A handful of teams might have shaken off the pretender label based on what occurred Sunday.
It’s been hard to know what to make of the Buffalo Bills because of their past postseason failures, mainly against the Kansas City Chiefs. But the Bills gained respect and plenty of confidence after handing the Chiefs their first loss of the season during the biggest game of Week 11.
The Pittsburgh Steelers also have to be taken seriously as Super Bowl contenders because of how their defense shut down the Baltimore Ravens’ explosive offense. Pittsburgh recorded its eighth victory in its past nine meetings against Baltimore.
Some might have labeled the matchup between the Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons as the “Pretender Bowl.” Perhaps the Broncos didn’t gain too much respect for beating the inconsistent Falcons, but rookie quarterback Bo Nix continues to turn his doubters into believers. He’s now a strong contender for Offensive Rookie of the Year.
The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears have one of the most heated rivalries in the NFL, but the outcome hasn’t changed in a long time. The Packers extended their winning streak over the Bears to 11 games. But the Bears might be embracing the moral victory on Sunday after all the chaos that has hit the organization in the past month.
Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams had a stellar performance in the losing effort, and Anthony Richardson was even better during the Indianapolis Colts’ victory against the New York Jets.
Here’s what we learned about the Bills, Broncos, Steelers, Bears and Colts.
Bills show this could finally be their year after beating Chiefs
CBS play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz tried his best to convince us that Josh Allen’s 26-yard rushing touchdown on fourth-and-2 late in the game against the Chiefs was the play of the year. He even went as far as diminishing Jayden Daniels’s walk-off Hail Mary to make his point.
Pump the brakes a bit, Nantz. But Allen’s dominant run left a lasting impact because the Bills (9–2) are now half a game behind the Chiefs (9–1) for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. More importantly, the 30–21 victory gave Buffalo confidence that it can beat Kansas City in a potential postseason rematch.
The Bills may not care much about Allen’s run in the big picture, however. The star quarterback was quick to remind the football public in his postgame TV interview that they will probably have to face the Chiefs again when it truly matters. The Bills had homefield advantage against the Chiefs last postseason and they still couldn’t beat the back-to-back defending champions.
Perhaps it wasn’t the play of the year, but it doesn’t hurt to have a confidence booster to lean on in case they run into the Chiefs again. And it was impressive how the Bills’ offense dropped 30 points on the Chiefs’ stout defense without Keon Coleman and Dalton Kincaid. Kansas City entered Buffalo with a 30-game streak of not allowing an opponent to reach 30 points.
For the Chiefs, it’s hard to overreact to this one loss because they tend to save their best performances for the postseason. Last season, the offense had a lengthy list of issues only to be forgotten in the playoffs.
But there should be some concern about Patrick Mahomes’s passing offense. Mahomes continues to have chemistry issues with rookie Xavier Worthy (four catches, 61 yards, one touchdown) and struggled to get DeAndre Hopkins (three catches, 29 yards) involved in the game. Mahomes finished 23-of-33 for 196 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Allen went 27-of-40 for 262 yards, one touchdown and one interception, and rushed for 55 yards and his impressive score. These two teams are likely headed for a postseason rematch come January.
Nix gives Broncos more reasons to believe he’s their guy
Nix dismantled the Falcons to the point where coach Raheem Morris wanted to find out what Atlanta had with its own rookie quarterback.
It appears Broncos coach Sean Payton was right about Nix, the No. 12 pick in April’s draft. Nix gave the Broncos more reasons to believe they finally found their franchise quarterback, possibly ending the search that started after Peyton Manning retired in 2016 following the Super Bowl 50 victory.
Nix picked apart the Falcons in the 38–6 rout, keeping the Broncos (6–5) in the playoff picture as the current owners of the seventh seed. Nix finished 28-of-33 for 307 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 145.0. He now has 14 touchdown passes compared to two interceptions in his past eight games.
Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins was pulled with nine minutes left in regulation, giving rookie Michael Penix Jr. an opportunity to showcase himself in a regular season game. Penix was drafted eighth overall in this year’s draft, four spots before the Broncos nabbed Nix.
Many draft experts viewed Nix as the sixth-best quarterback prospect—he was drafted after Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Penix and J.J. McCarthy, who missed his rookie season due to a torn ACL. Initially, it seemed Daniels was going to run away with the Offensive Rookie of the Year award, but the Commanders’ QB has regressed since sustaining a ribs injury a few weeks ago. It says plenty that Nix has played better than Williams and Maye this season and is now starting to reach Daniels territory.
Nix is on pace to help the Broncos end their eight-year playoff drought. Denver plays at Las Vegas and hosts Cleveland in the next two weeks.
As for the Falcons (6–5), they might be the biggest pretenders in the NFC. They have the luxury of playing in the subpar NFC South, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4–6) and even the New Orleans Saints (4–7) have decent odds of stealing the division.
Steelers’ defense makes statement, shuts down Ravens’ hot offense
The highly anticipated Steelers-Ravens matchup was billed as a physical, throwback battle between bitter AFC North rivals. But the 2024 Ravens aren’t built for low-scoring affairs and played into the hands of the Steelers when the game turned into the old battles John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin had in the 2010s.
Tomlin’s rugged Steelers defense contained Lamar Jackson and his high-scoring offense and stopped a pivotal two-point conversion to eventually seal the 18–16 victory. Baltimore had season lows in total yards (329) and points scored (16), and it was held to 20 points or less for the first time since the season-opening loss against Kansas City.
Tomlin continues to reap the rewards from last month’s quarterback change after Russell Wilson improved to 4–0 as Pittsburgh’s starter. But it wasn’t a good sign that Wilson & Co. couldn’t do more against one of the worst secondaries in the NFL. They were bailed out by the defense and six field goals from kicker Chris Boswell. And the game probably wouldn’t have come down to the final possession if Wilson didn’t throw an awful interception in the end zone midway through the fourth quarter.
But Tomlin deserves credit for utilizing Justin Fields in the final minutes to ensure the Steelers’ defensive effort wasn’t wasted. Fields’s athleticism helped kill the clock and burned Baltimore’s timeouts to close the two-point victory.
Tomlin needs more attention as a Coach of the Year candidate because his bold decisions this season have the Steelers (8–2) atop the AFC North and in contention for the No. 1 seed.
As for the Ravens (7–4), they might have gotten exposed as a one-sided team. They now have losses to the Chiefs and Steelers, possibly the two most complete teams in the AFC playoff picture. And it’s also hard to trust Jackson, Derrick Henry and the rest of the Ravens because of the ugly losses to the struggling Cleveland Browns and Las Vegas Raiders earlier this season.
The Ravens are going to need better defensive performances come January, but perhaps Sunday was the start of Zach Orr’s unit turning the corner. Pittsburgh only produced 303 total yards and Wilson averaged 5.7 yards per attempt. Then again, the Ravens made the mistake of playing a brand of football that the Steelers have embraced for many decades.
Bears need to focus on positives after loss vs. Packers
Many people scoff at the concept of moral victories, but the Bears need to look on the bright side to get rid of the dark cloud that has hovered over the organization the past month.
Chicago certainly didn’t put forth an embarrassing effort as it did the past two weeks in losses against the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals. And losing on a blocked field goal as time expired against the Packers (7–3) doesn’t sting quite as hard as falling on a walk-off Hail Mary touchdown that could have easily been prevented in Washington.
Moral victories don’t count for anything, especially against a divisional opponent. But the Bears (4–6) need to accept that they’re a rebuilding team despite a star-studded roster. Chicago fans will forget about this close loss if Williams continues to do what he did in the final minutes of the game.
Williams had two critical completions to fellow rookie Rome Odunze, starting with a 16-yarder to make it fourth-and-3, followed by a 21-yard grab to get a new set of downs after facing third-and-21. Later, Williams had a 12-yard completion to Keenan Allen to get them into Packers territory and eventually set up Cairo Santos’s blocked 46-yard field-goal attempt.
Williams often took the smart plays, either by getting the ball out quickly or gaining yards with his legs—he had 70 yards on nine carries. Williams finished 22-of-31 for 231 yards, no touchdowns and no turnovers. Credit to interim offensive coordinator Thomas Brown for getting Williams to play composed and calling plays that didn’t require him to sit in the pocket with a porous offensive line facing a stout defense.
The Bears’ defense allowed the Packers’ go-ahead touchdown in the final three minutes, but Jordan Love (13-of-17 for 261 yards, one touchdown and one interception) and his offense were kept in check for most of the game.
Matt Eberflus’s defense returned to playing the way it did before the ugly three-game losing streak. And, yes, sitting on the football and not gaining more yards before the blocked field goal turned out to be a bad move for the conservative coach. But the Bears should focus on the many positives, some that could help the team in the future, with or without Eberflus.
The moral victory might not be enough for Eberflus to avoid awkward morning interviews with annoyed Chicago radio hosts, but the Bears’ performance on Sunday will likely buy him more time as the head coach.
Richardson flashes high potential in comeback win vs. Jets
Joe Flacco’s back-to-back poor starts might have saved the future of the Indianapolis Colts.
Anthony Richardson showed his substantial potential and put his benching behind him with a dynamic performance to guide the Colts to a 28–27 come-from-behind victory vs. the New York Jets.
Richardson, the No. 4 pick in the 2023 draft, was a handful for the Jets’ defense because of his athleticism and strong arm. He again struggled with accuracy, but his overthrows didn’t lead to killer mistakes. Richardson threw a clutch 39-yard completion to Alec Pierce before ending the game-winning drive with a four-yard rushing touchdown with 46 seconds left in regulation. Richardson finished 20-of-30 for 272 yards and one touchdown, and rushed for 32 yards and two touchdowns.
The second-year signal-caller had a performance that resembled what Cam Newton did for the Carolina Panthers for a decade. And maybe one day he can be as good of a passer as Josh Allen, who took his lumps before putting it all together in his third season.
Richardson might never be as good as those star quarterbacks, but the Colts need to commit to finding out. Sure, coach Shane Steichen was justified in benching the erratic Richardson, who did himself no favors with the controversial helmet tap earlier this season. But maybe the brief stint on the sideline will benefit Richardson in the long run to possibly give the Colts a bright future, something they weren’t going to get with Flacco. Richardson’s bounce-back performance helped the Colts (5–6) keep it close in the AFC South with the Houston Texans (6–4), who have a Monday night road matchup vs. the Dallas Cowboys.
Also, the Colts deserve a thank you basket for ridding the football public of Aaron Rodgers and Jets chatter. They will now be forgotten as playoff contenders as the conversation turns to whether Rodgers will retire or return for a third season in New York. The Jets (3–8) were held under 300 total yards for the third consecutive game and seventh time overall this season.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as What We Learned in NFL Week 11: Bo Nix Enters OROY Race; Bills Prove Chiefs’ Mortality.