In all likelihood, this season\u2019s AFC playoff field is going to look nothing like it has in years. No Kansas City Chiefs. No Cincinnati Bengals. And quite possibly, no Baltimore Ravens.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs\u2019 run of nine straight AFC West titles? Finished. Their streak of seven straight conference championship games? All but over. That\u2019s Kansas City\u2019s new reality following Sunday night\u2019s 20-10 loss to the Houston Texans. The Chiefs, winners of three straight AFC titles, will almost assuredly be watching the postseason from home for the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era. Meanwhile, driven by the league\u2019s nastiest defense<\/a>, the Texans (8-5) are winners of five straight and currently in the AFC playoff field for the first time all year.<\/p>\n The Chiefs are not alone among expected AFC contenders. The Bengals are finished after allowing a 10-point second-half lead slip away<\/a> in the Buffalo snow. The game turned on back-to-back Joe Burrow interceptions in the fourth quarter, and Josh Allen accounted for two of his four touchdowns in the final 7:41<\/a> to push the Bills to a 39-34 comeback win. Buffalo is now 9-4, Cincinnati 4-9.<\/p>\n And after clawing their way back to the front of the AFC North race, the Ravens have dropped two straight division games and fallen out of the current playoff seedings.<\/p>\n The door has opened, it seems, and the conference\u2019s new blood \u2014 the New England Patriots, Denver Broncos and Jacksonville Jaguars \u2014 look primed to make January interesting.<\/p>\n One team that appeared ready to join that group throughout the first half of the season might have seen its playoff window close in the cruelest of ways Sunday. In Jacksonville, the Indianapolis Colts lost more than a divisional showdown<\/a>. They also lost their starting quarterback, Daniel Jones, to what they fear is a torn Achilles. The 36-19 defeat was Indy\u2019s fourth in five games, and the Colts are now in third place in the AFC South with a brutal schedule the rest of the way and an undrafted rookie, Riley Leonard, as their quarterback.<\/p>\n The Jaguars, meanwhile, have won four straight and are sitting alone atop the AFC South at 9-4. With so much of the Coach of the Year chatter focused on Mike Vrabel and Ben Johnson \u2014 deservedly so \u2014 the job Liam Coen has done in Jacksonville has been easy to overlook. It\u2019s time to pay attention<\/a>. He\u2019s remade that franchise in a matter of months.<\/p>\n While Vrabel\u2019s 11-2 Patriots were on a bye, the Broncos slid past them as the AFC\u2019s top seed. Denver has won 10 straight after beating the Las Vegas Raiders 24-17 and owns a common opponent tiebreaker over New England.<\/p>\n In the NFC, the Los Angeles Rams moved back into the top spot after routing the Arizona Cardinals 45-17, while the No. 1 seed entering Sunday, the Chicago Bears, fell all the way to the No. 7 seed after a 28-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers. It was the Bears\u2019 first loss since Halloween<\/a>. The Packers, meanwhile, have rebounded nicely from that two-game skid in early November. Matt LaFleur\u2019s team has won four straight and is back in front in the NFC North<\/a>.<\/p>\n Both the Rams and Seahawks are 10-3, but L.A. owns the tiebreaker by virtue of a head-to-head meeting in Week 11. Seattle has been lights-out ever since. Over the past two games, the Seahawks\u2019 defense has forced eight turnovers and allowed a combined nine points. This unit is downright scary and dominated again<\/a> in an easy 37-9 win over the reeling Atlanta Falcons.<\/p>\n That 2-point loss to the Rams in Week 11 \u2014 the game in which Sam Darnold tossed four interceptions, almost half his season total \u2014 is the only defeat for Seattle dating to Oct. 5. Mike Macdonald, now the first coach in franchise history to win 10 or more games each of his first two seasons, has his team playing like a Super Bowl contender.<\/p>\n In rainy Tampa, the NFC South race tightened up<\/a>. The New Orleans Saints stunned the Buccaneers 24-20, a result that had to have the Carolina Panthers smiling during their bye week. The Bucs and Panthers are both 7-6 with four games left and will meet in Weeks 16 and 18, likely with the division title on the line.<\/p>\n A week ago, Steelers fans were chanting \u201cFire Tomlin\u201d during Pittsburgh\u2019s listless loss to the Bills. On Sunday, Mike Tomlin\u2019s team \u2014 and his 42-year-old quarterback \u2014 responded with their best offensive game of the year<\/a>: Aaron Rodgers\u2019 284 passing yards were a season best, and the Steelers handed the Ravens a 27-22 loss. After all the noise in Pittsburgh all week, plenty of it centered on Tomlin\u2019s status as his team again stumbled late in the season, what did Sunday\u2019s result mean?<\/p>\n \u201cIt means maybe you guys will shut the hell up for a week,\u201d Rodgers told reporters. The victory moves the Steelers to 7-6 and back atop the division with four to play. They\u2019ll see the Ravens (6-7) again in Week 18.<\/p>\n In Cleveland, the Tennessee Titans won for just the second time all season, beating the Browns 31-29. Shedeur Sanders threw for three touchdowns and ran for another<\/a> in the loss but wasn\u2019t on the field for the Browns\u2019 2-point attempt that could have tied it late. More significant was the impact of Tennessee\u2019s second win on the top of the draft board. Thanks to a strength-of-schedule tiebreaker, it\u2019s now the New York Giants who own the No. 1 pick. If that holds, it would be the franchise\u2019s first No. 1 selection since 1965.<\/p>\n Current NFL Draft Order<\/p>\n Pick<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Team<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Record<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n SOS<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 1<\/p>\n 2-11<\/p>\n .537<\/p>\n 2<\/p>\n 2-11<\/p>\n .551<\/p>\n 3<\/p>\n 2-11<\/p>\n .571<\/p>\n 4<\/p>\n 3-10<\/p>\n .486<\/p>\n 5<\/p>\n 3-10<\/p>\n .498<\/p>\n 6<\/p>\n 3-10<\/p>\n .514<\/p>\n 7<\/p>\n 3-10<\/p>\n .541<\/p>\n 8<\/p>\n 3-10<\/p>\n .568<\/p>\n 9<\/p>\n 10-3<\/p>\n .523<\/p>\n 10<\/p>\n 4-9<\/p>\n .523<\/p>\n In Minnesota, J.J. McCarthy put together the best game of his young career<\/a> in a 31-0 blanking of the Washington Commanders. McCarthy threw for three touchdowns in the Vikings\u2019 first win in over a month. The Commanders, meanwhile, got quarterback Jayden Daniels back, but he was a rusty 9-for-20 for 78 yards and an interception before leaving with an elbow injury (coach Dan Quinn said Daniels could have returned). A year after a stirring run to the NFC Championship Game, the Commanders are 3-10. Minnesota is 5-8.<\/p>\n In East Rutherford, N.J., the Miami Dolphins won their fourth straight by running all over the Jets, 34-10. \u201cIt\u2019s BS,\u201d Jets coach Aaron Glenn said of Miami\u2019s 239 rushing yards. \u201cWay too many.\u201d While the Dolphins have rallied admirably under embattled coach Mike McDaniel in the second half of the season, winning five of their last six after a 1-6 start, Glenn\u2019s Jets have clinched another January at home. The franchise\u2019s 15-year playoff drought is the longest in North American major sports.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what stood out from Week 14 across the NFL:<\/p>\n End of an era in Kansas City?<\/p>\n Travis Kelce, the 36-year-old future Hall of Famer, stumbled off the field in a daze, saying nothing. Two plays. Two drops. The drive that could\u2019ve saved the Chiefs\u2019 season ended with an interception because Kelce couldn\u2019t hold onto the ball.<\/p>\n That\u2019s how it ended Sunday night at Arrowhead. This was a slugfest, an ugly defensive battle, a 10-0 Texans\u2019 lead at halftime that was knotted up by the start of the fourth quarter. Then came a pair of pivotal calls from Andy Reid, who elected to go for it on fourth down on his half of the field twice in the final period. Both times, his offense failed to convert.<\/p>\n Then \u2014 trailing by seven with 3:44 left and his team\u2019s playoff hopes possibly hanging in the balance \u2014 Mahomes had one final shot. The drive lasted two plays. Kelce dropped one, then another, the second of which turned into an interception for Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair. Houston tacked on a field goal to put the game out of reach.<\/p>\n Will the final days of Kelce\u2019s career unfold over the coming month? He weighed retirement after last season, and as disappointing as this one has been, it\u2019s not all that difficult to imagine him walking away.<\/p>\n Either way, the Chiefs will have to regroup for 2026 and find more answers on offense, with or without one of their longtime stalwarts. It wasn\u2019t just Kelce on Sunday. The Chiefs dropped six Mahomes passes, the most in any game he\u2019s ever played. On third and fourth downs, Kansas City finished 3-for-10.<\/p>\n The Chiefs built their dynasty by executing in key moments. All season long, they\u2019ve found ways to screw them up.<\/p>\n The Texans, meanwhile, have only allowed two opponents this season to score more than 20 points, and none since early November. With the game on the line Sunday night \u2014 in the same stadium Houston\u2019s season ended last January in the divisional round \u2014 DeMeco Ryans\u2019 unit shut the door, over and over and over. Some of it was KC\u2019s mistakes. Plenty more was the Texans\u2019 pressure on Mahomes and sticky coverage in the back end. That\u2019s what a championship defense looks like.<\/p>\n If Houston keeps this up, it could be a problem in the AFC playoffs. No one will want to see that defense.<\/p>\n LaFleur, Packers take Round 1<\/p>\n It was an odd jab, but one to file away. The day he was introduced as the Bears\u2019 new coach in January, Ben Johnson lauded praise on his former boss in Detroit, Dan Campbell, as well as Minnesota\u2019s Kevin O\u2019Connell. Then he threw this in about the NFC North\u2019s other head man: \u201cI kind of enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson was referring to his time with the Lions. His first test with his new team arrived Sunday. And by the end of this one, the Packers\u2019 faithful at Lambeau Field were chanting a familiar refrain: \u201cThe Bears still suck.\u201d The tally? LaFleur 1, Johnson 0. The handshake between the two head coaches was noticeably icy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll see them again in two weeks,\u201d LaFleur said later, downplaying any personal satisfaction after beating Johnson. \u201cIt\u2019s Packers-Bears.\u201d<\/p>\n The engine behind this one was a Packers\u2019 offense that has come to life in recent weeks. Jordan Love threw three touchdowns, including two to Christian Watson, and running back Josh Jacobs scored the go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n