away from Garrett” and forgot the main goal is to score points. Prior to week 17 Pittsburgh needed Baltimore to lose or to win 1 of the next 2 games. Baltimore did not lose and we are onto game 2 of that scenario. A pseudo-playoff game at home vs. the Ravens. But don’t worry! At least we didn’t give up that record-breaking sack!
15. | (/DET) | Lions | -1 | 8-8 | The Detroit Lions have officially been eliminated from playoff contention, and will set their sights on a bounce-back in 2026 after what was a frustrating and saddening 2025 season. A 2.09 snap-to-pressure game average isn’t feasible. Aidan Hutchinson and Al-Quadin Muhammad can whip it when they need to. Isaac TeSlaa is a bad, bad man. That is all I have about the Christmas game; I hope you did something better with your holiday time than watch whatever the hell that was. Before any thoughts of next year can truly be had, the Lions have a chance to punch the newly anointed Kings of the North in the mouth right before they embark on their playoff run. It’s been a long time since the 52-21 victory in Detroit, but through a truly pissed off Lions team with nothing to lose, all things are possible.
16. | (/CAR) | Panthers | -1 | 8-8 | While the Panthers were not favored against the Seahawks, the frustrating part is that they have had multiple opportunities to win the division and cannot do it. First, the Saints SECOND loss and now this game. It was 3-3 going into the second half. Literally right there to make some plays but the offense had an incredibly terrible performance. Bryce had 54 pass yds with a terrible INT and zero TDs. No one on offense played well and JT Sanders broke his ankle. The defense kept them in the game but, while trailing 17-10 early in the 4th quarter, had a costly face mask penalty on a easy 3rd and 21 which would have given the ball back to the offense driving down 7. With a win, the division would have been won but nope. The Panthers cannot take advantage of these opportunities. The offense looking that bad is recurring and concerning. It now comes down to Week 18. The Panthers travel to Tampa to face the Bucs in the most important game in recent Panther history. The division will be won or lost on Sunday. They seem to shine in the big games but who knows what offense we will get. Can the Panthers do it? I hope so. Keep Pounding.
17. | (/MIN) | Vikings | +2 | 8-8 | The Vikings dominated the Lions despite just three (3) net passing yards (total) and the RBs averaging just 3.1 yards per carry. They did this by forcing a preposterous six turnovers against an offense that had only given up eight turnovers in their prior 15 games combined, and that's with their best defender (Greenard) and arguable second-best defender (Metellus) being on IR. That's kind of the story of the Vikings season: injuries everywhere and helpless QB play clawing their way to .500 thanks to a banged up, zero-pro-bowler defense that is, against all odds, fourth-best in EPA/play and DVOA. All this to say -- Brian Flores clearly deserves another head coaching job, as much as it will hurt the Vikings to someday lose him.
18. | (/IND) | Colts | -1 | 8-8 | The Philip Rivers Experiment™ is over, and the Colts are likely to finish the season on a 7-game losing streak after starting 8-2. Yes, Daniel Jones going down in early December threw a wrench into things, but the cracks in the offense were showing before that. Indy scored 20 or fewer regulation points in each of the four games leading up to Jones' Achilles injury. (The lone win came on Jonathan Taylor's walk-off overtime touchdown against the Falcons in Berlin.) Worth noting: Six of the Colts' eight losses this year have been in one-score games. Does that convince Carlie Irsay-Gordon to run it back next year, especially without a first-round pick to offer a potential GM replacement for Chris Ballard? Sadly, I'd bet on it.
19. | (/DAL) | Cowboys | +1 | 7-8-1 | The downside of the 18 week season is that we have to suffer through one more pointless

week. We get to sit around and see who gets hurt fighting for nothing. There are some pivotal games of football being played thee last two weeks, but Dallas isn't involved in any of them.
20. | (/ATL) | Falcons | +1 | 7-9 | Going into this game the Falcons were 15-3 while wearing their throwback uniforms, 11-4 after being eliminated from the playoffs (since 2018), and 8-1 on Monday Night Football (since 2015). In the last draft, Les Snead traded down with his former team, who used the picks to draft Xavier Watts (rookie interception leader) and James Pearce (rookie sack leader). The win also "drops" the Rams draft pick to 12th overall. Although Los Angeles picked up Falcons free agent Nate Landman in the offseason, it wasn't enough to contain Bijan and his 229 total yards, who is now 16th in most scrimmage yards in a season all time and accounts for 40% of the Falcons total offense. Bijan looked like prime Barry Sanders, slipping through defenders while turning TFLs into house calls. The defense added three sacks, totaling 53 on the season. With three more against New Orleans, the Falcons will break a franchise record (55 sacks - 1997). It'll be harder with the loss of Brandon Dorlus, who has been phenomenal this season but suffered a brutal injury last night. Outside of Dorlus, Deablo/Bates/Watts/Terrell/Floyd/Orhorhoro all played a part in making Stafford look like Peyton on MNF.. However, the game was almost a textbook franchise disappointment, and the Rams came back from a 21 point deficit and had three very good chances to at least tie the game on the final drive. Special teams probably lays claim to the most blocked field goals in the league with several in the last month, and players literally stand motionless while Jared Verse taunts the Falcons sideline. Raheem Morris is willing to fire a coach after three weeks but refuses to change the most glaring issue. A Xavier Watts pick six would have been called back because a Falcons coach ran on the field and into an official during the play. That's an apt analogy for the entire season.
21. | (/TB) | Buccaneers | -3 | 7-9 | https://www.youtube.com/shorts/g7ds3PpBrlU I really let a couple of solid seasons make me forget that I am a fan of the worst franchise (winning % wise) in the big 4 sports in North America, huh? Brutal. Just brutal. I will never root against my team. I hope we win it all and everything goes our way. But, as of right now losing to Carolina may be the best thing for our franchise, the same way that 70-20 loss the Broncos had against the 'Fins was the best thing for theirs. (but still, ideally, we win, Falcons gets Shough'd and Bowles is visited by the 3 ghosts of Bucs' past) We let the best years of this franchise and our best players be wasted on Byron Leftwich as OC and Todd Bowles as HC (and as a DC for that horrendous call against the Rams.). If there's something that I hate in life... is when someone is being paid millions of times more for things that I could've done cheaper and better. And not just me, ask any Bucs fan with half a brain. The good offensive performances with Canales and Coen would've happened way earlier if Joe McSchmoe from Greater Carrollwood, Florida was in charge of this team. Hey Glazers? You fellas have a lot of growing up to do! Ridiculous! Completely ridiculous! You know what hurts most? The lack of respect! That's what hurts most...except..except for all the post-bye losses... that hurts the most. But the lack of respect hurts second most. The fact that after all of that we still talk about playoffs is insulting. After that Miami loss the highlight of the post-bye portion of the season remains that time we saw this pic and thought "Oh shit TMZ reports Todd Bowles is arrested for crimes against

football?!?!"
22. | (/CIN) | Bengals | -- | 6-10 | I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell, if there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste the Bengals stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it. They gain nothing by winning, they only lose something, the only thing they have left and they lose it. There’s no strategy left here, no grand vision, no illusion that this is building toward something better. This is football as entropy. Every meaningless December win is a small act of vandalism against the future, a dropped brick into the well they’ll have to drink from come April. The standings don’t care about your moral victories. The draft board doesn’t applaud effort. All it sees is order slipping away, one pick at a time. This team cannot draft well in the first round, we already know this, we’re best when drafting in the top 10 and yet here we go ruining our position the best we can. At least with everything else that’s happened we can’t pick worse than 13? Yay? Congrats? And the worst part is that none of this is accidental. It’s the same tired performance, the same hollow postgame quotes, the same insistence that “winning matters” even when the season is already a corpse. They’re rearranging the deck chairs with great intensity, congratulating themselves on the craftsmanship, never once asking why the ship keeps hitting the iceberg in the first place. You watch it happen and you start to feel complicit. You know what’s coming. You know this win doesn’t mean growth, or momentum, or culture, it means picking 12th instead of 5th. This is the Bengals at their most honest, they’re not bad enough to bottom out, not good enough to matter. Just alive enough to feel the pain, just functional enough to ensure it lasts another year. The horror isn’t that they’re losing anymore. The horror is that even now, with nothing left to play for, they can’t stop making it worse.
23. | (/NO) | Saints | -- | 6-10 | This game was where the ballers came out to play. Cam Ward continued to make ridiculously stunning plays. Tyler Shough continued to say you getting Shoughed tonight. Chris Olave pissed on Derek Carr's grave. Chase Young made an absolutely monstrous strip sack TD that'll show up on highlight reels for years. These Saints have been broiling teams for the last month as they prepare to face the Falcons in a final week rivalry game which will decide the winner of the NFC South - just neither of those two teams. Who dat?
24. | (/MIA) | Dolphins | -1 | 7-9 | The crazy thing about Sunday's win against the Bucs is that if that game had real playoff implications for the Dolphins, it feels like they would've found a way to lose. But it wasn't and the Dolphins got another win against a reeling Bucs team. Ewers looked okay, the secondary played absolutely light out, and the team looks like they're having fun. Let's hope they can close out the season strong and put a damper on Drake Maye's MVP hopes next week at New England.
25. | (/KC) | Chiefs | -- | 6-10 | There's just nothing good to say at this point. Long term it's probably better that the Chiefs lost as painful as that sentence is to write. The Broncos getting into a dogfight with the Chris Oladokun led Chiefs is pretty embarrassing. The Jags and Texans have never had a better opportunity to play in a Super Bowl than they do right now.
26. | (/CLE) | Browns | +3 | 4-12 | Congratulations to your ~~SUPER BOWL CHAMPION~~ Week 17 winners over the Steelers Cleveland Browns. The Browns Pretty much spent week 17 in full spite mode, taking down the Steelers out of spite. Now they get to fight it out with Ravens to see who makes it in. Let’s see if that sack record gets broken next week against the Bengals.
27. | (/WAS) | Commanders | -1 | 4-12 | Of all the things that I thought would make this game unwatchable on Christmas, Josh Johnson was surprisingly not among them. In fact, this game had some

great, watchable moments - particularly in the hands of Bill Croskey-Merritt who shined again for the first time in a long time. But the game was still barely watchable, and that's in large part due to truly putrid and amateurish officiating that continues to gobsmack viewers of this multi-billion dollar business. You already made us watch two truly bad teams face off on Christmas, and to top it you heap a serving of garbage referees? I hope Santa dropped a bag of coal and left an upper decker in Roger Goodell's mansion. In any case, Washington fans only have 60 minutes left of football this season before our misery ends and is replaced by optimism for at least 9 months. And good riddance to this season - what a disaster.
28. | (/TEN) | Titans | -- | 3-13 | The Titans played in an entertaining 34-26 loss to the Saints in Nashville on Sunday. The Titans got out to an early lead but couldn’t hold on and let up a late surge by the Saints. During the game, Chimere Dike set the NFL record for all purpose yards for a rookie passing the record set by Tim Brown’s 1988 season with the Raiders.
29. | (/ARI) | Cardinals | -2 | 3-13 | The Cardinals have now lost 12 of their last 13, but more importantly aren't playing with much fight. Opening with three 3 and outs, it felt like the game was out of reach by halftime. On the bright side, McBride and Wilson are playing like a true 1-2 punch regardless of Harrison Jr's status. Gannon remains on the hotseat not even a win against the Staffordless Rams will change.
30. | (/NYG) | Giants | -- | 3-13 | If you didn't think the Giants would come out and win handily in a meaningless end of season game where winning would hurt their draft stock, then you haven't been watching enough Giants football. Despite the negativity surrounding the win, getting Jaxson Dart his first post-Skattebo W has to be good for his confidence. While the defense showing up is likely as much on the Raiders' paltry offense as it is an endorsement of the defensive unit themselves, the clear progression of Abdul Carter the last few weeks from being essentially a ghost on the stat sheet and field to playing a lot more like a guy you'd wanna spend a top 3 pick on has been nice to see. Congrats to the Raiders on getting a fast track to their next QB, but one benefit of the G-Men not having the #1 overall pick is that we won't all be subjected to "should the Giants trade Dart for a day 2 pick and draft Mendoza??" for 4 straight months. Now it's onto Dallas, who the Giants nearly beat way back in week 2 with Russ at the helm.
31. | (/NYJ) | Jets | -- | 3-13 | Sunday was a pathetic showing against a hated rival. This Jets team is going to have a lot of turnover in the next season or two. The lone bright spot continues to be the offensive line, which should provide reasonable protection for Mendoza or Moore or whatever rookie QB finds themselves on the Jets next year.
32. | (/LV) | Raiders | -- | 2-14 | WE WON THE TANK BOWL

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NCAA keeps inching toward letting drafted players return to school, if they don't sign
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/ncaa-keeps-inching-toward-letting-drafted-players-return-to-school-if-they-dont-sign

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[Fowler] Browns, Raiders have done "preliminary research" for potential HC changes.
https://bsky.app/profile/fantasynflnews.bsky.social/post/3mbahyhcj522o

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Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles: We've got to be better at quarterback position
https://www.nfl.com/news/buccaneers-hc-todd-bowles-we-ve-got-to-be-better-at-quarterback-position

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Caleb Williams has a league leading ten 20+ yard touchdown passes.

Including going for 5/5, 150 yards, and 2 TDs on deep ball passes Sunday night against the Niners. His two main critiques coming out of his rookie year was his deep ball accuracy and his tendency to take sacks.

Amazing to see this kind of improvement and is a testament to why coaching matters!

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[Fowler] Mike McDaniel would be Browns HC candidate if Dolphins move on and Cleveland's job opens.
https://bsky.app/profile/fantasynflnews.bsky.social/post/3mbbzfioq6k2u

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The Packers could lose 4 straight and still make the playoffs. This is how rare that is.

With the Packers heading into Week 18 against the Vikings in Minnesota, there is a real chance they finish the regular season on a four-game losing streak while still locked into the NFC 7 seed.

This game is basically meaningless for both teams standings-wise. Green Bay is already in, Minnesota is out, and the Packers are currently underdogs with a lot of people expecting them to rest starters or at least not push key guys.

That got me wondering how often this has actually happened before.

From what I can find, it is extremely rare:

• 1999 Detroit Lions
They lost their final four regular season games. Entered the playoffs cold and lost in the Wild Card round.

• 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers
Finished 10-7 but dropped their last four games. Several outlets noted they were only the third team in NFL history to enter the playoffs on a four-game losing streak.

• 1986 New York Jets (a little different but worth mentioning)
They lost five straight to end the season, still made the playoffs, and actually won their Wild Card game before losing the next round.

So if the Packers lose this Vikings game and head into the playoffs on a four-game skid, they would be joining a list that is basically two teams long, or three if you include the Jets with the longer streak.

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Jerry Jones uncertain if he'll negotiate George Pickens extension via agent David Mulugheta
https://www.nfl.com/news/jerry-jones-uncertain-whether-he-ll-negotiate-george-pickens-extension-via-agent-david-mulugheta?campaign=Twitter_atn

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[Fowler] Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is safe. No one expects him to lose his job next week when the season ends.
https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/onsi/news/nfl-insider-updates-zac-taylor-job-security-floats-surprise-bengals-coaching-target-01kdtfhv0mhg

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Report released detailing incident involving Barmore: “She intended to open the door and scream for help but Christian grabbed her before she could and threw her to the floor. I asked her if she was injured and she told me she had bruises from being throw to the floor.”

https://imgur.com/a/690PLPo

Full report in attached IMGUR link pulled from the filings published online. Photos of her injuries were taken and provided when the report was filed

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[Reiss] Patriots statement regarding Christian Barmore
https://bsky.app/profile/mikereiss.bsky.social/post/3mbcf5id3os2i

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[Rapoport] Sources: #Cowboys CB Trevon Diggs is joining the #Packers. An addition before the playoffs.
https://bsky.app/profile/nflnewsreposterbot.bsky.social/post/3mbcrluugjk2m

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[Knowles] Was messing around with DVOA taking out a player's top targets. Like, Drake Maye's DVOA falls to 13.9% if you take out targets to Stefon Diggs, and Matt Stafford's falls to 12.6% without Puka Nacua. Sam Darnold falls to -15.2% without Jaxson Smith-Njigba. That's your JSN for OPOY stat.
https://bsky.app/profile/brykno.bsky.social/post/3mbchm74xhc2y

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Philip Rivers declares that he's done with football after remarkable run with Colts: 'I’m back to the sideline'
https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/philip-rivers-declares-that-hes-done-with-football-after-remarkable-run-with-colts-im-back-to-the-sideline-011334694.html

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Aaron Rodgers believes he'll draw interest from teams this offseason but doesn't commit to playing in 2026
https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/aaron-rodgers-believes-hell-draw-interest-from-teams-this-offseason-but-doesnt-commit-to-playing-in-2026-204150381.html

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Flaws of current playoff teams

Red flags for teams still in the playoffs (NFL rank)…

NFC

🚩Seahawks* – 28 giveaways (31st)

🚩Bears* – 357.3 total YPG allowed (28th)

🚩Eagles* – 29.2 three & out pct (32nd)

🚩49ers* – 18 sacks (32nd)

🚩Rams* – 29.4 PPG allowed since Week 13 (28th)

🚩Packers* – 23 points off takeaways (31st)

🚩Panthers – -67 point differential (23rd)

🚩Buccaneers – 1-7 since Week 10 (30th)


AFC

🚩Broncos* – 12 takeaways (28th)

🚩Patriots* – -17 sack differential (29th)

🚩Jaguars* – 125 penalties (32nd)

🚩Texans* – 45.1 red zone TD pct (30th)

🚩Chargers* – 56 sacks allowed (29th)

🚩Bills* – 140.4 rush YPG allowed (29th)

🚩Steelers – 245.3 pass YPG allowed (29th)

🚩Ravens – 245.3 pass YPG allowed (29th)


*Clinched playoffs

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Saints WR Chris Olave Out Week 18 After Catching Blood Clot In Lung
https://nfltraderumors.co/saints-wr-chris-olave-out-week-18-after-catching-blood-clot-in-lung/

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With Olave's season over, he'll finish with 100 catches, 1163 yards, 9 TDs. All career highs a season after contemplating retirement
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/O/OlavCh00.htm

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