—The 49ers’ 42-19 rout of the Eagles boosted their record to 10-3 and put them only one game behind the 11-2 Eagles in the battle for the NFC’s top seed. But it doesn’t really matter whether the 40ers get the top seed. The only thing the 49ers have to worry about is avoiding injuries. They lost three in a row when they were hit by a rash of injuries and Brock Purdy was coming back from a concussion. Now that they are healthy, they are the team to beat in the NFC. They scored 42 points on the road against both the Eagles and Cowboys.
–In the AFC, the race for the top seed is wide open. The Jaguars could have moved into the top seed by beating Cincinnati but dropped to the fourth seed at 8-4 by losing to the Bengals in overtime. They also lost Trevor Lawrence, who suffered a high ankle sprain. Coach Doug Pederson said it wasn’t as bad as it looked and wouldn’t rule him out of Sunday’s game at Cleveland but it is unlikely he can return in five days..
–Miami moved into the top seed in the AFC at 9-3 by beating the hapless Commanders while Baltimore is the second seed at 9-3 after having a bye. Kansas City lost to Green Bay to fall to the third seed at 8-4. All three of the current wild card teams are 7-5 but all three teams – Steelers, Browns and Colts – are playing backup quarterbacks so they don’t have any easy road to the playoffs. Kenny Pickett of the Steelers rbecame the latest quarterback to go down with a high ankle sprain and will require surgery. Mitch Tribusky will step in for him. Meanwhile, the 7-5 Texans and 6-6 Bengals, Bills and Broncos remain in the wild card race.
–The controversy over officiating continues to be a hot topic. In the Green Bay-Kansas City game, the Packers were penalized for a hit on Patrick Mahomes even though he was still in boundswhen he was hit.. Then the officials missed an obvious pass interference call on the Packers and the no call helped ruin the Chiefs bid for a tie to send the game into overtime. And in overtime in the Jaguars-Bengals game, the officials made a questionable holding call on the Jaguars that wiped out a long pass to the two-yard line. So the debate over officiating will contuie.
–Firing Frank Reich didn’t make much difference for the Panthers, who lost to the Bucs to fall to 1-10. The have a one-game lead in the battle for the top pick over the 2-9 Patriots but the Panthers have traded the pick to the Bears who may have two of the top five picks. The Patriots were blanked in a 6-0 loss to the Chargers and the speculation continues that owner Bob Kraft may move on from Bill Belichick.
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