We here at NFL.com have been doing a running ranking of the best games of the season, and it looked like we might going to go wire to wire with the best game -- the opening weekend epic between the Bills and Ravens that featured the best of Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and the Bills rallying from a 15-point deficit in the closing minutes.
And then Week 16 happened. With the playoffs approaching and the stakes raised, there was complete mayhem. An overtime thriller between fierce rivals. Another overtime thriller between fierce rivals. The end of one of the oddest streaks in NFL history. And that was all before Sunday even started.
It's our job to sort through the fallout. Our heads are still spinning and we haven't even hit the eggnog yet, but here's our view of what it all meant, with two weeks to go.
1) The Bears have the clutch gene. There is plenty of time to dissect the lack of offensive consistency, and perhaps that will emerge as a stumbling block in the postseason. But the Bears have no shortage of nerve or role players who perform at the right moment. Saturday's victory over the Packers was the Bears' sixth fourth-quarter comeback win this season, and this one was fueled by an onside kick recovery by special teamer Josh Blackwell and a fourth-down touchdown reception by undrafted rookie Jahdae Walker. Caleb Williams, for better or worse, is unafraid to throw the ball in big moments. Sometimes it results in an interception in the end zone, as it did two weeks ago when the Bears lost at Lambeau. And sometimes it results in a spectacular overtime 46-yard toss that dropped perfectly over a defender's shoulder into DJ Moore's arms. Because the Bears have won nail-biters all season, they believe they can win more of them and that confidence can go a long way. If the NFC standings hold up, the Bears would host the Packers in Wild Card Weekend. Yes, please.
2) The Packers might be OK in a post-Micah world. The Micah Parsons-less defense held the Bears to just nine points for 59 minutes and 36 seconds. After playing most of the game without their best player on offense (Jordan Love), their best player on defense (Parsons) and their second-best player on offense (Josh Jacobs), and going 0-for-5 in the red zone, it still took a truly bananas series of events (A recovered onside kick! A fourth-down touchdown pass to an undrafted rookie who had not caught an NFL pass until Saturday night! A botched snap with the Packers in scoring position! A wowzer of a 46-yard winning touchdown heave to a tightly covered receiver!) to send the Packers to a loss. The Packers still have a spot in the playoffs and their first game without Parsons suggests his absence won't completely doom them.
3) Fretting about Sam Darnold in a big moment can subside. We'll get more evidence in the final weeks of the regular season and into the postseason, but Darnold came up big -- and cool -- in the Seahawks' dramatic comeback win on Thursday night. His late-game performance was especially noteworthy, because it followed two interceptions earlier in the game, which contributed to the Seahawks' 16-point fourth quarter deficit. Darnold thrived during the frenetic finish, which included leading two drives that led to touchdown passes -- including the nine-play, 65-yard game-winner in overtime -- and three successful two-point conversion passes. Darnold never looked rattled.
4) We now all know the intricacies of the backward pass rule. Much of the NFL universe -- including some of its smartest coaches and players -- got a badly-needed lesson in rules minutiae when Sam Darnold's backwards pass, which bounced off Jared Verse's helmet and wound up on the ground in the end zone and was picked up by Zach Charbonnet, resulted in a successful two-point conversion that helped the Seahawks to a stunning comeback win over the Rams. Even Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford were confused by the rule, which allows a player of either team to recover a backward pass even after it touches the ground. And, if the on-field ruling is incomplete, and the pass was clearly backward, the ball will be awarded at the spot of recovery to the team that recovers the ball in the immediate continuing action. And in this very specific situation, it doesn't matter if an official blows a whistle. Got all that? We hope so, because the entire NFC playoff picture and home-field advantage may have been determined by it.
5) And we also know that an offensive pass interference can wipe out a touchdown and end a game. The Steelers offense is finally coming together -- they ran for more than 200 yards, and are finally getting big chunk plays -- but it was the ending of this one we'll be talking about for a while. On fourth down, the Steelers had appeared to stop the Lions short of the goal-line after Amon-Ra St. Brown caught a short pass and the Steelers pushed him back. It appeared his progress had been stopped, but then he lateraled to Jared Goff, who ran it in for a touchdown. But St. Brown had been flagged for offensive pass interference, negating the touchdown and ending the game Whew! Has the NFL even considered doing online rules tutorials for fans? The bottom line: The Steelers won to stay ahead of the Ravens in the AFC North. As a result of the Lions loss, the Bears and 49ers clinched playoff berths.
6) Pay attention to the Jaguars. They went into Denver and put together a true statement game, ending the Broncos' 11-game winning streak with a balance of outstanding defense -- they forced two turnovers -- and big plays on offense. The defense has been forcing turnovers all season, but what has put the Jaguars on the radar is Trevor Lawrence playing the best football of his career. He threw three touchdown passes, ran for one and had no interceptions against one of the league's best defenses. In the last four games, he has thrown 12 touchdown passes, rushed for two more and has no interceptions. The Jaguars have wins over the Chiefs, 49ers, Broncos and Chargers and have just one loss that was by more than a single possession. The Jaguars have games against the Colts and Titans remaining, hold a one-game lead on the Texans in the AFC South and could conceivably still wind up with the AFC's top seed.
7) Even a return to better health can't overcome the Bucs' turnover problem. A late Baker Mayfield interception with the Bucs in position to kick a field goal that would have tied the game -- head coach Todd Bowles said it was a miscommunication between Mayfield and receiver Mike Evans -- ended the Bucs' bid to beat the Panthers on Sunday. The Panthers have a one-game lead in the NFC South with two games to play. The Bucs are not out of it, and the most likely scenario is this division comes down to the rematch in Week 18. But the Bucs' slide from a 5-1 start has been accompanied by a spate of turnovers -- 10 in all since Week 7, seven of which are Mayfield interceptions, a span during which they have gone 2-6. The Bucs had hoped the returns of Evans, Jalen McMillan, Chris Godwin, Bucky Irving and Tristan Wirfs would send them surging into the postseason. But the switch hasn't easily been flipped on the offense, and the Bucs have lost their last three in a row, all to division opponents.
8) The Chargers may be good enough to overcome their injury decimated offensive line. The Sunday victory over the Cowboys was the Chargers' seventh in eight games, and came with a rare stat: The Chargers did not allow a sack for the first time this season. The Cowboys' Parsons-less pass rush has been the story of the season, but keeping Justin Herbert upright is a boon for the Chargers. The Chargers are only middle-of-the-pack in most offensive categories, except in sacks (the had given up 51 ahead of Week 16, second-most in the league). But the defense is elite and Herbert with the extra opportunities that defense gives him is a dangerous quarterback. The Chargers have beaten the Broncos, Steelers and Eagles this season. The Texans and the season-finale against the Broncos will be true tests to see how far they can go.
9) The tush push may die a natural death. Owners failed to disallow the tush push in a spring vote, but the Eagles themselves might kill off a play that gave them a big boost in their Super Bowl run last season. The once-automatic play has been decidedly less automatic this season. Three times the Eagles tried the tush push against the Commanders on Saturday, three times it failed and that was a microcosm of the season. This season, they've run the tush push successfully 57.6 percent of the time, according to NFL Research. In 2024, their success rate was 76.5 percent including the playoffs. In 2023, it was 83.7 percent. They've been called for five false starts on the play this season, while drawing just one penalty by a opposition, a striking difference from last season, when the Eagles drew nine penalties from opponents on such plays, and were called for penalties just twice. Their slump has been especially pronounced since Week 11, when their conversion rate is just 37.5. Nevertheless, the Eagles clinched the NFC East, to become the first repeat champion of the division in 20 years.
10) The Saints are worth watching again. They may not be going anywhere this season, but the Saints have won three in a row and may have found their quarterback in second round rookie Tyler Shough. Against the Jets, he threw for 308 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions, his best game so far. Chris Olave has over 1,000 yards receiving and eight touchdown receptions, The Saints have winnable games against the Titans and Falcons left to go, giving them a good long time to evaluate Shough and build some optimism going into 2026.
