{"id":302618,"date":"2025-11-23T23:13:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T23:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/302618\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T23:13:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T23:13:15","slug":"nfl-week-12-winners-losers-mahomes-steps-up-gibbs-erupts-mccarthy-unravels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/302618\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 12 winners & losers: Mahomes steps up, Gibbs erupts, McCarthy unravels"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another Sunday, another full slate of\u00a0NFL<\/a>\u00a0action nearly in the books. And Week 12 has already produced lots of drama.<\/p>\n

That’s not even accounting for the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> overcoming an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit<\/a> to knock off the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> in overtime. Or Shedeur Sanders<\/a> making his first career NFL start<\/a> for the Cleveland Browns<\/a>, who wasted no time going up two scores on the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Which players, coaches and teams were the biggest winners and losers of Sunday’s games? Here goes:<\/p>\n

\"player<\/p>\n

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\"team
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Down 11 points in the fourth quarter against the Colts, Mahomes looked truly in danger of falling below .500 in front of the Arrowhead Stadium crowd. But he put his body on the line as a scrambler, then later floated a perfect pass to Xavier Worthy<\/a>, to set up a walk-off overtime field goal. The Chiefs may still need lots of work as an offense, but No. 15 finally rediscovered some of his trademark late-game flair to get back in the win column.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

NFL Week 12 overreactions: Chiefs season saved? Steelers amid second-half collapse?<\/p>\n

\n Tyler Sullivan <\/p>\n

\"NFL<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"player<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"team
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

It doesn’t get much uglier than this. McCarthy may not have the benefit of a fully stocked line, or even a typically confident Kevin O’Connell, but boy does the young man look ill-equipped for the NFL stage, at least as of now. The second-year quarterback slung two interceptions for the third straight week, burying the Minnesota Vikings<\/a> against a beatable Green Bay Packers<\/a> team, never displaying a proper feel for his rival’s Micah Parsons-led pressure.<\/p>\n

\"player<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"team
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

The best way for Sam Darnold<\/a> to make fans forget about his turnover spree the last time the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> took the field? Just keep feeding “JSN.” The club’s top wideout set a single-season franchise record for receiving yards by clearing 165 yards against the Tennessee Titans<\/a> on Sunday, also reaching the end zone twice. The man has simply been uncoverable all year. It wouldn’t be crazy to crown him Offensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

Loser: Mike Tomlin<\/p>\n

No, he didn’t necessarily have a full stable with Aaron Rodgers sidelined<\/a> in favor of the healthier Mason Rudolph<\/a> under center. But this was an opportunity for Tomlin to show up as a defensive mind against Ben Johnson’s<\/a> Chicago Bears, who entered on a winning streak but without a truly consistent attack. Instead, the Pittsburgh Steelers let Caleb Williams<\/a> enjoy one of his cleanest days while Tomlin also struggled with situational decisions.<\/p>\n

The Giants didn’t beat the Lions on Sunday. The fact they came close at all is a minor miracle … and a testament to Kafka squeezing maximum results from a cast of mostly replacement characters, none more notable than Jameis Winston and Wan’Dale Robinson<\/a>, the latter of whom racked up 156 receiving yards to help push the Lions to overtime. Kafka, who replaced Brian Daboll atop New York’s staff in Week 11, is faring well with the interim tag.<\/p>\n

Loser: Zac Taylor<\/p>\n

This is a weekly occurrence, so we’ll refrain from beating a dead horse, but there will no doubt be countless Cincinnati Bengals fans wondering why the team elected to punt the ball away while trailing by seven points late against the New England Patriots. Even if Joe Burrow<\/a> returns next week, is this operation even halfway reliable?<\/p>\n

Winner: Jahmyr Gibbs<\/p>\n

\"player<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"team
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

We just have to highlight the man who powered the Lions’ comeback win over New York, because the electricity with which he moved was unmatched across Sunday’s games. Gibbs has been a highlight reel all year, but he was extra special racing past the Giants’ secondary late in Week 12’s contest, finishing with 264 scrimmage yards and three scores. Even if Jared Goff<\/a> isn’t dealing with elite stuff, Gibbs is capable of carrying Motown’s attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another Sunday, another full slate of\u00a0NFL\u00a0action nearly in the books. And Week 12 has already produced lots of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[1754,134206,3165,49,1755,48,1735,135837,1740,1724,3163,1730,1732,1771,41528,135838,13092,13296,29901,135839,2213,97219,1757,1727,1736,3156,15833,1726,1718,1728,514,78511,135836,2218,949,1756,1739,1729,82,3152,1741,81822,18467,135840],"class_list":["post-302618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-aaron-rodgers-injury","tag-ben-johnson","tag-ca","tag-caleb-williams","tag-canada","tag-chicago-bears","tag-chiefs-comeback","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-detroit-lions","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-j-j-mccarthy","tag-jahmyr-gibbs","tag-jahmyr-gibbs-erupts","tag-jameis-winston","tag-jared-goff","tag-jaxon-smith-njigba","tag-jj-mccarthy-struggles","tag-joe-burrow","tag-joe-burrow-injury","tag-joe-flacco","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-mason-rudolph","tag-mike-kafka","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-results","tag-nfl-week-12-winners-and-losers","tag-patrick-mahomes","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sam-darnold","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-shedeur-sanders","tag-sports","tag-tee-higgins","tag-tennessee-titans","tag-wandale-robinson","tag-xavier-worthy","tag-zac-taylor-hot-seat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}