{"id":310748,"date":"2025-11-24T11:55:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T11:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/310748\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T11:55:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T11:55:08","slug":"the-winners-and-losers-of-the-nfl-week-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/310748\/","title":{"rendered":"The Winners and Losers of the NFL Week 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Colts coached to lose, the sloppy Eagles collapsed in Dallas, Matthew Stafford and the Rams are clicking, Shedeur Sanders won his starting debut as the Raiders hit rock bottom, and more<\/p>\n

Every week this NFL season, we will break down the highs and lows\u2014and everything in between\u2014from the most recent slate of pro football. This week, the Raiders axed their offensive coordinator after an ugly loss to the Browns, the Colts coached their way to a loss in Kansas City, the Bears coached their way to another close win, J.J. McCarthy hit a new low, and more. Welcome to Winners and Losers.<\/p>\n

Winner: The Rams\u2019 Winning Streak\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Rams are the best team in football. If you think that\u2019s an overreaction to what they did to the Buccaneers, I\u2019d implore you to revisit the five games that preceded Sunday night\u2019s ass-whooping. The Rams have now won six in a row, and five of those wins were over teams that would make the playoffs if the season ended today. The lopsided win also gave the Rams the league\u2019s best point differential, at plus-127\u2014and the NFC\u2019s best record. They\u2019re also a blocked field goal against the Eagles and an overtime fumble against the 49ers away from being 11-0. If this isn\u2019t the best team in football, which team is?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Rams might also be the NFL\u2019s most balanced team. On offense, they\u2019re running at a top-10 clip by EPA, and they\u2019re passing at a top-five clip by the same metric. Defensively, they\u2019re top five in EPA allowed against the pass and the run, and only Houston and Denver are giving up fewer points per drive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Bucs game was a showcase for just how well-rounded this team can be. Matthew Stafford, who\u2019s mastered Sean McVay\u2019s offense, looks like he could sling passes downfield for another 10 years, just a few months after it looked as if he\u2019d barely make it through training camp. He cooked a formidable Tampa Bay defense with three touchdowns, peppering them with an assortment of sidearm throws, some tight-window throws, and a no-look touchdown for good measure. In an era of young, dynamic passers, how can this 37-year-old be the coolest quarterback in the league?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sunday night wasn\u2019t so fun for the opposing quarterback. Baker Mayfield got the hell beat out of him by the Rams\u2019 unrelenting pass rush. He suffered a left shoulder sprain that will require an MRI to reveal the full extent of the injury. Mayfield seemed to injure the shoulder\u2014the same one that was hurt during his final season in Cleveland\u2014on a Hail Mary attempt at the end of the first half.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Rams\u2019 pass defense dominated against both Mayfield and his replacement, Teddy Bridgewater. Mayfield averaged just 2.0 yards per dropback before his exit, and Bridgewater didn\u2019t fare much better, putting up 2.6 yards per dropback in garbage time. Neither quarterback really stood a chance against the Los Angeles pass rush. Jared Verse, who has been unblockable all season, had four pressures, while Braden Fiske, a fellow 2024 draft pick, led the team with five.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the Rams rush the passer like they did Sunday night, football looks so damn hard for opposing offenses. And it looks so easy when Stafford and Sean McVay are clicking. It\u2019s been said that there are no dominant teams in the league this season, but after the past two months from the Rams, we may have to reassess that.<\/p>\n

Loser: Chip Kelly<\/p>\n

Just hours after a 24-10 home loss to the Shedeur Sanders\u2013led Browns that dropped the Raiders to 2-9, Pete Carroll made Chip Kelly his second for the mess in Las Vegas, firing the NFL\u2019s highest-paid coordinator on Sunday night. The Raiders offense isn\u2019t the worst in the league, but the numbers suggest that it\u2019s exactly the 30th worst. It ranks 30th in points per drive, 30th in yards per play, 30th in total EPA, 30th in EPA per play, 30th in success rate, and 30th in series conversion rate. That\u2019s the only measure of consistency this unit found during Kelly\u2019s short-lived tenure calling the plays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Kelly wasn\u2019t exactly Kyle Shanahan on the headset, the offense\u2019s issues stretch far beyond the play calling. The offensive line and receiving corps are not up to NFL standards. If you can name more than three of the guys on the Raiders\u2019 starting offensive line, you either work for the team, root for the team, or need to spend more time with your family Their most consistent receiver might be Tyler Lockett, who joined the team midseason. Quarterback Geno Smith has been a shell of what he was in Seattle. Star tight end Brock Bowers has been hurt. And the head coach decided his underqualified son should coach the offensive line. That line surrendered 10 sacks (including three by league leader Myles Garrett) on Sunday against the Browns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are maybe three offensive play callers on earth who could have made this work, and Kelly is not one of them. But the Raiders were paying him like one, which makes the firing easy to justify. He was doing a replacement-level job as a play caller. He couldn\u2019t figure out a way to mitigate the offensive line deficiencies. He couldn\u2019t get first-round pick running back Ashton Jeanty going and may have even gotten Jeanty off to a slower start by trying to change his pre-play stance for no reason. The passing game lacked creativity, which was the main issue with Kelly\u2019s failed offenses during his earlier NFL stints in Philadelphia and San Francisco. And they couldn\u2019t score\u2014Sunday\u2019s game marked the fifth time this season the Raiders scored 10 points or less.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kelly\u2019s biggest mistake was taking the job in the first place. He had it good as Ohio State\u2019s offensive coordinator. You have a massive talent disparity pretty much every week and get to call plays for an NFL-caliber receiving corps every season. And he left to coach a team that hasn\u2019t been good in 20 years and is led by a 74-year-old who was showing signs of decline in Seattle two years ago. This was a bad job, and Kelly wasn\u2019t the right person for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

The Frisky Cowboys, the Next Stafford, KC\u2019s Houdini Act, an NFL Thanks Session, and Guess the Lines With Cousin Sal<\/p>\n

The Frisky Cowboys, the Next Stafford, KC\u2019s Houdini Act, an NFL Thanks Session, and Guess the Lines With Cousin Sal<\/p>\n

The Frisky Cowboys, the Next Stafford, NFL Thanks, and Guess the Lines<\/p>\n

NFL Week 12 Reactions With Bill and Sal<\/p>\n

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

The Frisky Cowboys, the Next Stafford, KC\u2019s Houdini Act, an NFL Thanks Session, and Guess the Lines With Cousin Sal<\/p>\n

The Frisky Cowboys, the Next Stafford, KC\u2019s Houdini Act, an NFL Thanks Session, and Guess the Lines With Cousin Sal<\/p>\n

The Frisky Cowboys, the Next Stafford, NFL Thanks, and Guess the Lines<\/p>\n

NFL Week 12 Reactions With Bill and Sal<\/p>\n

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

The Frisky Cowboys, the Next Stafford, KC\u2019s Houdini Act, an NFL Thanks Session, and Guess the Lines With Cousin Sal<\/p>\n

The Frisky Cowboys, the Next Stafford, KC\u2019s Houdini Act, an NFL Thanks Session, and Guess the Lines With Cousin Sal<\/p>\n

The Frisky Cowboys, the Next Stafford, NFL Thanks, and Guess the Lines<\/p>\n

NFL Week 12 Reactions With Bill and Sal<\/p>\n

<\/a>Loser: Rational Shedeur Sanders Discourse\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before Shedeur Sanders on Sunday, a Browns quarterback hadn\u2019t won his debut in the 26 years since the team was reincarnated in Cleveland in 1999. That alone is worthy of applause for the fifth-rounder. And in the historic win for the franchise\u2014it\u2019s a very low bar\u2014Sanders threw a touchdown and an interception while averaging over 10 yards per attempt. But if you want to continue feeling good about Sanders\u2019s starting debut, do not check out the advanced metrics from Sunday. He posted a QBR of just 8.7, per ESPN. He averaged \u20130.21 EPA per dropback, with a success rate of 23.8 percent. It was not an efficient outing for Sanders based on the stats that more reliably measure quarterback play.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In normal cases, we\u2019d pat the rookie quarterback on the back and say, \u201cNice effort, bud.\u201d But no discussion about Shedeur ever seems to be normal, and with the dichotomy between his traditional passing numbers and advanced metrics, we\u2019re probably headed for another round of unhinged debates over this highly scrutinized rookie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The film from the game won\u2019t make it any easier to offer up a balanced assessment of Sanders\u2019s first NFL start. He made some legitimately impressive plays, including a deep, off-platform throw on third-and-long that set up Cleveland\u2019s first score.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But he followed that up with a brutal interception that could have been picked off by two Raiders defenders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sanders pulled off another nice out-of-structure throw later on, only for Jerry Jeudy to waste the effort by fumbling while trying to pull off an open-field juke.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Outside of those plays, it was a quiet day for Sanders. His first touchdown came on a screen pass that went for 66 yards on third down. Nearly 70 percent of his passing yards came after the catch, so there weren\u2019t a lot of throws on his highlight reel. Sanders did show improvement in other areas compared to his play in relief of an injured Dillon Gabriel last week against Baltimore. Most notably, he got rid of the ball quicker and took only one sack. Sanders didn\u2019t break the structure of the offense too often and made more good plays than bad when he did.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There was enough good to keep Sanders\u2019s supporters encouraged\u2014and enough bad to fuel the critics who don\u2019t think he\u2019s talented enough for the NFL. The truth is, the 21 dropbacks we saw from Sanders against a bad Las Vegas defense didn\u2019t tell us much about his future, but that won\u2019t stop us from yelling at each other about it for the next week. And if Gabriel returns as the starter next week\u2014which Kevin Stefanski didn\u2019t rule out after the game\u2014we may be arguing about this game and how Sanders played in it until training camp opens up next summer.<\/p>\n

Loser: Shane Steichen\u00a0<\/p>\n

When you have Patrick Mahomes down, you cannot let him get back up. There\u2019s plenty about Steichen\u2019s play calling down the stretch of the Colts\u2019 23-20 loss to the Chiefs in overtime that\u2019s worthy of criticism\u2014Jonathan Taylor got just two carries in OT, for instance\u2014but punting on a fourth-and-4 near midfield with under five minutes remaining in regulation was the most egregious decision. Steichen had a choice in that situation: try to gain 4 yards and put the game away or punt the ball back to the league\u2019s greatest quarterback, with the Chiefs needing only a field goal to send the game into overtime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Predictably, Mahomes marched the Chiefs right down the field for the game-tying score\u2014and from there, the Colts were lucky to even make it to overtime, needing a goal-line stand to keep Kansas City out of the end zone late in the fourth quarter. We didn\u2019t see much better from Steichen and Co. in the extra period. Indianapolis got the first possession but punted after yet another three-and-out. And, once again, Mahomes marched his team down the field and into position for the game-winning field goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Colts went three-and-out on their last four possessions:<\/p>\n

Run for -2 yds
Incomplete pass
Incomplete pass, punt<\/p>\n

Incomplete pass
7-yd completion
Incomplete pass, punt<\/p>\n

Incomplete pass
Incomplete pass
6-yd completion, punt<\/p>\n

4-yd completion
Run for 5 yds
Run for -2 yds, punt<\/p>\n

\u2014 Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) November 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

It was the kind of loss that can stick with a team. The Colts returned from their bye week looking to validate a surprisingly dominant start to the season and entered the fourth quarter of Sunday\u2019s game at Arrowhead Stadium with a 20-9 lead. A fumble by Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt to open the quarter gave Indy the ball with a chance to put Kansas City away. One score may have done it, but the Colts couldn\u2019t even get a first down. They gained just 11 yards over the final 15 minutes\u2014and just 18 if you include their overtime drive. Daniel Jones\u2019s nine dropbacks down the stretch produced just 17 yards. Taylor\u2019s three rushes netted just a single yard. With a chance to defeat the league\u2019s bogeyman\u2014and put the defending AFC champs in a potentially insurmountable hole at 5-6\u2014the NFL\u2019s best offense got punked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And the Colts got punked by Steve Spagnuolo, specifically, which is why I\u2019m hesitant to pin Indy\u2019s collapse solely on Steichen. A lot of the league\u2019s top play callers have found their offenses caught in Spags\u2019 blender. Still, the Chiefs\u2019 defensive coordinator completely pantsed the Colts offense in the second half. The Chiefs\u2019 pass rush had been struggling coming into the game, and Spagnuolo was desperate for answers. He seemed to find them during halftime. With a mix of zone blitzes and simulated pressures, Kansas City pressured Jones on 35 percent of his dropbacks in the third and fourth quarters and overtime and goaded him into short, harmless passes. His average time to throw dropped to 2.46 seconds, and he had an average depth of target of just 5.2 yards. He simply could not escape Spagnuolo\u2019s pressure. Steichen and Taylor, who have helped spark Jones\u2019s turnaround season, couldn\u2019t bail him out, either.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even after this disheartening loss, I\u2019m not ready to sell all of my Colts stock. This remains one of the most balanced teams in a conference where every contender has flaws. But I did lose a little trust in Steichen after this one, and not because he was outschemed by a great defensive coach. He had a chance to win the game and punted on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Winner: Jahmyr Gibbs<\/p>\n

Imagine watching Sunday\u2019s Lions-Giants game with someone who knows nothing of football and trying to explain why it actually makes sense that Jared Goff\u2019s salary is over 10 times higher than that of Jahmyr Gibbs. Even knowing what we do about football and positional value, it still feels wrong after a game like Gibbs had\u2014and, really, you can extend that to the whole season. Without Gibbs, there\u2019d be no explosive element to Detroit\u2019s offense. Without Gibbs, this offense would completely stink.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it stunk for most of Sunday. The Giants\u2019 pass rush won its battle in the trenches, and Goff was a stationary target in the pocket. Goff is at his best in a clean pocket and at his worst when Detroit needs him to be an athlete and make a play.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Goff\u2019s lack of mobility hurts the Lions in games where they can\u2019t protect. Goff can still play the role of distributor with quick passes, but there won\u2019t be many downfield throws. But that\u2019s less of an issue if you have a running back who can do this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gibbs\u2019s 69-yard touchdown run on the second snap of overtime essentially won Detroit the game and capped off one of the best rushing performances of the century. He ran for 219 yards on only 15 carries. That\u2019s 14.6 yards per attempt! Also, Gibbs averaged 1.01 EPA per attempt in Sunday\u2019s win, which is the best mark for any running back with 10 or more carries in a game since 2000, per TruMedia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Giants defense must have felt like it was trying to tackle a phantasm whenever Gibbs touched the ball. Safety Dane Belton may have had the roughest go of it. He whiffed on a tackle on the overtime run and also got left in Gibbs\u2019s wake on a 49-yard score earlier in the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Gibbs breaks the first level with a full head of steam, an explosive run is almost always bound to follow. His teammates know it, too. Penei Sewell was celebrating the game-winning touchdown before he even crossed midfield. Goff said he started celebrating after just 7 yards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see the angle he\u2019s about to take and the angle the safety\u2019s at, and it\u2019s over,\u201d the Lions quarterback said<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s what makes him so special, is that next-level speed. Twenty-four on their team [Belton] is not a slow player. He\u2019s a really fast player; he\u2019s a really good player. And Jah ran away from him a couple times.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Player evaluation can be tricky, especially at the running back position, where performance is based on so many factors. Players like Gibbs make it easy, though. He just moves differently than everyone else on the field. Even the most casual football fan knows how valuable a player like that can be.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Loser: Trying to Cover Jameis Winston<\/p>\n

Gibbs wasn\u2019t the only player electrifying the Ford Field crowd. Giants quarterback Jameis Winston put on a show of his own, throwing for 366 yards and two touchdowns in a losing effort. But Winston\u2019s best play of the day\u2014and perhaps the best play by a quarterback all season\u2014wasn\u2019t a throw.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That is an appropriate use of all caps. HOLY SHIT. I\u2019m writing this hours after seeing that play live, and I\u2019m still in disbelief. Dude, he adjusted to the ball to beat the coverage and stiff-armed a 240-pound tackler off him to finish the play for a touchdown. I would pay good money for a livestream of the next Lions film session. Derrick Barnes, the flailing defender seen in the clip above, has to be dreading it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We learned after the game, via The Athletic\u2019s Colton Pouncy<\/a>, that Barnes was assigned to rush the passer on the play but peeled off into coverage when he saw Winston leaking out on a route. If he hadn\u2019t had such good instincts and been such a team player, the Giants\u2019 touchdown would have been a walk-in, but at least Barnes wouldn\u2019t have to live with this great shame. Let that be a lesson. Never go out of your way to try hard.<\/p>\n

Winner: Eagles Turmoil\u00a0<\/p>\n

The game was certainly exciting, but it wasn\u2019t well played. Not by either team. The Cowboys spent the first half stepping on rakes and, in the words of Dallas head coach Brian Schottenheimer, spotted the Eagles a 21-0 lead<\/a> after the first 20 minutes. Philadelphia spent the next 40 minutes pissing that lead away with penalties, a series of fumbles, and some play calling cowardice. It was a game that neither team seemed particularly interested in winning. Dallas eventually did on a Brandon Aubrey field goal as time expired.<\/p>\n

The win keeps the Cowboys in the playoff race, but those aspirations still feel like a lost cause with the Lions and 49ers (and, right now, even the Panthers) standing between them and the NFC\u2019s seventh seed. This game was more about the defending champs, who are always just an offensive stinker away from locker room strife. It won\u2019t come from A.J. Brown this week after he went off for 110 yards and a touchdown, but offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo can expect more criticism coming his way. And it will be well-deserved after the way the offense once again pulled a disappearing act in the second half. Patullo sat on the lead by calling far too many early-down runs and basic pass plays that were snuffed out by a woeful Cowboys pass defense. That strategy would have allowed the Eagles to cruise to an easy win a season ago, but the run game isn\u2019t what it was in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was an ugly result for the offense, but it could have been much worse. The Eagles scored their second touchdown after an erroneous roughing the kicker call against Dallas extended the drive. Their third and final touchdown drive was sparked by a third-and-12 heave from Jalen Hurts that DeVonta Smith somehow tracked down for an explosive play. We\u2019ll spend the next week lamenting the Eagles\u2019 scoreless 40-minute stretch to end the game, but, really, this offensive performance was disjointed after the opening drive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The defense also deserves some blame for the meltdown. The secondary, which was shorthanded after losing cornerback Adoree\u2019 Jackson and safety Reed Blankenship to injuries during the game, couldn\u2019t cover Dallas\u2019s George Pickens, who exploded for 146 receiving yards on nine catches. It couldn\u2019t cover CeeDee Lamb, either, but Lamb dropped a handful of passes, including a key third-down throw that could have put the Cowboys ahead earlier in the fourth quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lamb was able to haul in a 48-yard throw over Cooper DeJean, who was forced to move outside after Jackson left the game. And DeJean was on the wrong end of another big play when Pickens beat him on a downfield jump ball that sparked the game-tying drive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

George Pickens through 11 games this season:<\/p>\n

\u2022 67 catches (career-high)
\u2022 8 TD receptions (career-high)
\u2022 90.1 PFF grade (career-high)<\/p>\n

He is second in the NFL with 1,055 receiving yards \u2014 just 85 yards off of his career-high in that mark as well.pic.twitter.com\/PacMm7rUZw<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Mike Kennedy (@MikeKennedyNFL) November 24, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

It was an uncharacteristically undisciplined game from the Eagles defense and an unsurprisingly disjointed performance from the offense. Even the special teams chipped in with a few game-changing mistakes. It\u2019s going to be a toxic week of coverage in Philadelphia, but this team seems to thrive in negativity. Maybe a setback like this is exactly what this team needed.<\/p>\n

Loser: The Vikings\u2019 Brain Trust\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t draw any firm conclusions on a young quarterback\u2019s career after only six starts. But if you could, the conclusion on J.J. McCarthy\u2019s outlook after six games would be resounding. McCarthy, in his current form, is not a viable NFL quarterback. What we saw on Sunday in Minnesota\u2019s 23-6 loss to the Packers wouldn\u2019t qualify McCarthy for an XFL job. He averaged just 2.5 yards per dropback. That\u2019s a Wemby per dropback. McCarthy also lost an average of \u20130.67 EPA per dropback, meaning that every 10th time he dropped back to pass, he essentially gave Green Bay another touchdown. That\u2019s certainly how it felt watching on Sunday. And it\u2019s how it has felt watching him throughout his first half dozen pro starts as he\u2019s approached historically bad territory. Of the 854 quarterback seasons by a qualified passer this quarter century, McCarthy ranks 853rd in EPA per dropback\u2014ahead of only JaMarcus Russell in 2009.<\/p>\n

To be fair to McCarthy, he was under siege from the opening whistle of Sunday\u2019s game. Micah Parsons took up residence in his pocket, and the Packers pressured McCarthy on nearly half of his dropbacks. But McCarthy created some of the pressure himself by holding on to the ball and hoping an open receiver would pop into his line of sight. But even if you ignore the pressured dropbacks, McCarthy\u2019s performance was abysmal.<\/p>\n

When eliminating dropbacks with quick pressures (under 2.5 seconds), J.J. McCarthy’s performance against the Packers this week ranked 344th of 346 QB performances this year in EPA per dropback (-0.813) and 331st in success rate (26.7%) https:\/\/t.co\/8eGMXLOCz5<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Arif Hasan, but NFL \ud83c\udfc8 (@ArifHasanNFL) November 24, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

McCarthy\u2019s poor play has tanked the Vikings\u2019 season, but we shouldn\u2019t blame him for this mess. It wasn\u2019t his decision to let Sam Darnold (and Daniel Jones) walk in free agency. It wasn\u2019t his choice to enter the season with Carson Wentz as the only veteran option on the QB depth chart. It wasn\u2019t his decision to go all in during the offseason and spend more money in free agency than all but one team, only to hand the keys to the roster to an unproven, young passer with severe mechanical flaws who was coming off a knee injury. That falls on Minnesota\u2019s brain trust, which includes both head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If one of those two has to take the fall for botching the quarterback decision, it will likely be the latter. O\u2019Connell, last year\u2019s NFL Coach of the Year, has already earned his reputation as a QB whisperer over the past few seasons. One bad season by McCarthy won\u2019t take that away from him. Adofo-Mensah hasn\u2019t earned enough goodwill to escape criticism for his role in all of this, though. As unfair as it is to judge a general manager on draft picks over a short time frame, Adofo-Mensah has been particularly bad at making picks. His draft history has been especially bad in the first round, where he burned picks on Lewis Cine, who\u2019s no longer on the roster, and McCarthy, who right now looks unplayable. Receiver Jordan Addison has been a hit, but there aren\u2019t many legit stars on Adofo-Mensah\u2019s four-year draft record. And while the 44-year-old general manager has made smart mid-level signings in free agency while hoarding draft capital, he\u2019s missed on some of his bigger gambits\u2014headlined by the McCarthy pick and Darnold decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No matter how you split the blame among McCarthy, O\u2019Connell, and Adofo-Mensah, all of their reputations have taken a hit over the last two and a half months. Barring a miracle turnaround for the 22-year-old quarterback, this could cost the QB and GM their jobs and turn up the heat on one of the league\u2019s most coveted young coaches. I would say this season from hell couldn\u2019t possibly get worse, but I\u2019ve seen enough Vikings football to know that\u2019s not true.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Winner: Ben Johnson<\/p>\n

The Bears survived another close game\u2014this time against a Steelers team that was without Aaron Rodgers, which might raise even more questions about the Bears\u2019 legitimacy. Chicago leads the NFC North at 8-3 but also has a negative point differential (\u20133) on the season and a probably unsustainable record in one-score games. The Bears are almost certainly fraudulent. That doesn\u2019t mean the head coach behind Chicago\u2019s turnaround is. No matter how badly regression eventually hits this team, I\u2019m all in on Ben Johnson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even if the numbers say the Bears are fake, their improvements on offense are very real. After the 31-28 win over Pittsburgh, Chicago ranks 11th in points per drive (up from 28th in 2024), eighth in yards per play (up from 32nd), and 11th in total EPA (up from 26th). Most impressively, Johnson has orchestrated a top-10 run game with the league\u2019s second-highest explosive play rate, and he\u2019s done it without the top offensive line he worked with in Detroit. (On the flip side, the Lions\u2019 run game hasn\u2019t been nearly as efficient and has had trouble generating explosive plays when Jahmyr Gibbs isn\u2019t vaporizing opposing defenders.) This could be a one-year blip, but through the first 12 weeks, the Ben Johnson effect has been felt in both Chicago and Detroit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite Johnson\u2019s success, the inconsistent performance of Caleb Williams remains a point of consternation in Chicago, and Sunday\u2019s game won\u2019t change that. We saw plenty of good from the second-year quarterback. He is throwing with more confidence and with better timing each and every week but is still prone to inaccuracy and the odd lapse in judgment. The sack-fumble he took in his own end zone, which gave the Steelers a free touchdown, looked straight out of his rookie year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, Williams has made enough progress in his first season under Johnson for fans to feel good about this partnership\u2014and to feel good about the general direction the 24-year-old is heading in after last year\u2019s debacle. Getting off to an 8-3 start is cool and all, but generating positive vibes around a young Bears quarterback is Johnson\u2019s biggest win of his coaching career thus far.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

Steven Ruiz<\/p>\n

<\/a>Steven Ruiz has been an NFL analyst and QB ranker at The Ringer since 2021. He\u2019s a D.C. native who roots for all the local teams except for the Commanders. As a child, he knew enough ball to not pick the team owned by Dan Snyder\u2014but not enough to avoid choosing the Panthers.