The 2024 NFL season has been the campaign of comeback stories.
Russell Wilson’s stock was at an all-time low in the NFL after back-to-back subpar seasons with the Denver Broncos. But Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin took a chance on him and was repaid with a vintage Wilson performance Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. Imagine saying in the summer that Wilson would throw for more than 400 yards and outduel Joe Burrow in Week 13 to help improve the Steelers’ record to 9–3.
Second-year quarterbacks Bryce Young and Anthony Richardson are also making impressive comebacks after being benched earlier this season and taking advantage of their second opportunities.
Some snickered when reports emerged about the Las Vegas Raiders being close to hiring Kliff Kingsbury as their offensive coordinator. Now the Raiders are being criticized because they didn’t finalize the deal and let Kingsbury join the Washington Commanders. Kingsbury quickly went from failed Arizona Cardinals head coach to possibly landing another head-coaching gig in a two-year span after helping Jayden Daniels thrive in the nation’s capital.
Maybe there’s a comeback story brewing for Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker, who’s in the midst of the worst season of his illustrious career. But Tucker has some work to do to reverse the narrative of his season after he cost the Ravens another game Sunday with three missed kicks.
Here are our winners and losers from NFL Week 13.
Winners
Eagles’ and Bills’ February plans
More people need to start talking about a potential Super Bowl LIX matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills.
The Eagles (10–2) just pummeled the Ravens and exposed a few of their flaws. The Bills (10–2) beat the Kansas City Chiefs before their bye week and returned for a snow game that turned into a scrimmage against the once mighty San Francisco 49ers.
No two teams are playing better football right now than the Eagles and Bills, and that includes the Detroit Lions, who survived a Thanksgiving scare from the Chicago Bears because Caleb Williams and Matt Eberflus failed at time management so badly that Eberflus lost his job the next day.
But this is not to say the Eagles are better than the Lions. This is more about the Eagles being a legitimate threat to knock off the Lions in a potential playoff showdown. In a way, it’s better that these two teams don’t play each other in the regular season. It adds more intrigue if they were to meet, let’s say, in the NFC title game. The Eagles have the defense to contain the Lions’ offense, but Jared Goff has more weapons than Lamar Jackson, who didn’t have many answers on Sunday against Vic Fangio’s Philly defense.
As for the Bills, they might need to face their ghosts of past postseason failures by going through Kansas City. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Chiefs are just zombies walking through this regular season and saving their best performances for January, but their struggles seem worse than the ones they endured last regular season. Close wins against the Raiders and Carolina Panthers could be signs of a team not fit to play into February.
After the Lions and Chiefs have spent the last few months establishing themselves as the favorites in their respective conferences, perhaps neither will make it to Super Bowl LIX. Or maybe the Lions and Bills will give us a potential Super Bowl preview when they clash in Detroit in Week 15. But don’t overlook those surging Eagles.
Bryce Young and Anthony Richardson
Young and Richardson went from being top-four picks in the 2023 draft to being benched in their second NFL seasons.
Now both signal callers are thriving in their second opportunities with teams that once grew impatient with them. The Panthers were forced to turn back to Young after an injury to veteran backup Andy Dalton. Young struggled in his first game back in the Week 8 loss against the Denver Broncos, but he showed enough to convince coach Dave Canales to stick with him for the rest of the season.
Young, the 2023 No. 1 pick, flashed minimal improvements the following two weeks, but it said plenty that he helped the Panthers close back-to-back wins against the New Orleans Saints and New York Giants. The former Heisman Trophy winner then took off after the bye week. He has made dazzling throws and played confidently in close losses to the Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The adjustments Canales and Young made in the bye week have shown in the past two games, especially on the offensive line and in the running game. It’s no coincidence that Young has thrived with both those areas playing well. The Panthers’ poor surroundings shattered Young’s confidence and there were rumors about the team possibly trading him. Now the Panthers are remembering why they dealt a handful of draft picks (and receiver DJ Moore) to move up and select Young in last year’s draft.
Richardson got his second chance with the Indianapolis Colts because veteran Joe Flacco didn’t provide the magic he had for the Cleveland Browns last season. But Richardson may have benefited from standing on the sideline for a few weeks after doing too much on the field and not learning from his mistakes. Now it seems that the game has slowed for Richardson, which has allowed coach Shane Steichen to call plays that accentuate his strengths.
Richardson might never be a consistent passer, but opposing defenses struggle with his size and athleticism. The New England Patriots knew the 6'4," 244-pound Richardson was going to keep the ball on the game-winning two-point conversion and they still couldn’t stop him. The Colts managed to pull off a comeback win in New England on Sunday because Steichen didn’t try to change Richardson.
Russell Wilson’s search for a second Super Bowl ring
Wilson deserves plenty of credit after bailing out the Steelers in a win against the Bengals during a rare off day for Pittsburgh’s defense.
I’ll call myself out here because I’ve been hesitant to praise Wilson. I’ve highlighted Tomlin and the Steelers’ stout defense in this “winners and losers” column in previous weeks. But Wilson gets the full spotlight here, because after weeks of benefiting from a strong supporting cast, he stepped up by outdueling Burrow while resembling the quarterback who guided the Seattle Seahawks to back-to-back Super Bowl appearances a decade ago.
It was a vintage Wilson performance (414 passing yards, three touchdowns, one interception), one his new teammates in Pittsburgh appreciated. The vibes are so good in Pittsburgh that running back Najee Harris is calling Wilson “Mr. Unlimited” again. There’s nothing corny about Wilson’s comeback story this season.
Yes, Wilson needed Tomlin to believe in him after two brutal seasons with the Broncos. Yes, it helps throwing to George Pickens and leaning on a strong defense to mask a few mistakes. But Wilson saved the day in Cincinnati and now has many thinking about a lengthy postseason in Pittsburgh, something that hasn’t happened in a long time for the proud franchise.
Kliff Kingsbury’s head coaching future
Kingsbury has been one of the biggest winners of the 2024 season.
First, he has the Raiders to thank because they weren’t willing to meet his contract demands when the two sides were close on an agreement for Kingsbury to become the offensive coordinator. That opened the door for Commanders coach Dan Quinn to swoop in and hire Kingsbury to call plays for rookie sensation Jayden Daniels.
Kingsbury probably wouldn’t be connected to head-coaching vacancies had he stayed with the Raiders. But Kingsbury is creating some buzz again after he drew blame for the Commanders’ three-game losing streak.
Kingsbury was forced to answer questions about why his offenses with the Cardinals failed to make adjustments in the back half of seasons. Kingsbury and the Commanders responded by generating 463 total yards and cruising to a 42–19 victory against the Tennessee Titans before a much-needed bye week.
If Daniels’s rib injury improves and the Commanders (8–5) advance to the postseason, Kingsbury will be in the mix to be a head coach again next season.
Chargers’ 2024 draft class
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh and GM Joe Hortiz seem to have nailed their first draft class in Los Angeles. They had a handful of rookies step up in a 17–13 victory against the Atlanta Falcons.
Second-round rookie receiver Ladd McConkey has emerged as Justin Herbert’s favorite target, evident by McConkey’s nine catches for 117 yards in Atlanta. And, yes, Malik Nabers could have been catching passes from Herbert, but Joe Alt, the No. 5 pick in April’s draft, will likely be a cornerstone piece for the Chargers (8–4) for a long time with the impact he has made at right tackle.
And the 2024 draft class doesn’t end with Alt and McConkey. Rookie cornerback Tarheeb Still, a fifth-round pick, had a game-changing pick-six against Kirk Cousins in the third quarter that was returned for 61 yards. Still and fellow rookie cornerback Cam Hart, another fifth-round pick, have made many key plays throughout the season.
Hart, who has been sidelined the past few weeks due to injury, has given opposing quarterbacks plenty of fits with his athleticism and 6'2," 207-pound frame. The Chargers’ 2024 draft class could make another strong statement by helping Los Angeles upset the Chiefs on this week’s edition of Sunday Night Football.
Losers
Caleb Williams and Matt Eberflus
Eberflus was given many opportunities to show he’s capable of leading a team in the final minutes of close games. He rarely did that and seemed to have gotten worse in that area.
The Bears (4–8) lost games to the Commanders and Green Bay Packers because of a walk-off Hail Mary and a blocked field goal, respectively. Those brutal losses paled in comparison to the epic, final-minute meltdown against the Lions on Thanksgiving. Eberflus didn’t protect his rookie quarterback by failing to use his final timeout as the clock ticked off the last 30 seconds while Williams struggled to get Chicago’s final, fruitless play off.
Eberflus had to go after keeping his last timeout in the back pocket, but we all saw how much Williams has to learn before he can truly be called a franchise quarterback. Yes, he’s a rookie, but it’s tough to imagine Daniels or Bo Nix taking a killer sack and wasting that much time with the game on the line.
Maybe the next coaching staff will protect Williams and help him learn from his mistakes. But let’s not forget the flashes and toughness he has displayed throughout this six-game losing streak. He’ll have better days.
Kyler Murray and Jonathan Gannon
The Cardinals (6–6) have hit a wall the past two weeks and it might be because of their conservative approach on the offensive side.
There’s not much creativity to the offense, which is somewhat difficult to do with Kyler Murray as the starting quarterback. He’s become an efficient game manager in offensive coordinator Drew Petzing’s scheme, which has coddled the 2019 No. 1 pick at times this season. Murray is too talented and making too much money to be making safe throws on money downs to avoid falling out of field-goal range, which happened one too many times in the 23–22 loss against the Minnesota Vikings.
On the other hand, maybe Petzing is protecting Murray because his backyard football style didn’t get the Cardinals far before he and coach Jonathan Gannon arrived last year. Murray threw a brutal interception when the team just needed a field goal to win the game in Minnesota.
Murray and Petzing desperately need adjustments to the offense if they want to surpass the Seattle Seahawks (7–5) for the NFC West title. Short throws to tight end Trey McBride won’t get it done. They need to find a way to generate more explosive plays, starting by feeding rookie receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. Harrison looked so relieved when he caught his touchdown on Sunday as if he was saying, “finally, this offense remembered I exist.”
Also, Gannon needed to step in and tell Petzing to go for it on fourth-and-goal from Minnesota’s 4-yard line in the final minutes of regulation. It was clear that they were content with settling for a field goal and making it a six-point game. The safe approach backfired and now the Cardinals have a two-game losing streak that’s put them out of playoff position.
Falcons’ QB plans
It’s no surprise that Falcons coach Raheem Morris remains committed to Cousins after his brutal four-interception game during the loss against the Chargers. But the questions from reporters about Cousins possibly being benched are fair, because that was far from Cousins’s first bad game for Atlanta.
Cousins has been poor for most of the last month and hasn’t established much consistency during his first season in Atlanta. But the Falcons’ long-term QB plans could be tested this week if Cousins crumbles against the Vikings, a team that knows him well and has one of the most aggressive defenses in the league.
There’s an argument to be made that Cousins no longer has the mobility to escape pressure, which is dangerous when he shifts to a gunslinger mentality. The Falcons were banking on Cousins, who has 13 interceptions this season, giving them two solid seasons before handing the keys to Michael Penix Jr., this year’s No. 8 pick in the draft.
But the Falcons (6–6) might not even get one strong year from Cousins and it could cost them a playoff spot now that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6–6) have eliminated their margin for error in the NFC South standings. Cousins needs a strong performance against his former team or Morris might begin to ponder whether playing Penix gives Atlanta the best chance to win.
The Falcons end the regular season against the Raiders, Giants, Commanders and Panthers. With four subpar defenses on tap after this weekend, that could be a good time to start Penix and save Atlanta’s season.
Bengals’ porous defense
Maybe some good will come of Burrow needing to play at an elite level just to give his team a chance to win on a weekly basis.
It has gotten to the point where Burrow might be questioning whether he can help the Bengals win even though he might be the NFL’s best quarterback this season. Losing four games in which the offense scored 30 points will do that to a quarterback.
After a year when the Bengals (4–8) have seen their defense ruin their playoff chances, maybe Burrow will look back at this season as one that challenged him to raise his ceiling to compensate for his team’s weaknesses. But Cincinnati realistically can’t compete for a Super Bowl until its defense improves.
For Burrow’s sake, maybe the unit will build some momentum for 2025 during this season’s final five games.
Justin Tucker’s job security
It’s tough to accept that we have gotten to this point, but Ravens coach John Harbaugh needs to host kicker tryouts as soon as possible. Tucker, arguably the greatest kicker of all time, isn’t right this season and it could cost the Ravens in the postseason.
As SI’s Conor Orr pointed out, Harbaugh needs to create options, starting by accepting the reality that Tucker is no longer in his prime. Harbaugh tried his best to ignore this uncomfortable situation because the Ravens’ explosive offense often ends drives with touchdowns.
But Tucker is needed when Baltimore (8–5) faces the best teams in the league. That’s why the Ravens fell to the Steelers and Eagles in the past three weeks. The 35-year-old Tucker missed four field goals and an extra point in the two losses, dropping his season field goal success rate to 70.4% (19-of-27), the worst mark of any kicker with more than 15 attempts.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Week 13 Winners and Losers: Russell Wilson Leads Long List of Comeback Stories.