Five years ago, entering Week 14, the Eagles sat atop the NFC standings and their young quarterback sat atop the MVP race. Sound familiar? Surely you know what happened next. Carson Wentz tore his ACL against the Rams, and his team went on to win the Super Bowl without him. Wentz’s career has gone downhill since then for a variety of reasons, but countless articles and TV broadcasts have since included the unfortunate sidebar, “Wentz, who probably would have been the MVP in 2017 if he hadn’t gotten hurt …”
There is a lot at stake across the league over the final four weeks of the season—from player awards and records to coaches’ job security and playoff seeding. And it can all have a lasting impact. Exactly one year ago, Wentz’s Colts were in control of a playoff spot and the scuffling Bengals were on the outside looking in. The former choked in Weeks 17 and 18; the latter stormed all the way to the Super Bowl. Think about how much each franchise has transformed since then.
With that in mind, here are the players, coaches and teams with the most to gain in the next four weeks. One important ground rule: Let’s stick specifically to the rest of the regular season. Obviously there will be 14 teams with plenty at stake when we get to the postseason (you know, the Super Bowl and all that). We can worry about weighty questions of postseason legacies when we get there.
