When this season started, who would have imagined …
That 12 weeks in Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs would be clinging to playoff hopes while Caleb Williams and the Bears would be surging toward a potential division championship.
That Davis Mills alone would have as many or more wins than nine NFL teams.
That Shedeur Sanders would be starting for the Cleveland Browns after all.
Or that Jameis Winston would make one of the more entertaining touchdown receptions of the season.
Isn’t the NFL great?
Let’s get into our full Week 12 NFL winners and losers.
NFL Week 12 Winners
Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had a tough introduction to the NFL as the No. 1 overall draft pick last year, playing for what sure seemed like an overmatched coaching staff as a rookie while critics jumped to conclude that fellow first-round QBs Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Drake Maye (New England) would have been better choices as the top pick.
Well, Williams is now paired with offensive guru Ben Johnson and he’s looking like a budding star for the surging Bears.
Imagine that all it took was playing in a competent offense. Go figure.
Williams passed for 239 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in leading the Bears to a 31-28 victory over the Steelers for Chicago’s eighth win in nine games. The 8-3 Bears are leading the NFC North by half a game over the Packers and a game over the Lions entering a marquee matchup Friday with the Eagles.
And suddenly the narrative around Williams is changing dramatically.
Davis Mills + Defense
There are indications that C.J. Stroud could be ready to return from his concussion absence and reclaim the starting QB job for the Houston Texans’ game at Indianapolis on Sunday.
But that doesn’t detract from what Davis Mills did the last three games in Stroud’s stead, winning all three of his starts to account for half of 6-5 Houston’s season win total while averaging 239.7 passing yards and totaling 6 TDs (including 1 rushing) with just 1 interception.
Mills provided a jolt to the Texans’ lagging offense while the team’s elite defense — NFL-best 16.5 points per game and 264.3 yards per game allowed — continues to be a difference-maker and has Houston firmly back in the playoff hunt.
Stroud deserves his job back when cleared, but Mills has given his career a major boost and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a needy team like the Vikings or Jets bring him in as a potential veteran starter next year.
Chiefs’ dynasty not dethroned just yet
For all the patience and deference given to the Chiefs this season, after so many losses there would have been no choice but to acknowledge a point of no return.
Kansas City may not have been all the way there last week regardless, but it sure was getting perilous while trailing 20-9 in the fourth quarter to the Colts and staring down the possibility of dropping to 5-6 with time running thin in the playoff chase.
Instead, Patrick Mahomes, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and the Chiefs rallied when they needed it most.
That KC defense delivered four straight three-and-out stands in the fourth quarter and overtime, while Mahomes led an 11-play touchdown drive and 15-play game-tying field goal drive followed by a 12-play, 81-yard game-winning field goal drive in overtime.
Mahomes passed for a season-high 352 yards, albeit with no TDs, and got the Chiefs to 6-5 heading into a Thanksgiving day showdown with the Cowboys in Dallas.
Jerry Jones, Jahmyr Gibbs, Jameis Winston and Jaxon Smith-Njigba
It’s time for another alliterative blitz.
Many were ready to write the Dallas Cowboys off after that decisive Monday Night loss at home to the Arizona Cardinals back on Nov. 3, but the trades to bolster the defense have made a difference in two games since and suddenly Jerry Jones is beaming from the owner’s box again after a 24-21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles got Dallas back to .500 at 5-5-1.
Incredibly, the Cowboys rallied back from a 21-0 deficit against the reigning Super Bowl champs, shutting out the Eagles in the second half.
If the defense remains an improved unit, Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens can absolutely carry this team back into true playoff contention.
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At this point, when Jahmyr Gibbs doesn’t have a monstrous stat line it feels like the Lions’ coaching staff didn’t do its job — because he’s that dynamic and hard to defend.
Gibbs rushed for a career-high 219 yards and 2 TDs in just 15 carries and added 45 receiving yards and a TD to lead the Lions to a much-needed 34-27 overtime win over the New York Giants. The punctuation mark on that performance was Gibbs’ 69-yard touchdown run on the first snap of overtime.
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Jameis Winston has crafted a fun second chapter to his NFL career as the fun-loving character who comes off the bench when called upon and puts up big stat lines.
Winston passed for 366 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT in giving the Giants a chance to upset the Lions, but his most memorable highlight was on a 33-yard receiving TD.
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Seattle WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba is tracking for one of the best receiving seasons of all-time.
With 8 catches for a season-high 167 yards and 2 TDs in the Seahawks’ 30-24 win at Tennessee, he is now up to 80 catches for 1,313 yards and 7 TDs. That puts Smith-Njigba on pace for 2,029 receiving yards in 17 games, which would pass Calvin Johnson’s NFL record of 1,964 receiving yards in 2012 (in a 16-game schedule).
Shedeur Sanders a starting QB after all
The most talked-about third-string quarterback in the NFL, turned backup is now a starter after all.
Shedeur Sanders made his first start last week with fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel recovering from a concussion, and he responded by throwing for 209 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT in a 24-10 Browns win at Las Vegas.
With that, Sanders has earned the chance to keep the starting job.
NFL Week 12 Losers
J.J. McCarthy
The J.J. McCarthy Era in Minnesota sure seems to be nearing an end, at least with McCarthy as the entrenched starting QB.
The second-year QB had his worst game yet Sunday in a 23-6 loss at Green Bay, passing for just 87 yards, 0 TDs and 2 INTs.
McCarthy is 2-4 as a starter, has thrown for 160 yards in only one of those six starts and is now in the concussion protocol with undrafted rookie Max Brosmer set to start this week at Seattle.
The fact that Vikings fans are excited to see Brosmer get a chance speaks to how hopeless McCarthy has looked. He could go down as the worst top-10 QB draft pick since Josh Rosen in 2018.
Pete Carroll
It’s hard to see such a likeable and successful head coach as Pete Carroll hit rock bottom like this when he should be enjoying retirement.
Maybe the Raiders’ total listlessness under the 74-year-old Carroll — the NFL’s oldest head coach ever — and Bill Belichick’s struggles adjusting to college football will curb the enthusiasm to put 70-year-olds in grueling jobs like running NFL teams.
The Raiders’ lopsided loss to the lowly Browns dropped them to 2-9 and prompted the firing of expensive, high-profile offensive coordinator Chip Kelly.
Sean McDermott as the coach to get the Bills to a Super Bowl
We’ve hit on this before, but at what point does this get viewed as a disappointing season for the Buffalo Bills and reflect on their head coach?
Two games after getting blasted by the Dolphins, the Bills lost again in an underwhelming performance against the Texans last Thursday.
They’re 7-4, but as they have done so often during McDermott’s tenure, they play up or down to their competition and lose so many games they’re expected to win.
And then comes the perennial postseason letdown against the Chiefs.
How long can Bills fans buy into the idea that McDermott is ever going to get this team all the way to a Super Bowl?
Whatever momentum the Buccaneers had …
Remember when Tampa Bay was the talk of the NFL after a 5-1 start and wins over the Seahawks and 49ers? No, trust us, it happened.
The Buccaneers have now lost three straight games and four of their last five, feeling the toll of an injury list that includes RB Bucky Irving, star WR Mike Evans (with fellow WR Chris Godwin making a limited return last week) and now QB Baker Mayfield, who exited the team’s 34-7 loss to the Rams in the first half last week with an injured non-throwing shoulder.
Mayfield hasn’t been ruled out for the Bucs’ game vs. the Cardinals this week, but it’s safe to rule Tampa Bay out as a Super Bowl contender at this point.
The Eagles ever reaching their full potential this year
Every time it looks like the Eagles might have it all figured out — nope.
After four straight wins, with big ones over the Packers and Lions, there remained the lingering question of an offense that averaged just 13 points in those two wins. When Philadelphia jumped out to a quick 21-0 lead over Dallas last week, it looked like maybe this was the breakthrough for the reigning Super Bowl champs taking it to the next level finally.
Instead, the Eagles punted on their next four possessions (including three three-and-outs), missed a field goal, had Saquon Barkley fumble well into Dallas’ territory, then fumbled a punt return and finally punted one more time with under 2 minutes left. Oof.