Tom ChildsMon, December 1, 2025 at 11:30 AM UTC·8 min readThe latest
2025 NFL playoffs: Reason for hope for seven bubble teams entering Week 14 | NFL.com
REASON FOR HOPE: Patrick Lavon Mahomes II.
That’s really the simplest way to explain any optimism around Kansas City these days. The Chiefs fell to 6-6 after their Thanksgiving Day loss to Dallas, and that type of defeat would be enough to clear most bandwagons around the league. After all, Kansas City is now 1-5 on the road this season and 1-6 in one-score games. But Mahomes has made a name off doing miraculous things, and it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that he wills his team to the postseason after all their struggles. The reality is the Chiefs have no other choice at this stage. Their defense has been inconsistent throughout the season, as it tends to disappear in critical moments and fails to generate consistent pressure on quarterbacks. Mahomes also doesn’t have a reliable running game and his offensive line is now beat up (left tackle Josh Simmons left the loss with a broken wrist, right tackle Jawaan Taylor didn’t finish the game because of an elbow injury and Pro Bowl guard Trey Smith didn’t even play because of an ankle injury). But guess what happened on Sunday? Mahomes did enough to pull his team within three points late in the fourth quarter — including a crazy play when he avoided a sack, stumbled and still threw a 42-yard strike to Xavier Worthy while falling to the ground — and he finished with four touchdown passes and no interceptions in that 31-28 defeat. There’s no question he’s capable of going on a heater over the last five games, all of which the Chiefs need to win just to have a chance of reaching the playoffs. The question is whether he can do that against three of the best defenses in the league (the Texans next weekend, the Chargers after that and the Broncos on Christmas Day). Most folks would laugh at the idea of an average quarterback being asked to lead his team to victory against all those contenders in a playoff push. The people who’ve seen Mahomes play in the past are probably thinking differently. He gives them a shot. He always does.
AFC playoff picture shifts in Chiefs’ favor after key Justin Herbert injury update | Arrowhead Addict
The Chiefs find themselves multiple games behind the AFC West-leading Denver Broncos and the Wild Card-occupying Los Angeles Chargers. However, the Chiefs might be better positioned to get back on the horse and actually make a run at the playoffs after the latets news surrounding Justin Herbert.
Herbert suffered a hand injury in an easy victory against the moribund Las Vegas Raiders that was so severe that head coach Jim Harbaugh immediately confirmed that Herbert was going to undergo an operation on that hand on Monday.
With the Chiefs at 6-6 and the injury-riddled Chargers at a very precarious 8-4 with Herbert suffering this latest ailment, there is a chance that his play is hampered for the remainder of the season. Kansas City teams of yesteryear would use this run of good fortune to get back on their feet, plug ahead, and make a sincere push to contend.
NFL playoff picture, Week 13: Bears surge to top of NFC; Colts plummet in AFC | The Athletic
Denver Broncos
The Broncos will run their winning streak to 10 games next week if they can beat the Raiders for the fourth consecutive time. While the Broncos can be knocked for taking advantage of a soft schedule, that’s the theme of the AFC this season. There isn’t a single team in the AFC playoff field with a strength of schedule above .500. Still to come on Denver’s slate, however: a four-game stretch that features three current playoff teams and the Chiefs.
Next three weeks: at Raiders, vs. Packers, vs. Jaguars
The Winners and Losers of NFL Thanksgiving Day Football | The Ringer
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLoser: The Chiefs’ postseason chances
Any celebration of Kansas City’s demise is premature. Yes, the loss in Dallas dropped their playoff probability to 44 percent, according to The Athletic’s model, but if the Chiefs can beat the Texans at home next Sunday, it jumps back up to 57 percent. A home win over the Chargers the following week would push it to 71 percent. The path to the playoffs gets a lot clearer if the defending AFC champs can win those two games. Here’s the rest of Kansas City’s schedule:
Week 14: Texans (home)Week 15: Chargers (home)Week 16: Titans (away)Week 17: Broncos (home)Week 18: Raiders (away)
That isn’t easy by any means, but all of their challenging games will be played at Arrowhead Stadium.
Around the NFL
Browns say Shedeur Sanders to get 3rd straight start in Week 14 | ESPN
Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders will get a third straight start next Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, head coach Kevin Stefanski announced after the team’s 26-8 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Sanders, the 144th pick in this year’s draft, completed 16 of 25 passes for 149 yards and one touchdown in his first home start Sunday.
“I’d have to look at it. Obviously, he’s battling, like all of our guys are battling,” Stefanski said when asked about Sanders’ performance. “I know there’s plays he wants back, but we’ll look at it and correct them.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday that the Browns were open to giving Sanders an extended look for the rest of this season, just as fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel had in the first half of this season when he made six consecutive starts.
NFL Week 13 overreactions: Matthew Stafford’s MVP bid over? Texans team to beat? | CBS Sports
Panthers are the biggest surprise team of 2025
Overreactions or reality: Reality
In a season where the Chicago Bears are the No. 1 seed in the NFC at the end of Week 13, and Daniel Jones has resurrected his career in Indianapolis, there are plenty of teams you can point to as the biggest surprise of 2025. However, none hold a candle to the Carolina Panthers. No one expected this team to do much of anything in 2025, but they are suddenly in the thick of the NFC playoff conversation entering their Week 14 bye. After beginning the year at 1-3, Carolina has ripped off a 6-3 record, which includes a stunning upset victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 13. At 7-6, the Panthers are hot on the heels of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-5) for first place in the NFC South with both head-to-head matchups still on the horizon (Week 16 in Carolina and Week 18 at Tampa). They are also just two games back in the loss column for a wild-card spot. Again, nobody had this on their 2025 bingo card, which is a credit to Dave Canales and Bryce Young.
4 Takeaways From the Bills’ Win Over the Steelers | FOX Sports
1. If Josh Allen can’t find his MVP form, the Bills won’t be serious Super Bowl contenders
There’s no way around it: This Buffalo Bills team is just not loaded with offensive talent. They do have a strong running game (more on that in a moment), but not nearly enough weapons in the passing game.
That’s probably why Allen hasn’t looked much like he did last season when he won the NFL MVP award. That’s fine. No one expected him to do that again. But it’s also pretty clear these Bills needed him to come close.
Because if he can’t do better than he did on Sunday against a struggling Steelers defense (15 of 23, 123 yards, one touchdown, one interception), and if he can’t start using his legs as a serious weapon again, this Bills team won’t be able to compete with the best teams in the AFC. And that’s a shame for them because the conference looks as wide open as it’s looked, maybe in a decade. This is a really bad year for a player like Allen to regress, because the opportunity for a championship really seems to be there.
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
6 winners and 9 losers from the Chiefs’ Week 13 loss to the Cowboys
Running back Brashard Smith: After making some plays last week, there was hope that the running back was finding his role in the offense. But against Dallas, he was in for only four offensive plays — and never touched the ball. While he did show off his speed on a kick return, the coaches need to find a logical way to use him. Yes.., running back Isiah Pacheco was back in the lineup, so there were fewer snaps to go around. But that shouldn’t mean that one of Kansas City’s fastest playmakers should be sidelined.
Head coach Andy Reid: The offense punted on both second-quarter drives and both third-quarter drives. All four of those punts were between the Kansas City 49-yard line and the Dallas 35-yard line. After sacks and penalties pushed them to longer yardage, Reid shouldn’t necessarily have tried to convert every one of these fourth downs, but at least one might have been feasible. In these situations, the Chiefs aren’t putting playmakers in position to do what they do best (for example: wide receiver Xavier Worthy’s stop-motion carry for a loss). The penalties were maddening — 10 for 119 yards — and that’s on the coaches, too. On game day, the head coach’s job includes adjustments, creativity, good decisions and the right personnel in the right places. On Thursday, Reid’s performance just wasn’t good enough.
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