We reflect on some of the Winners and Losers from Sunday in Week 12 of the NFL season...
Keen NFL Draft observers may recall the moment Brad Holmes celebrated as if he had reached the Super Bowl when the Detroit Lions selected Jahmyr Gibbs with the 12th overall pick in 2023. Two years later, his celebration, while still-Super Bowl-less, can be partially justified as Detroit continue to watch Gibbs ascend as one of the NFL's premier running backs. Ben Johnson or not, Gibbs is an unyielding focal point of Detroit's attack and demonstrated it again on Sunday when he rushed for 219 yards and two touchdowns alongside 11 catches for 45 yards and a score in his side's 34-27 overtime win against the New York Giants. Gibbs kept the Lions alive with a weaving 49-yard touchdown run just moments after Jameis Winston's staggering 33-yard touchdown catch-and-run, before his defining moment arrived beyond regulation when he escaped for a 69-yard house call on the opening play of overtime. Shane Bowen's defense had no answer for him. Gibbs now has 951 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns with a league-leading 6.1 yards per carry, as well as 379 receiving yards and three touchdowns. When you are that good, people start forgetting where you were drafted. He is electric. Jameis Winston was putting on his yearly extravaganza of Jameis Winston heroics, and Gibbs was the man to torpedo it.
It has been brewing for a few weeks, and the Minnesota Vikings are as good an example as any team in the league when it comes to quarterback patience, but the alarm bells are ringing as far as J.J. McCarthy's development is concerned. He completed just 12 of 19 passes for 87 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions while being sacked five times for 35 yards in Sunday's 23-6 defeat to the Green Bay Packers, who feasted on a jittery young quarterback unable to escape pressure, unable to diagnose the field in front of him and unable to move. Elsewhere in Seattle, Sam Darnold continues to perform like an MVP contender after resurrecting his career in Minneapolis last season. Kevin O'Connell is a quarterback mastermind talented enough to extract the best from his play-caller, but he is fighting a losing battle at the moment. In no world can a team hoping to compete with the league's best see Justin Jefferson limited to 48 receiving yards. Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones meanwhile combined for just 83 rushing yards as ineffective security blankets to a stuttering passing game, and Minnesota's second half slumped to the sight of three straight punts and back-to-back interceptions.
Here were the new Chicago Bears. A different breed of Chicago Bears, who are seeking to extinguish the ugly perceptions of years gone by and rise as a picture of resilience capable of positioning themselves among perennial playoff contenders. Or so Ben Johnson hopes. Both Chicago's first-year head coach and second-year quarterback Caleb Williams battled through rough patches to come out on the other side in a 31-28 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the latter finishing 19 of 35 for 239 yards and three touchdowns in his bid to improve on his accuracy inconsistencies of previous weeks. He did, though, make a boneheaded decision to let go of the ball during a sack by TJ Watt in his end zone that led to Nick Herbig's touchdown, which might have proven more costly. Johnson read the tempo of the game shrewdly, stretching Pittsburgh horizontally with disguised screens and reverse pitches, before utilising DJ Moore as his multi-level outlet. This one was also largely about a gritty defense that frustrated Pittsburgh down the stretch behind two-sack Montez Sweat, one of which teed up their game-winning touchdown, and late stands in an exhaustive fourth quarter for the unit.
Oh boy. The fallout from this one could get ugly. Real ugly. The Philadelphia Eagles were in cruise control, out to spoil Jerry Jones' day by surging to a 21-0 lead at the home of the Dallas Cowboys with 11 minutes still to play in the second quarter. Game over? Perhaps not. Their offensive stutters and sputters would then rear their ugly head as Kevin Patullo's attack failed to put another point on the board for more than 40 minutes of the game, while in the meantime Dallas posted 24 unanswered points on their way to a last-gasp comeback victory by way of Brandon Aubrey's boot that just about keeps them in the playoff hunt.
Chaos reigned down the stetch when Saquon Barkley lost a fumble after a punch-out by the pursuing Sam Williams, however Dallas could not convert. The hosts were gifted another chance when Xavier Gipson fumbled inside the 10-yard line on a poorly-judged punt return to spark more drama, only for the Cowboys to come up short on three attempts at the two-yard line. Osa Odighizuwa then sacked Jalen Hurts with 1.52 to play to set up another opportunity, Brian Schottenheimer's side this time converting as they worked the ball into position, largely thanks to a 24-yard catch-and-run from George Pickens, for Aubrey's decisive 42-yard field goal.
He's still got it. And Steve Spagnuolo might still be the best adjusts-to-opponent defensive coordinator in the entire league. The Kansas City Chiefs had trailed 14-3 with 10.21 remaining in the second quarter after two-straight touchdown drives from Daniel Jones and Shane Steichen's Colts offense, which was then restricted to six points over the next seven possessions not including their kneel at the end of the first half. That included three straight punts during a fourth quarter in which they had entered with a 20-9 advantage, before Harrison Butker made them pay with a game-winning 27-yard field goal in overtime. Spagnuolo completely shut down an offense that had ranked first in total yards and scoring this season, with the NFL's rushing leader Jonathan Taylor, managing just 58 yards from 16 carries while touching the ball just four times across the final four possessions including overtime. It became a rare insight into a stuttering Indianapolis attack in the face of a defensive coordinator who found a way to nullify them. A 23-20 victory means the Chiefs are above .500 at 6-5 and still in the hunt in the AFC West.
By now the incompetence of the Las Vegas Raiders offensive line is no secret to the NFL. Sometimes it just needs a monster to truly unveil its futility. Myles Garrett was that monster as he delivered three of Cleveland's 10 total sacks for 77 yards against Geno Smith in their 24-10 win at Allegiant Stadium. Smith has now been sacked 31 times in 11 games this season, including 20 in the last three games alone, enabling Garrett to pad his stats and rise to 18 on the year in pursuit of the single-season record of 22.5 - he has six games left. Rookie running back Ashton Jeanty also continues to suffer as he was limited to just 50 yards from 17 carries. It is the worst offensive line in football, within one of the worst teams in football. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly became a casualty of Sunday's result as he was fired after another dismal performance from his offense, which now ranks third worst in total yards and second worst in scoring.
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