Month: December 2025

The NFL didn’t have a holiday special for the fans on Christmas Day.

There were three games, but only one of the six team playing is currently seeded. Dallas was at Washington in the first game and both are eliminated. Detroit was at Minnesota in the second game, and both are longshots to make the playoffs. In the third game, AFC top seeded Denver was heavily favored over a Kansas City team that is eliminated and both of its top two quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and Gardner Minshew are injured.

Many fans can’t see the games anyway unless they live in the cities of the teams playing. The first two are on Netflix and the night game on Amazon Prime. 

-There is a good double header Saturday with Houston at the Chargers and Baltimore at Green Bay. Houston can clinch a berth with a victory, The Chargers have clinched a berth but still have a shot at the top seed if they win. They play top seeded Denver next week. Green Bay can clinch a payoff berth with a win or a Detroit loss.

–The Sunday night game features NFC second-seeded Bears at fifth-seeded San Francisco. The Bears can clinch the division title  with a win or a Green Bay loss. San Francisco needs a win to stay alive in the battle for the division title and the top seed. The 49ers have clinched a playoff berth.

–The Monday night game has the Rams at Atlanta. The Rams have clinched but need a win to stay alive in the battle for the top seed and the division title.

–The feature game Sunday is the FOX national doubleheader with Philadelphia, the  third seed in the NFC , at Buffalo, the sixth seed in the AFC. In the the other Sunday games with playoff implications for at least one team, Pittsburgh is at Cleveland, Jacksonville is at Indianapolis, the New England Patriots  are at the New York Jets and Tampa Bay is at Miami.

With just two week left  in the regular season season, the playoff picture is starting to take shape.

Ten of the 14 playoff berths are already  set since five teams have clinched in each conference. The AFC  teams that have clinched are the Broncos, Patriots, Jaguars, Chargers and Biills. In the NFC,  the Seahawks, Bears, Eagles, 49ers and Rams have clinched playoff berths.

–The San Francisco win over the  Colts  Monday night enabled three teams — Jaguars, Chargers and Bills — to cinch playoff spots.

–In the AFC, fourth seeded Pittsburgh and th seventh seeded Texans have yet to clinch. The Steelers can clinch the AFC North  with a win over the Lions and a Ravens loss at Green Bay. It remains to be seen if anything is at stake when the Ravens go to Pittsburgh next week. Houston can clinch a berth with a win or tie against the Chargers or a loss or tie by Indianapolis against Jacksonville. If both Houston and Indianapolis win, the Texans can clinch on strength of victory.

–In the NFC, fourth-seeded Carolina and seventh-seeded Green Bay have yet to clinch. If Tampa Bay  wins in Miami this week, the Panthers will play the Bucs  for the division title next week. The Packers  can clinch this week with a win over the Ravens or a loss or tie by the Lions against Minnesota.

–Seattle and Denver are top seeds with two weeks left. Seattle took over the top spot by coming back  from 16 down to beat the Rams with the help of a bizarre two-point conversion that started with a backward pass that was deflected, Denver remained in top spot despite a loss to Jacksonville.

The NFL 14 teams currently seeded with three games to go have a good chance of making it to the playoffs but there are still a lot of big games involving where teams are seeded and whether the current division leaders can win their division titles.

–The weekend gets off to a good start with the Rams at Seattle. Both are 11-3 and tied for the best record in the the NFC and the winner will be in first place in the NFC West. The Rams are currently the top seed in the  NFC and favored because Seattle’s Sam Darnold does not have a history of winning big games and lost the first game to the Rams when he threw four picks.

–The NFL will also have a Saturday doubleheader because the college regular season is over. The third-seeded Eagles with a 9-5 record will be favored over Washington, which has been eliminated, in the first game while Green Bay, the seventh seed in the NFC, will be at Chicago, the second seed at 10-4 in the night game. In the Sunday night game, New England, the second AFC seed at 11-3, will try to bounce back from the Bills loss when it meets the Ravens, who are a game behind the Steelers in the AFC North at 7-7. The Monday night will feature San Francisco , the sixth NFC seed, at Indianapolis with Philip Rivers making hi s second start. The Colts are 8-6.

–In the best CBS game Sunday, 7-6  Pittsburgh, the AFC North leader. will go to  8-6 Detroit in the doubleheader game.

–The best FOX game will feature 10-4 Jacksonville at 12-2 Denver, with both teams leading their divisions, but it won’t get much exposure because both teams had losing records last year and weren’t expected to do this well. 

Times are changing for the Chiefs. When they lost to the Chargers, 16-13, they were eliminated from the playoffs. That ended their string of 10 consecutive playoff seasons and also ended their string of seven straight appearances in the AFC title game.

And after appearing in five Super Bowls and winning three of them, they won’t be going for a fourth this year. On top of that, they lost Patrick Mahomes with a torn ACL late in the game.

Now the question is whether he will be ready to start the beginning of next year and whether he will lose any of the mobility that helped make him such a good quarterback. The irony is Tom Brady suffered a torn ACL after winning three Super Bowls at the same stage of his career. He did it in the 2008 opener so he was ready to start the 2009 season although he didn’t return to the Super Bowl until 2011.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs have to get Mahomes a better supporting cast. With Travis Kelce probably retiring, they need a tight end plus a true No. 1 receiver and upgrade the offensive line if they are to start another run. Gardner Minshew will finish the season at quarterback and they have to decide if he is an adequate backup or they also need to look for one who can start the season if Mahomes isn’t ready. And with Chris Jones showing his age, they need another dominant lineman.

This will be a test for the Chiefs to show they can reload without needing a rebuilding job. 

–Now that the Chiefs won’t be in the race to the Super Bowl, the question is which teams will be. The Broncos are currently the top seed in the AFC with a 12-2 record and have clinched a playoff spot. The New England Patriots remained the second seed at 10-3 even though they couldn’t hold a 21-0 lead and lost to the Bills, who are currently the sixth seed at 10-3. It will be difficult, though, for the Bills to overtake the Patriots with just three games left.

The Jaguars are the third seed at 10-4 after routing Jets. But if they lose at Denver this weekend and the Texans win their last three, the Texans will be the division winner and the Jaguars will be a wild card team.

The Steelers are the fourth seed after beating Miami 28-15 Monday night to go to 8-6. The are a game ahead of the Ravens and play them in the season finale. The Ravens blanked the Bengals. The 10-4 Chargers are the fifth seed after beating the Chiefs and the 9-5 Texans are the seventh seed after routing the Cardinals.

–In the NFC, the Rams are the top seed at 11-3 after beating the Lions, while the 10-4 Bears jumped into the second seed by routing the Browns 31-3 and the 9-5 Eagles are the third seed after blanking the Raiders 31-0. The Bucs lost to the Falcons 29-28 and are the fourth seed at 7-7. The Seattle Seahawks are the fifth seed at 11-3 after beating the Colts, 18-16. The 10-4 49ers are the sixth seed after beating the Titans 37-24 and the Packers are the seventh seed at 9-4-1after losing to the Broncos.

 –Seattle got the victory but the Colts showed they made the right move in signing Philip Rivers at age 44. Playing for the first time in five years, he had the Colts in the lead with 47 seconds left before the Seahawks won it with a field goal with 18 seconds left.  

–Miami was eliminated from the playoffs Monday night. The other AFC teams eliminated  are the Chiefs, Bengals, Jets, Browns, Raiders and Titans. The NFC teams eliminated are the Commanders, Giants, Vikings, Falcons, Saints and Cardinals.

This has been a disappointing season so far for the Buffalo Bills.

A preseason favorite to finally win the Super Bowl with Josh Allen at quarterback, the Bills are 9-4 and seeded sixth as a wild-card team. They are two games behind the 11-2, second seeded Patriots and play New England on Sunday in their last chance to stay alive in the race for the AFC East division title and a home playoff game and maybe even a top seed.

If they beat the Patriots, the Bills will be 10-4 and the Patriots will be 11-3 and Buffalo will be in the race for the division title. A loss and they will be three games behind the Patriots and will have to settle for a wild card. The game will be a CBS early game.

–Another critical CBS early game will the Chargers at Kansas City. The Chiefs are hanging on to their playoffs hopes by a thread with a 6-7 record. Another loss and it will be over for them. Meanwhile, the Chargers are 9-4 and the fifth seed in the AFC. A victory over the Chiefs would keep them in the race with the 11-2 Broncos, currently the top seed, for the AFC West title.

–CBS also has a must-see primetime doubleheader game with Green Bay at Denver in a battle of division leaders. The Packers lead the NFC North at 9-3-1, while Denver leads the AFC West at 11-2. CBS would have had another good late game with Indianapolis at Seattle if Daniel Jones hadn’t been lost for the season with an Achilles injury. The Colts are so desperate for a quarterback that they signed Philip Rivers to the practices squad. The other two CBS games are early games with 9-4 Jacksonville favored as they host the Jets and Baltimore trying to stay alive with a victory at Cincinnati. The 6-7 Ravens are a game behind the 7-6 Steelers in the AFC North. Cincinnati is playing out the string at 4-9.

–FOX has four early games but they aren’t great matchups. Philadelphia is favored over visiting Las Vegas, Chicago is favored against visiting Cleveland and Houston is favored over visiting Arizona. In the other game, Washington is at the Giants and both teams are eliminated.

—FOX has one good late matchup with 8-5 Detroit at the 10-3 Rams, who are the top NFC seed but tied with the Seahawks. Detroit is the eighth seed and in danger of missing the playoffs if it loses. In the other two late games, 9-4 San Francisco, the sixth seed, is favored over Tennessee, while 7-6 Carolina is trying to stay alive in the playoff chase when it visits the 3-10 Saints.

–In the three primetime games, 7-6 Tampa Bay tries to hold onto NFC South lead when it hosts 4-9  Atlanta Thursday night, Dallas at 6-6-1 hosts 6-8 Minnesota on Sunday night and Pittsburgh, the AFC North leader at 7-6, is favored over 6-7 Miami on Monday night.

Did the Chiefs dynasty end or was it only paused when they fell to 6-7 with the loss to the Houston Texans?

That is the key question after their shaky showing against Houston as they dropped six passes and Patrick Mahomes had a career-low 19.8 quarterback rating. They also converted on only 4 of 14 third downs.

The most telling moment came when a pass bounced off Travis Kelce’s hands, went up in the air and was intercepted. It wasn’t Mahomes’ fault, but it was one of his three picks. The Chiefs’ streak of winning AFC West Division titles is over and they now face long odds to even make the playoffs. The Chiefs obviously have to put a better team around Mahomes next year if they are to resume their dynasty. And they are likely going to have to do it without Kelce, who figures to retire.

—Now that the Chiefs are no longer ruling the AFC, the question is which team will replace them.

Denver beat the Raiders 24-17 to boost its record to 11-2 with their 10th straight victory to take the top seed with the tiebreak over New England, which is also 11-2 and had a bye last week.

The surprising Jaguars boosted their record to 9-4 while routing the Colts, who dropped to 8-5 and lost Daniel Jones with an Achilles injury.

The Colts, who started off 7-1, dropped to the eighth seed and will likely miss the playoffs. They are so desperate they worked out Philip Rivers and signed him to the practice squad even though he is 44 and last played for the Colts in 2020. The Jaguars lead the AFC South and are the third seed.

The Steelers beat the Ravens and lead the  AFC North with a 7-6 mark and are the fourth seed. The three current wild card teams are the Chargers, who are 9-4 after beating the Eagles, the 8-4 Bills who beat the Bengals and the Texans, who are 8-5 and can beat out the  Jaguars for the division titlte if they win out and the 

–The Rams beat Arizona to retain the lead in the NFC West and the top seed in the conference at 10-3. The Packers jumped to the second seed and the NFC North lead by boosting their record to 9-3-1 with the win over the Bears, who are now 9-4 and dropped from the first to the seventh seed. The Eagles lost in overtime to the Chargers but remained the third seed and the NFC East leader at 8-5. The Bucs lost to New Orleans, but remained the NFC South lead at 7-6 and the fourth seed. The three wild card teams are the 10-3 Seahawks who beat the Falcons, the 9-4 49ers who had a bye and the Bears.

–The Titans’ surprising victory over the Browns gave them a 2-11 mark and they are one of the three teams fighting for the top pick along with the Giants and Raiders. The Titans had been the only one win team and could have clinched the top spot by losing out.

–There are nine teams that are officially eliminated from the playoffs. Besides the Raiders and Titans, the other two AFC teams that are out are the Jets and Browns, who are both 3-10. The other four NFC teams eliminated besides the Giants are 4-9 Atlanta and three 3-10 teams – Arizona, New Orleans and Washington. The 4-9 Bengals and 5-8 Minnesota aren’t officially out but are the longest of long shots.  

All three primetime games this week have playoff implications for both teams. Detroit, the eighth NFC seed at 7-5, hosts Dallas, the ninth seed at 6-5-1. The loser will suffer its sixth loss and have a difficult road to the playoffs. The Sunday night game will pit the 7-5 Texans at the 6-6 Chiefs. The Chiefs bid to make the playoffs and return to the Super Bowl for the fourth straight year will be a longshot if they lose. But coach Andy Reid is talking about running the table the “tickling the tonsils” of opposing teams. The Monday night game features two teams at 8-4 when Philadelphia plays at the Chargers. But while the Eagles lead the NFC East and are the third seed, the Chargers are the fifth seed fighting for a wild card spot.

–CBS has the single games and two of its 1 p.m. games are for division leads. The Colts go to Jacksonville with both teams at 8-4 with the winner taking the AFC South lead. The Colts haven’t won in Jacksonville in a decade and have two defensive starters, DeForest Buckner and Sauce Gardner, out while quarterback Daniel Jones is playing with a tibia fracture that limits his mobility. But the Colts are a slight favorite. Baltimore and the Steelers are both 6-6 as they battle for the AFC North lead.

–Two other seeded teams, Denver and Tampa Bay, are playing unseeded teams on CBS with 7-5 Tampa Bay, the fourth seed in the NFC, hosting New Orleans in an early game and  10-2 Denver, the second seed in the AFC, going to Las Vegas in their in late game. Two unseeded teams play in an early game with Miami at the Jets.

–FOX has the doubleheader game Sunday with the 9-3 Bears, the top seed in the NFC, playing at Green Bay, the sixth seed in the NFC at 8-3-1. Their other late game has the 9-3 Rams,  the second seed in the NFC, playing at Arizona.

–FOX also has four other early games with Buffalo, the seventh seed in the AFC at 8-4, hosting Cincinnati and  Seattle, the fifth seed in the NFC at 9-3, going to Atlanta. The other two games involve unseeded teams with Washington at Minnesota and Tennessee at Cleveland.

When the season started in September, not too many pundits figured the Bears and the Patriots would be the two top seeds. Last year, the Bears won only five games and the Patriots just four and both hired new coaches – Ben Johnson of the Bears and Mike Vrabel of the Patriots – who were expected to start rebuilding programs. As turns out, the Patriots are the AFC top seed at 11-2 after beating the Giants 33-15 on Monday night and the Bears are the top seed in the NFC at 9-4 after upsetting the Eagles 25-14 on Thanksgiving Day.

–The Rams were being touted as the Super Bowl favorite until they were stunned by the Panthers, 31-28, as Matthew Stafford had his worst game of the season. After throwing 28 passes without an interception, he threw one pick in the end zone, another for a Pick Six and a fumble. The loss dropped the Rams to the second NFC seed at 9-3. They have the same record at the Bears but the Bears have the tie breaker. The Broncos beat the Commanders in overtime to boost their record to 10-2 and are the second AFC seed. 

–The two third seeds are the Jaguars in the AFC and the Eagles in the NFC. Both are 8-4. But while the Eagles lost to the Bears, the Jaguars beat the one-win Titans, 25-3. The fourth seeds are the Ravens at 6-6 in the AFC and the Bucs at 7-5 in the NFC. While the Bucs beat the Cardinals 20-17, the Ravens lost to the Bengals, 32-14, as Joe Burrow returned after spending several weeks sidelined with an injury. The Ravens are tied in the AFC North at 6-6 with the Steelers, who lost to the Bills 26-7 as the fans chanted for coach Mike Tomlin to be fired and quarterback Aaron Rodgers called out receivers for running the wrong routes. The Ravens and Steelers play each other twice in the last five games and those games will likely decide the division winner. The Bucs will play 7-6 Carolina, currently the 10^th seed twice in the last three games and those games will likely decide the NFC South.

–The Colts lost to the Texans. 20-16, who got the help of some controversial calls. The Colts, who started out 7-1, are now 8-4 as the sixth seed in the AFC and have two games left with the Jaguars that will likely decide the AFC South. The Bills are the seventh seed after beating the Steelers and the 8-4 Chargers are the fifth seed after beating. the Raiders, 31-14. Justin Herbert underwent surgery with a broken left hand suffered in the game but hopes to keep playing. The Texans are the eight seed after beating the Colts while the Steelers and Chiefs are ninth and 10^th at 6-6. The Chiefs lost to the Cowboys 31-28.

–The 9-3 Seahawks are the fifth seed in the NFC after blanking the Vikings, 26-0, while the 8-3-1 Packers are the sixth seed after beating the Lions, 31-24.The 49ers are the seventh seed at 9-4 after beating the Panthers 20-9. The Lions are the eighth seed after losing to the Packers while the Cowboys are ninth at 6=5=1 after upsetting the Eagles and the Panthers are the tenth seed at 7-6 after losing to the 49ers.