ball. Buffalo’s defense gave up more than 8 yards per play and allowed the Pats to score on four of their five first-half drives. Buffalo’s offense, meanwhile, was running the ball just fine, but with under five minutes left in the second quarter, Josh Allen had –2 net passing yards. What was expected to be a heavyweight bout was turning into a beatdown that was difficult to watch.
Then, like a Rocky fight, it all flipped. The Bills started landing haymakers, scoring touchdowns on five consecutive drives, and the Patriots offense suddenly couldn’t land any blows of its own, scoring just one touchdown over the final 36 minutes of the game. There wasn’t some key strategic shift that sparked the comeback, either. “It’s no secret,” Mike Vrabel said after the game. “They called the same stuff.” I’m inclined to agree. The Bills didn’t change their offensive game plan during the comeback. Allen simply started playing like an MVP candidate after a substandard first half.
The Patriots also played worse and broke down in a couple of high-leverage situations. A busted coverage allowed Allen to hit tight end Dalton Kincaid for a 24-yard gain on third-and-7 early in the go-ahead drive. A breakdown in pre-snap communication allowed Allen to break contain and throw the go-ahead score.
The Bills also caught the biggest break of the game when a 50-50 ball that appeared to be intercepted by Pats corner Marcus Jones was ruled as a Khalil Shakir catch—with a questionable defensive pass interference flag on top of it.
I’d be more willing to blame the loss on the refs if the Patriots offense had shown any fight in the second half outside of TreVeyon Henderson’s 65-yard run, which looked like a tackle for loss waiting to happen before the rookie reversed field and found acres of space and a willing lead blocker in Drake Maye.
Maye and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels have been on fire all season, but this was a bad second half for both. McDaniels’s play calling didn’t give his second-year quarterback much of a chance or create any opportunities for the Pats’ best receivers. There was a shocking number of Mack Hollins targets. He led the team with eight attempts thrown his way, and those plays produced just 41 yards and lost two expected points, per TruMedia. Maye attempted only four passes in the final quarter, so he didn’t have much of a chance to impact the game in crunch time, but he missed the mark the few times he did. The possession that followed Henderson’s long touchdown run was Maye’s worst. He hesitated on an open throw and took a sack on second down before leaving a throw behind tight end Hunter Henry on third down.
New England got one more shot to win the game but couldn’t gain even one first down, and Maye’s fourth-down pass was batted out of the air by Joey Bosa. On that key down, the Bills played man coverage and dropped two free defenders, including Bosa, underneath to jam up quick throwing windows. It was the perfect defensive call against McDaniels’s play call.
The Bills survived, thanks in equal parts to their superstar quarterback, their opponent’s inability to close, and a generous whistle from the refs. And suddenly, the AFC East race is back on with just one game separating the two top teams. The Patriots have to quickly regroup before a trip to Baltimore for a matchup with a Ravens team coming off its best performance of the season, while Buffalo gets a bad Browns team.
Winner: Philip Rivers
The Colts lost a heartbreaker that will set them back in their desperate chase for a playoff spot … but I can’t call Rivers a loser. The grandpa actually did it. The 44-year-old high school coach who hasn’t played since the 2020 season finished an entire game against one of the league’s most terrifying defenses and managed to make it through without embarrassing himself. This man nearly knocked off the 11-3 Seahawks on the road a few days after ending his retirement!
Rivers looked like a coach in pregame warmups and then gave us the most literal example of a coach on the field in the history of sports. He could barely move in the pocket, and his passes fluttered through the air no matter how much effort he put into them. At one point he fell while fumbling around with a snap, and even the Seattle crowd seemed concerned for his well-being.
But at a certain point in the first quarter, the feeling of uneasiness watching Rivers wore off and the thought that he could actually lead the Colts to a season-saving win wasn’t so far-fetched. Rivers dinked and dunked and rode Jonathan Taylor down the field for two early field goals. He even led a touchdown drive late in the first half to push Indy’s lead to 13-3 before the break.
The Colts offense ran out of options in the second half. Shane Steichen and Rivers were working with a limited playbook. The quarterback had been in the Colts’ building for only a few days before the game; he also can’t move well, so Steichen had to scrap all of the under-center and play-action calls he had for Daniel Jones in order to keep Rivers stationary. If Rivers had to move more than a yard off his spot, the play was dead.
Rivers nearly stole the win in his first start in four years, but the game ended in familiar fashion for the longtime Chargers QB. Blake Grupe’s 60-yard field goal gave the Colts a slim lead with under a minute remaining. Seattle quickly got into field goal range for Jason Myers and reclaimed the lead 30 seconds later, leaving just enough time for Rivers to throw an interception that ended a futile attempt at a late comeback. One more for old time’s sake.
Winner (With Question Marks): The Rams
The first-place Rams escaped Week 15 with a challenging win over the Lions, but also came away with two major concerns ahead of Thursday's tilt with the Seahawks. Davante Adams pulling up with a hamstring injury is the most obvious one. Coach Sean McVay sounded doubtful that Adams would be able to play in the game that could decide the division and home-field advantage in the NFC. The Rams had another scare when Puka Nacua took a hard hit late in the game and needed help getting to his feet.
Nacua left the game but returned on the following drive and finished with 181 yards. Adams had 71 yards before leaving early in the fourth quarter. But they weren’t the most productive receiving duo in the game, which brings me to another concern coming from this game: a Rams cornerback group that allowed Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams to go for a combined 298 yards. Really, the entire secondary was at fault for the air show Jared Goff put on. The Rams sat back in soft zone coverage, leaving too much space at the intermediate level. Goff had a lot of success attacking the right seam in particular, where safety Jaylen McCollough and cornerback Cobie Durant had trouble closing down on St. Brown and Williams.
The statistical results for the Rams this season defense suggest they don’t have any issues in coverage. The pass defense ranks fifth in success rate and sixth in EPA average. But when the defense has had its issues—in Sunday’s win, in the second half against the Eagles, in several big moments in the loss to the Panthers—the undersized cornerback group has been at fault. Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula tells us how he feels about the group with his preference for soft, two-high zones. Shula is trying to hide the unit’s biggest vulnerability.
The Rams would still be my pick as the NFL’s most complete team. Adams might be out for the biggest game of the season, but he should be back before the playoffs. The cornerback group is only considered a concern because the rest of the team is so damn good. The teams that don’t have the receiving talent to really punish those matchups will struggle to keep pace with the Rams offense when it’s operating at full capacity.
Loser: Joe Burrow’s Joy
Joe Burrow’s return from a turf toe injury took a sad turn rather quickly, didn’t it? That win over the Ravens on Thanksgiving night feels like ages ago now, but it’s only been two weeks. And it's been just a week since the Bengals were up 10 points on the Bills with under eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. They had a real chance at making the playoffs if they could’ve closed that game out. They didn’t, of course. A few days later, Burrow put on one of the sadder press conferences in recent memory, leading some to question his happiness with the direction of the team. “If I’m going to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing this,” Burrow said on Wednesday. “I’ve been through a lot, and if it’s not fun then what am I doing it for?”
I doubt getting shut out by the Ravens is Burrow’s idea of fun. It must have been a crappy way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The high temperature in Cincinnati was just 11 degrees, and the stadium was blanketed in snow. (Of course, the team didn’t bother to clear off the seats in the stadium, adding to the miserable atmosphere.) If snow-covered seats weren’t insulting enough to the fans in attendance, the team turned in its weakest effort of the season—and that’s saying a lot because that Jake Browning game against the Vikings happened. The Bengals defense just rolled over for the Ravens. Lamar Jackson averaged 12.5 yards per attempt, and Derrick Henry needed only 11 carries to hit the 100-yard mark. And yet, the Cincinnati offense played even worse. Burrow threw two picks—one of them came on a pass that bounced off Ja’Marr Chase’s hands—and took a few bad sacks, including one that knocked Cincinnati out of field goal range. The offensive line played as you’d expect: leaky in pass protection and powerless in the run game. The receivers didn’t make plays when given the chance. The coaching staff seemingly had no ideas on how to fix any of it. I’m not exaggerating when I say it was one of the worst performances from any team this season. Everyone in the organization gets an F, starting with ownership.
The loss, which eliminated Cincinnati from playoff contention, isn’t going to cheer Burrow up. He’s now missed the playoffs in four of his six NFL seasons. That’s a lot of losing. And while Burrow’s inability to stay healthy has played a big role in that, he’s now 17-15 in the games he’s been on the field for in his last three seasons. Just barely over .500, which doesn’t typically get a team into the playoffs in the hyper-competitive AFC. The Bengals simply aren’t good enough, even with their star quarterback healthy and on the field. There’s a reason Burrow isn’t having fun playing football. It doesn’t take a deep dive into his psyche to find it.
