The Chiefs, who at times this season were still the betting favorites to win the Super Bowl despite never finding much momentum, were officially eliminated from the playoffs Sunday.
More to the point, many have been quick to declare their dynasty — as it’s often been called — is over.
That all depends on framing.
The Chiefs’ incredible run of seven straight AFC championship game appearances ended with that 16-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers — a fifth loss in six games to drop Kansas City to 6-8 overall — along with a streak of 10 straight playoff appearances that is second in NFL history only to the New England Patriots’ 11 in a row from 2009-19. That stretch included five Super Bowl appearances in the last six years and three championships.
Perhaps, the mystique the franchise has carried through the Mahomes Era of being relentlessly resilient and impervious may also be gone with all of that.
But it seems mighty premature to declare the Chiefs a non-contender moving forward or think this is truly the end.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee in that loss Sunday to punctuate the frustration of this deflating season, but he is only 30 years old and hopeful to be ready for the start of next season.
Star tight end Travis Kelce, one of the foundational pieces of this incredible run along with his QB and head coach Andy Reid, may well retire after the season, and other roster changes will surely follow.
An extra-motivated Mahomes — and a smart franchise that now gets its highest draft pick in years after not picking sooner than No. 21 overall since drafting its star QB in 2017 — might actually be just the reset the team needed.
Nonetheless, it’s still a stunning reality that there are three weeks left in the regular season and Kansas City isn’t even in the playoff hunt.
That was far from the only development from last week, though. Let’s look back on the winners and losers of Week 15 in the NFL.
NFL Week 15 Winners
Bo Nix and the Broncos
Do you believe yet?
We’re talking to ourselves a bit there as well. Even despite moving the Broncos to No. 5 in our weekly NFL Power Rankings last week, there was still some skepticism toward this Denver team.
Too many close games — even against likes of the Jets, Giants, Raiders and Commanders — raised questions of whether the streaking Broncos were on a perilous tight-rope walk that was bound to catch up to them.
And hosting the surging Packers on Sunday seemed a prime potential pratfall.
Instead, Denver dominated the second half on the way to a 34-26 win at home, extending its winning streak to a NFL-leading 11 games. In so doing, it delivered another rally.
Green Bay led 23-14 after a touchdown drive to open the second half, Denver then went three-and-out, and the Packers tried to put the game away with a deep shot to Christian Watson on first down, but Pat Surtain II snared the interception to spark a momentum change.
The Broncos closed the game on a 20-3 run as Bo Nix tied a career-high with 4 touchdown passes (including a pair in the third quarter) while throwing for 302 yards in one of the best games of his young career.
The Broncos have the best record in the league at 12-2 and, well, they sure have our full belief now.
Trevor Lawrence Terrific
Speaking of streaks, the Jaguars have won five games in a row with four of those victories coming by 17 points or more.
One of first-year head coach Liam Coen’s chief charges was to resuscitate former No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence’s regressing career. The verdict largely remained out on that matter even with the Jags exceeding expectations this year with Lawrence ranking in the top 5 in most interceptions thrown (11).
But what he did Sunday in a 48-20 win over the Jets was everything Jacksonville thought it was getting when it drafted the long-haired “lock” out of Clemson in 2021. Lawrence completed 20 of 32 passes for 330 yards, 5 TDs and 0 INTs and rushed for 51 yards and another score. The 5 passing TDs set a career-high, as did his 136.7 passer rating.
It also marked the third straight game without a turnover after he’d thrown an interception in eight of the first 11 games this season.
Maybe, just maybe this is indeed a belated breakout for Lawrence. If so, Coen will prove to be a franchise-elevating hire for Jacksonville.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Trev like this, and we won a national championship together,” Jaguars running back Travis Etienne, who was also Lawrence’s teammate at Clemson, said, per the AP. “He’s on fire. You’ve seen it. … The growth that I’ve seen from him is just unbelievable.”
Said Lawrence: “Definitely this is as confident as I’ve felt. Just the feeling in our locker room and our team and our offense, it’s been fun. We’ve got to continue to build on that and not get complacent.”
Jacksonville is 10-4, leading the AFC South by a game and marching toward its first playoff appearance since the 2022 season.
That’s more like it
Three expected Super Bowl contenders looked back in form Sunday. It’s just one game, and each of these teams has tested our trust plenty already this season, so we won’t overstate it. But definitely notable …
The Bills won the much-anticipated rematch with the Patriots, 35-31, overcoming a 24-7 halftime deficit to snap New England’s 10-game winning streak and earn a season split to move a game back of the Pats in the AFC East standings.
For all the deserved credit Patriots QB Drake Maye has received this season, Josh Allen showed why he’s the reigning MVP — and back in the conversation for another — while tossing 3 TDs and leading five straight touchdown drives overall after falling behind 21-0.
After losing four of seven games in the middle of the season, Buffalo has won three in row to get to 10-4. Also, the Bills won’t have to encounter their perennial road block in the playoffs this time with Kansas City eliminated. The Chiefs knocked Buffalo out of the playoffs four of the last five years.
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The enigmatic Eagles looked like the reigning Super Bowl champions for the first time since September in a dominant 31-0 win over the lowly Las Vegas Raiders.
It was the Raiders so take it in context, but regardless, holding any NFL team to 75 total yards and just 7 first downs in a shutout is a statement of some sort. QB Jalen Hurts also bounced back from his 5-turnover debacle vs. the Chargers to complete 12 of 15 passes for 175 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INTs with 39 rushing yards.
Philadelphia snapped a three-game losing skid and is now comfortably atop the NFC East at 9-5 with a 2.5-game lead over Dallas.
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And then the Ravens bounced back from two straight losses with a commanding 24-0 road win over the Bengals, after losing by 18 points to the Bengals on Thanksgiving.
Baltimore is just 7-7, but all that really matters is it’s a game back of Pittsburgh in the AFC North and closes the regular season against the Steelers in two weeks. The problem for the Ravens is they play the Patriots and at the Packers these next two games, so they still have a bit of an uphill climb to reach the playoffs.
But the way the Ravens responded with their season on the line Sunday was encouraging, even if it didn’t require much from QB Lamar Jackson (8-of-12 passing for 150 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT; 2 rushes for 26 yards) and questions still linger about whether he is healthy enough to play to his peak potential.
Matthew Stafford’s MVP, McCarthy’s momentum and Minter’s moment
This week’s alliterative speed round!
Matthew Stafford remains the betting favorite to win his first NFL MVP award (-300 odds per BetMGM), and he’s even more comfortably in control with the Bills beating the Patriots with Maye (+400) and Allen (+500) next on the list.
Stafford threw for 368 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT in a 41-34 win over the Lions, his former team, on Sunday as the Rams (11-3) clinched their playoff berth. It was Stafford’s third game this season with at least 350 passing yards and multiple TDs, bringing his season total to 3,722 yards, 37 TDs and just 5 INTs heading into a huge showdown with the division rival Seahawks (11-3) on Thursday night.
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We were almost certain J.J. McCarthy was the worst NFL quarterback since Zach Wilson or beyond, and that wasn’t even a bold opinion.
But now he has 6 TDs (5 passing, 1 rushing) and just 1 INT the last two weeks while leading the Vikings to consecutive wins. McCarthy was 15 of 24 for a season-high 250 yards (only his second game with at least 165 passing yards), 2 TDs, 1 INT and a rushing TD in a 34-26 win at Dallas.
And for all the criticism that has rained down on him, well, it doesn’t seem McCarthy has lost any of his … confidence, for lack of a better word.
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Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter was an obvious name to attach to Michigan’s coaching search, as he was the DC for the Wolverines’ 2023 national championship team and an entrenched part of the Harbaugh coaching tree.
But Minter may be in wider demand after this season with the way his Chargers’ defense is delivering.
Los Angeles has won six out of seven games while holding its opponents to an average of 14.3 points in those victories. Overall, the Chargers are now tied for second in the league in total defense (279.1 yards per game allowed) and ninth in scoring defense (20.3 PPG).
Minter, who previously worked for John Harbaugh from 2017-20 with the Ravens, followed Jim Harbaugh from Michigan to Los Angeles and should get interviews for head coaching jobs this offseason (if he doesn’t end up back with the Wolverines).
Jawhar Jordan
Most NFL fans hadn’t heard of Texans running back Jawhar Jordan before Sunday, but anyone still alive in their fantasy season knows the former Louisville standout well now.
With Woody Marks limited to just 7 carries in Houston’s 40-20 win over Arizona and Nick Chubb out, Jordan seized his opportunity with 15 carries for 101 yards and 2 catches for 17 yards. Those are the first stats of Jordan’s NFL career, after he was a 6th round pick of the Texans in the 2024 draft.
Marks has a chance to return this week, though he still wasn’t practicing as of Wednesday, and Chubb returned to practice, so it’s unclear if Jordan will have a role. But his breakout game ensures he’ll get more chances in the NFL in the future whether it’s in Houston or elsewhere.
Old Man Rivers
Philip Rivers wasn’t a winner on the scoreboard Sunday as the Colts lost 18-16 to the Seahawks on a late 56-yard Jason Myers field goal in the final minute, but he’s a winner in our book for his incredible return to the NFL at 44 years old while playing in his first game since 2000.
Rivers was a modest 18-of-27 passing for 120 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT, but he didn’t look out of place despite not throwing an NFL pass in nearly five years. His 8-yard touchdown pass to Josh Downs late in the second quarter gave Indianapolis a 13-3 lead at the time against one of the best teams in the league.
Also, as the kids say, he’s playing chess not checkers when it comes to the added benefits of his improbable return.
NFL Week 15 Losers
Chiefs fans
We covered this up top, but just to give it a proper slotting, to watch the Chiefs’ amazing run — truly one of the best in NFL history — end in such a way with five losses in six games to get bounced from the playoffs in Week 15 and see Mahomes sustain the first major injury of his career is a brutal plot twist for Kansas City fans.
Again, it’s only an end for this streak and run of elite success. If Reid holds off on retirement, the Chiefs strike big in the draft and Mahomes returns to form sometime next season, there’s no reason Kansas City can’t be right back in the Super Bowl hunt immediately.
But it will be the start of a new chapter nonetheless.
ACLs
Mahomes wasn’t the only major star to go down with a torn ACL on Sunday. Ditto for Packers elite pass rusher Micah Parsons.
Parsons was everything the Packers hoped for when they acquired him before the season from the Cowboys for two first-round picks and Pro Bowl DT Kenny Clark. He had 12.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles while turning Green Bay into one of the more feared defenses in the league.
His injury changes the complexion of the Packers’ defense and perhaps their season overall, but it’s premature to presume what one of the league’s more talented rosters can or can’t do the rest of the way regardless.
Cowboys collapse
The Cowboys roped many in with their three-game winning streak and statement wins over the Chiefs and Eagles to get to 6-5-1 and back in the playoff hunt.
Only to get blown out by the Lions and lose at home to the McCarthy-led Vikings, 34-26, on Monday night as the supposedly bolstered defense came apart at the seams with the season on the line the last two weeks.
The Cowboys aren’t officially mathematically eliminated from the playoffs at 6-7-1, but they will be soon, marking a second straight year missing the postseason.
First-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer had earned some equity with how he managed this season before this latest downturn. The pressure will start to mount if Dallas doesn’t take a leap next year, especially with one of the most talented and most expensive collections of offensive talent in the league.
The Todd Bowles Era in Tampa Bay, Tua Tagovailoa and Trusting the Panthers
Another alliterative speed round!
We’re not saying Todd Bowles is wrong, but once you call out the heart and commitment of your own players in the midst of a prolonged freefall, it’s hard to come back from that.
Bowles has said this week he’s confident his expletive-laden and pointed message to his players was received after that 29-28 collapse against Atlanta last Thursday while blowing a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter.
We’ll see. Tampa Bay has lost five out of six games to drop to 7-7 and tied with the Panthers atop the NFC South. The Bucs couldn’t certainly still make the playoffs by winning the division, but they don’t look anything like a playoff team and haven’t for two months.
Bowles is 34-31 in four seasons as the Bucs’ head coach with one playoff win, but he has at least gotten the team to the postseason three straight years. If Tampa Bay’s freefall continues and it misses the postseason — especially if Bowles’ message was indeed not resoundingly received — it could be time for a coaching change.
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It’s been a dreadful season for Tua Tagovaila, as even during the Dolphins’ recent four-game winning streak it was clear the team had found success by minimizing its reliance on the passing game.
And now Tagovailoa is officially benched in favor of seventh-round draft pick Quinn Ewers.
Tagovailoa was just 6 of 10 for 65 yards and his NFL-leading 15th interception through three quarters of Miami’s 28-15 loss to the Steelers on Monday night, though he finished with 253 yards and 2 fourth quarter TDs after two late meaningless scoring drives as color analyst Troy Aikman laughed on the broadcast at the abject lack of urgency Miami was playing with after going down 28-3 in the fourth quarter.
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We’ve made this point almost weekly, but let this be the latest reminder never to trust the Carolina Panthers — either to win when they’re expected or to lose when expected. They are a total wildcard that cannot be projected week to week.
With Tampa Bay losing on Thursday, Carolina had a chance to assert itself in the division against the meager Saints. Instead, New Orleans won 20-17 for just its fourth victory of the season and the Panthers remain tied with the Bucs at 7-7.
To review, Carolina started 0-2, then shutout the Falcons 30-0, only to lose by 29 points to the Patriots the next game, reel off three straight wins, lose by 31 to the Bills, then turn around and upset the Packers at Lambeau Field, only to lose by 10 to the Saints at home, beat the Falcons, get manhandled by the 49ers, stun the Rams in a 31-28 upset and then lose yet again to the Saints.
Simply incredible.
Burrow and the Bengals
It’s understandable Joe Burrow is frustrated in Cincinnati.
He’s one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, got the Bengals to the Super Bowl after the 2021 season and the AFC championship game the next year, only to now miss the playoffs in three straight seasons while saddled with an abysmal defense.
Burrow battled back from a serious turf toe injury to return and try to salvage this season, but when that didn’t happen he’s suddenly started to lay the groundwork for a potential exit.
Last week, he opined “If it’s not fun then what am I doing it for?”
He was asked about his future with the Bengals again this week after that 24-0 loss to the Ravens, and while he initially said he couldn’t envision not being in Cincinnati last year he also said this …
Cincinnati has to address this head-on after the season and make a coaching change. Zac Taylor helped get the organization back to the Super Bowl, but the Bengals need a reset and to show their star QB they’re committed to doing everything possible to put him in position to be successful.
Poor Pete Carroll
We really don’t need to do this every week, but a 30-0 loss to the Eagles in which his Raiders totaled just 75 yards was a new low for this season.
Sure, it was with backup QB Kenny Pickett, but Geno Smith wasn’t doing much before that. Las Vegas (2-12) has lost eight straight games in Carroll’s first — and potentially only — season with the franchise.
If this is how it ends, it would be a sad final chapter for a legendary coach who got to the pinnacle of the game in both college (winning national titles at USC) and the NFL (winning the Super Bowl with the Seahawks and coming oh so close to a second title there).
Editor's Pick
NFL Week 15 Power Rankings: Rams Reign Supreme