Man, Free Monday: The Packers win like the Chiefs, the real Chiefs finally fall

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Packers 20 at Bears 19

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I didn’t exactly make it a point to watch Caleb Williams get sacked nine times last week en route to firing their offensive coordinator, but what I can tell you is that new OC Thomas Brown overhauled some things. The passing game had already been horizontally-focused, but it was screen-heavy, and Williams also mixed in read-option and looked like he was given room to actually scramble. He looked, well, like USC Caleb Williams.

Down one and with the ball, Williams immediately took two sacks. But the rook bailed the Bears out with a pair of absolutely hellacious throws.

Across his body, after avoiding a pop up haunted house-esque sack. Gorgeous play. And then the audacity to throw this on fourth-and-3:

And instead of being rewarded for it, the Packers caved in the left side of the Bears field-goal line and blocked the game-winning kick. Tough. Maybe a bit of a pyrrhic victory for the Bears if you believe in that sort of thing because Matt Eberflus probably needs to be swept out of Chicago.

Jordan Love? He didn’t do much wrong. The Bears ran a ball-control offense and Love sailed one throw in the red zone for a pick over Tucker Kraft’s head, landing in Terell Smith’s arms.

Green Bay scored three touchdowns, threw one red zone pick, turned the ball over on downs on fourth-and-goal, punted once, and had the ball with seven seconds left in the first half. Not much to complain about there! Green Bay remains the six seed in the NFC and has a pretty solid stranglehold on a playoff spot, ahead of the 5-5 NFC West crowd by two games.

Chiefs 21 at Bills 30

Here’s where we need to have a small debate over how much this matters, because CBS was announcing this game like Josh Allen had solved cold fusion. It is undoubtedly an incredible win for the Bills, who wake up second in the AFC and have a tiebreaker over the Chiefs. But the Bills and Chiefs play each other every regular season since they keep winning their respective AFC divisions, and the last time the Bills lost to the Chiefs in the regular season was (wait for it) 2020. Yes, there are going to be kindergartners who have never watched Patrick Mahomes win a regular season game over Josh Allen. How’s that for a statement about the big bully on the block?

I’m going to give a lot of credit to Sean McDermott, a defensive-minded guy who seems to have actually taken some of the bits about fourth-down gos to heart this year. Several teams have come close to beating the Chiefs this year, but they take an inconvenient trip down Conservative Coach Lane or Awkward Clock Management Drive. McDermott could have kicked a field goal to attempt to go up five with 2:27 left on a fourth-and-2. Instead he trusted his battering ram quarterback, and we got this moment for it:

If Josh Allen wins the MVP — and I’d say he gained ground on Lamar Jackson this week but wouldn’t call it a sure thing — this is The Moment we all point to. He had his right hand looked at after their penultimate drive.

I’m not stunned by the Chiefs playing this game because this is the regular-season game they play every year. The stunning part is how often they’d gotten away with it this year. Nothing tells the story louder than Xavier Worthy. They want him to be a big part of the game plan against the team they traded up with to get him, he leads the team in receiving yards — all gained on one drive — then does this and is never seen from again:

I have never seen a first-round deep receiver have such a complex relationship with the sideline. This is Jonathan Mingo-level stuff.

One of my lingering takes/priors is that firing/letting Eric Bieniemy walk away and entrusting this offense to Matt Nagy is a disaster for this team. Nagy’s a failson that nobody is falling for. Surely nobody is hiring this guy away again, right? How could you make Patrick Mahomes look this bad for this many regular-season years?

Bengals 27 at Chargers 34

Jumping out to an outstanding start behind Justin Herbert’s rocket arm, the Chargers led 24-6 at halftime and nothing interesting at all happened after that. Just kidding.

This game was a battle of memes. The Bengals 2024 defense. The concept of “Chargering,” somewhat stifled by Jim Harbaugh but just begging to come out. These two sides met in an epic clash that I can describe through one picture of fourth-quarter game play:

Both of Evan MacPherson’s misses were barely off to the left. But the Chargers got the ball with 45 seconds left, Herbert hit Ladd McConkey for gains of 28 and 27 yards to set the table for a field-goal attempt for the ages, and then … and then J.K. Dobbins just ran it in from 29 yards out to take a touchdown lead. The script of Chargering was fumbled over to the Bengals.

The Bengals, 4-7, wake up tomorrow in 10th place in the AFC, two full games back of the Broncos. This game was not quite must-win for them because of the strength of the AFC … but next week’s game is a must-win. Fall three games behind the Broncos and give them the tiebreaker and it is all over.

Other games

Ravens 16 at Steelers 18

An NBC colleague (I don’t remember which one, and I’m not saying that to spare feelings) on Sunday Night Football’s broadcast said, paraphrasing, “it’s still unbelievable to see Justin Tucker miss these field goals.” Well, maybe it shouldn’t be? He missed four of five 50-yarders last year. Today, his two missed field goals are a big difference maker in a Ravens loss that handed control of the division to the Steelers. Tucker said: “I’m still confident I’m going to go out there and nail every single kick.” John Harbaugh? He said “Tuck has to make kicks.” It was one of the few things Harbaugh actually would comment on.

The Ravens had a fumble on their own nine that turned into three points, had a completely ridiculous interception that ping-ponged into Peyton Wilson’s hands in the fourth quarter, and then called a two-point play that went nowhere with a chance to tie the game. In other words, they outgained the Steelers 6.1 yards per play to 4.1 and lost the turnover battle in a close game in which they missed two field goals. The Ravens aren’t exactly the Chargers, but boy do they ever seem to call the number that turns them into the Chargers reliably every six weeks or so.

The Steelers had Russell Wilson turn back into a pumpkin, but were able to win based on Mike Tomlin’s patented “W” offense. They control their own destiny in the AFC, and with an ever-persistent defense and kicker Chris Boswell’s six field goals — you know, the old school Ravens formula — why not? They are the AFC’s current No. 3 seed.

Jaguars 6 at Lions 52

OK, so there are a lot of stats I need to talk about here. There are beatdowns, and there is this game. The Lions outgained the Jaguars by 475 yards today, which is the biggest differential in an NFL game since 1979. They had 38 first downs. They scored touchdowns on their first seven possessions, which is the first time that’s happened in a regular season game since the 2007 Patriots. And the backups? They scored too. The Lions never punted.

It leaked out that the Jaguars would likely fire Doug Pederson soon, if not immediately after this game, sometime on Saturday through Ian Rapoport. And the Jaguars did not exactly quiet quit. They loud quit. They quit so badly that Pederson could say nothing but “if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen obviously, but at the same time, I still have a job to do.” They quit so badly that Trent Baalke is trying to leak future plans. They quit so loudly that their linebacker could only say this matter-of-factually:

The Jaguars will regroup after their bye and continue playing football, but none of it will be all that pretty. Especially if Mac Jones is still starting at quarterback, which seems to be the way this is leaning with no definitive answers on the health of Trevor Lawrence’s non-throwing shoulder.

Vikings 23 at Titans 13

This game looks closer than it was on behalf of an absolutely psychotic blown coverage that led to a 98-yard Nick Westbrook-Ikhine touchdown.

A ridiculous throw, to be sure. Will Levis keeps getting chances for a reason, but an extremely poor angle by Josh Metellus.

The Titans engaged in pure loser talk after the game, blaming a goal-line DPI on fourth down for their loss and allowing it to live rent-free in their heads. (In fairness, a call that probably should not have been made by the rule of the law.) Brian Callahan is … an awfully emotional guy. It’s a good trait to have when you’re racking up wins and endearing yourself to the city. Not quite so great when you’re crying after a win and are 2-8.

The Vikings played turnover-free football. And when you combine that with their defense, they’re going to be able to sit on most of the league’s non-good teams. They concluded a sweep of the AFC South by doing just that. I’m not saying they’re going to win a playoff game or anything — it sure looks possible — but they certainly look likely to actually make the playoffs at this point.

Raiders 19 at Dolphins 34

The Dolphins continue their climb to AFC Relevancy — don’t laugh, they’re only one game back of the Broncos in the loss column — by dumping on the newly-renovated Raiders offense with star receivers like (checking notes) Jonnu Smith … yes, of course … Jonnu Smith. Smith went for 6/101/2 and had a 57-yard touchdown catch to ice the game at 31-19. Miami scored every time they touched the ball in the second half.

Might want to try covering the guy who is that far down the field.

On the Vegas side, nobody benched Gardner Minshew this week, so that’s a start. Seven different Raiders had a carry, including Ameer Abdullah, who also caught a touchdown since it is 2015 in Vegas in every way that matters. Scott and Norv Turner came out of the bye week with the bold plan to give the ball to Brock Bowers a lot: 16 targets converted into 13 catches, 126 yards, and a score. That guy is good at football. When asked about doing a Donald Trump dance, the Raiders quickly ended his press availability.

Maxx Crosby publicly said the Raiders are playing for pride. He’s right, but, you know. It’s November 17th.

Colts 28 at Jets 27

The Rotoworld writers all gather in a Slack channel to discuss games they’ve been assigned as they happen. The writer assigned to this particular game was ready to bury Anthony Richardson at halftime. And, well, you can understand why. Richardson was 8-of-10 for 129 yards in the fourth quarter. Which, process of elimination, means he was 12-of-20 for 143 yards in the first three quarters with no scores. It was much the norm. But he feasted on the Jets, and he had the go-ahead Beast Mode Hype touchdown run:

Mo Alie-Cox said of this play “It looked like dude [Jets S Jalen Mills] got hit by the Holy Ghost the way he went backwards.” The Holy Ghost is a perfect nickname for Richardson. Please do not ask me to explain why, I don’t need that kind of backlash in my life. Richardson said: “It was an automatic QB run right there … I just told myself, ‘I’m getting in the end zone regardless of what happens.’”

The Jets? The Jets did not get a first down until nearly the end of the second quarter. The Jets remain the nation’s best source of schadenfreude. Aaron Rodgers was surprised that they didn’t go for two to go up nine points, and he said that he sometimes picked the wrong side of the field to throw to.

The defense is in shambles to the point where Sauce Gardner spent the final drive of the game literally pointing to backup safety Mills (who was inexplicably playing for a benched Tony Allen) where he needed to be. You’ll forgive me if I’m not too quick to get back aboard the Richardson train without a second good game, right?

Rams 28 at Patriots 22

These aren’t your Belichick Patriots, folks. Matthew Stafford threw four touchdowns while Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp each had 100 receiving yards en route to a narrow Rams win. Even Bad Belichick, the one without Brady, routinely could find a way to patch together enough plays on defense to win a game like this. The 2023 Pats led the league by allowing only 3.3 rushing yards per attempt. They allowed just 5.8 net yards per attempt, ninth-best in the league.

That outfit fell apart because the Patriots offense was a garbage fire. This year the Pats are 17th and 25th, respectively, in those stats. And they have allowed 20 or more points in all but three games this year: Bengals in Week 1, the Tyler Huntley Dolphins in Week 5, and the Bears last week in a game that made them fire their offensive coordinator. I must admit there is a talent bleed — though they did finally get Christian Barmore back from blood clots this week — but it can’t look this hard to play defense every week.

The Rams joined a huge glut of NFC West teams at 5-5, one game back of the Cardinals. The biggest plus for them out of this one seemed to be settling on bringing back Beaux Limmer as the starting center, letting them put Jonah Jackson back at guard. They allowed no sacks and four quarterback hits.

Browns 14 at Saints 35

To continue to be transparent about one of my jobs: There’s a dedicated feed on X: The Everything App that we’re supposed to use on Rotoworld. Some teams get more coverage than others, of course, but every once in a while you get the rare scene where the same thing gets posted over and over again. In this case, basically every Saints beat sent an all-caps RIZZI BALL. It was about a Dante Pettis(!!) return touchdown that was overturned on review. But it didn’t much matter at that point.

What really spilled the Browns was (begrudging sigh) Taysom Ball. I may not like it, I may believe he’s a sideshow. But I have to admit that even at 34, he’s versatile enough to just stunt on some bad teams. Hill rushed seven times for 138 yards and three touchdowns, also catching eight passes for 50 yards on 10 attempts.

So my prior was that the Saints would be pretty bad this season — mostly right, they already fired their head coach! — but I have to admit that their offensive line when healthy has been playing much better than I thought it would. You don’t run for 7.6 yards a tote, and even 5.1 yards per tote without a 75-yard Hill Finish Them touchdown, without good blocking up front. They finally got Erik McCoy back. He’s started four games this year and the Saints have won three of them. Do you believe in Center Wins? Can we make that a thing?

Jameis Winston threw for 389 yards in a revenge game that came up short, but it’s not like it was his fault. He didn’t even turn it over! Well, he tried, and Demario Davis said he needed to order some hands on Amazon. The Browns defense just had no answer for Taysom.

Falcons 6 at Broncos 38

I want to start with the one great throw I saw from Bo Nix before I completely disregard everything else that happened. OK? OK:

This is an absolute laser into a heavily-covered area. Amazing pass. Every quarterback has highlights like this if they stay a starter long enough — even Will Levis — and I think that says a lot about the quality of NFL quarterback play in general.

Also, the Falcons defense got absolutely pantsed by Sean Payton. The touchdowns in this game were: a walk-in block-and-release to the tight end with nobody around him, a wideout screen for 12 yards where Marvin Mims wasn’t touched for the first 11 of them, a wideout screen to Troy Franklin for seven yards where he wasn’t touched for the first six, and a 41-yard touchdown to Lil’Jordan Humphrey where there wasn’t a tackler above him. I’m not saying Bo Nix is bad, but most quarterbacks could have won this game. The Broncos maintained their AFC Wild Card lead. The Falcons remain in the playoff picture by virtue of their NFC South location.

Seahawks 20 at 49ers 17 — One thing that the internet does to me is I associate one particular person with each team I don’t see a lot of. I don’t see a lot of Seahawks games, but I know Matty Brown knows ball. And so it’s always a little jarring when you see that person talk extremely pessimistic and … yeah, then all the sudden the Seahawks take a lead with 12 seconds left on a Geno Smith rushing touchdown.

Geno was 19-of-19 on passes under 10 air yards and had a +16.3 completion percentage over expected. He cooked, in other words. Christian McCaffrey or not, the 49ers continue to disappoint. But I do need to shout out Jauan Jennings for taking me back to the Andre Johnson-versus-Cardinals-in-2009 days:

One of my favorite podcasts ever is Up & In with Kevin Goldstein and Jason Parks — it was ostensibly a Baseball Prospectus Prospects podcast but also it went way too long all the time, that was kind of its thing. They coined a term for a player doing something like this as Want, and used the 20-80 scouting scale to make a meme out of 80 Want. Well friends, Jauan Jennings has 80 Want.

Man, Free: A Football Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.