On Christmas, the NFL playoff picture continued to take shape.
In the afternoon game, the Lions’ postseason hopes were dashed after handing the Vikings six turnovers in the 23–10 upset loss. Detroit’s up-and-down defense did its best to keep Jared Goff & Co. in the game, but the rare strong effort collapsed after wide receiver Jordan Addison delivered a 65-yard touchdown run to make it a 10-point deficit with 3:43 left in regulation.
On Christmas night, the Broncos traveled to Arrowhead Stadium, and defeated the eliminated Chiefs. Kansas City had unheralded quarterback Chris Oladokun making his starting debut, but Denver won, 20–13, on a touchdown pass to RJ Harvey in the final two minutes. With the victory, Denver is a win away from clinching home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
The weekend slate started with a critical AFC matchup on Saturday, as the Chargers hosted the Texans. Houston raced out to a 14–0 first-quarter lead before holding on 20–16 to earn a playoff berth, while giving the Broncos the AFC West title. The result also eliminated the Colts from playoff contention.
In the nightcap, the Packers played host to the Ravens, but Derrick Henry turned Lambeau Field into his house. Henry rushed for 216 yards and four touchdowns in a 41–24 Ravens win, which means the Bears are NFC North champions and the Ravens are still alive, needing the Steelers to lose on Sunday in Cleveland to force a winner-take-all game in Week 18.
Finally, we might get a Super Bowl preview on Sunday, when the Bills will host the Eagles. We’ll also get an intriguing Sunday Night Football showdown between the 49ers and the visiting Bears.
Let’s assess all the action, starting with Saturday’s key game in Los Angeles.
Good: Texans’ defense is good enough to win by itself
On the first two drives of Houston’s 20–16 win over the Chargers, the offense racked up 176 yards. After that? The Texans had two interceptions, two field goals, five punts and 186 total yards.
No matter. Houston won anyway on the back of the league’s top-ranked defense, which did everything it needed to throughout the contest. Playing against a Chargers offensive line without stud tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, the Texans feasted with five sacks and eight quarterback hits. They also intercepted Justin Herbert at the goal line in the second quarter, with Herbert’s pass bouncing off rookie tight end Oronde Gadsden II’s hands and into the waiting arms of linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair.
All told, Houston hurried and harassed Herbert throughout while holding star slot receiver Ladd McConkey to one catch and rookie first-round running back Omarion Hampton to 29 rushing yards on 14 carries.
It’s the kind of performance that’s becoming routine for Houston, which hasn’t allowed more than 20 points in any of its past seven games. The offense may not be much, but the defense is good enough to beat anybody in the wide-open AFC playoffs.
Bad: The Chargers never fail to beat themselves in huge spots
While the Texans’ defense deserves plenty of praise, the Chargers should also be physically ill. Then again, they should also be used to this feeling.
For years, Los Angeles has felt like a contender only to come up short in big moments. In 2021, the Chargers lost a win-and-in Week 18 game to the Raiders, falling in overtime despite Herbert throwing for 383 yards. The following year, Los Angeles reached the playoffs, took a 27–0 lead over the Jaguars in the second quarter and promptly fell apart, losing 31–30 in the wild-card round.
Last year, with new coach Jim Harbaugh, the Chargers once again qualified for the playoffs. And once again, they suffered a disaster in the wild-card round, losing 32–12. Herbert, who had thrown only three interceptions all year, tossed four in the loss.
Then, on Saturday, the Chargers knew the stakes. If they had won, they’d have set up an AFC West title game in Denver next weekend. They could win the division and perhaps have multiple home playoff games. Instead, they played sloppy football with Pro Bowl kicker Cameron Dicker missing an extra point and a 32-yard field goal, while Gadsden had his aforementioned drop-turned-interception.
The Chargers are a talented team. They’re also masters at beating themselves.
Ugly: Everything about Green Bay’s defense Saturday night
The Packers had a real shot at the NFC North title. They needed to beat a Lamar Jackson–less Ravens team at home (and on a short week) before handling the eliminated Vikings, while getting losses from the Bears to the 49ers and Lions. Far from impossible.
Regardless, Green Bay put forth a hideous effort in a 41–24 loss to Baltimore, with Derrick Henry rushing for 216 yards and four touchdowns while forcing only four incompletions on 20 Tyler Huntley passes.
A week ago, the Packers led the Bears by a touchdown with less than two minutes remaining. They were a cinch to win and take control of the NFC North. Since the ensuing onside kick bounced off Romeo Doubs’s hands, everything has spiraled. Jordan Love is dealing with a concussion, the Packers have lost three consecutive games, guaranteeing them seventh seed once again.
Green Bay went into Saturday night knowing Henry would be the leading man. It did nothing to stop him, allowing Henry to rush for more than 100 yards in each half. All told, coordinator Jeff Hafley watched his defense allow 307 rushing yards on 5.8 yards per carry on a night when the run game was the only focus.
With the playoffs looming, no team is going into them with less momentum than the Packers.
Good: Travis Kelce doesn’t go out in an embarrassment at Arrowhead
The Chiefs were supposed to get blown out, going into the game as 13.5-point underdogs in some books. Yet, Kansas City showed some fight, losing by a touchdown to a Denver team attempting to be the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
On Christmas night, Kelce led the Chiefs with five catches and 36 receiving yards, which doesn't sound like much until you realize Oladokun threw for only 66 yards in a miserable showing.
If that was it for Kelce at Arrowhead, as we wrote earlier this week, there was nothing to be ashamed of. —Matt Verderame
Bad: Bo Nix needs to be better on a consistent basis
Nix has his good games. Two weeks ago in a 34–26 win over the Packers, Nix was excellent while throwing for 302 yards and four touchdowns. He also lit up the Chiefs in their Week 11 meeting in Denver, with 295 passing yards while averaging 8.0 yards per attempt.
The problem? Nix often plays like he did on Christmas. Against a Kansas City team playing for nothing and without a host of starters—including star corners Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson—Nix threw for a paltry 4.8 YPA with 182 yards, two total touchdowns and an interception.
On the year, Nix has started all 16 games and eclipsed 7.0 YPA only six times. While Denver is a defense-first team and Nix should be judicious with his attempts, he’s often either a neutral or net-negative player in terms of the outcome. In the playoffs that won’t work, as it didn’t last Sunday at home against the Jaguars when he posted an 81.2 QB rating, a 30.9 QBR and an interception in a 34–20 defeat.
Nix has talent, but he needs to play well most weeks, not just occasionally. —MV
Ugly: The Christmas slate of games
Anybody who put themselves through the NFL tripleheader on Thursday either really can’t stand their family or needs to seek treatment for their dedication to football.
We watched the Vikings beat the Lions with three net passing yards, while Detroit turned the ball over six times in an epic disaster on its way out of playoff contention. The early window saw the Cowboys beat the Commanders in front of a half-empty stadium while Washington quarterback Josh Johnson (who has played for a staggering seven teams, along with AAF and XFL stints) put up a 21.3 QBR in defeat.
Then there was the nightcap which, outside of the Kelce storyline, was a mess. Chris Oladokun threw for 66 yards on 22 attempts. Bo Nix averaged 4.8 yards per attempt. Denver had 4.3 yards per play and somehow had the vastly superior offense.
Netflix is paying massive money on a three-year deal for Christmas games, which yielded some quality games last year with Steelers-Chiefs and Ravens-Texans, four teams that all made the playoffs. Not so much this time around.
Perhaps Netflix should push for an option to flex the games with a month’s notice, giving it some optionality and avoiding the quality of play we saw Thursday. —MV
Good: Vikings still battling despite latest QB injury
The Vikings deserve a ton of credit for spoiling the Lions’ playoff hopes despite being eliminated from postseason contention a few weeks back and having to play with undrafted rookie quarterback Max Brosmer, who filled in for the injured J.J. McCarthy.
Brosmer struggled, but he at least protected the football after throwing four interceptions in his starting debut against the Seahawks in Week 13. Minnesota had only 75 total yards before starting the drive that ended with Addison’s 65-yard rushing score with fewer than four minutes left in regulation. Brosmer finished 9-of-16 for 51 yards and added two carries for 16 yards
We probably shouldn’t be surprised about a Brian Flores–led defense playing tough despite the circumstances. Edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel has made a living from giving quarterbacks nightmare performances. He can add Goff to the list after sacking him 1.5 times and recovering two of his three fumbles. The ageless safety Harrison Smith had one of Goff’s two interceptions and had one of Minnesota’s five total sacks. Cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. recorded the other pick on Goff.
The Packers need to send the Vikings’ defense a thank you card for getting them into the postseason before facing the Ravens, possibly without Jordan Love, on Saturday. —Gilberto Manzano
Bad: Lions need to figure out what went wrong offensively
Overall, the Lions have impressive offensive numbers this season, but they haven’t looked as strong as last year’s unit for most of the year.
It all fell apart on Christmas with Goff’s two interceptions and three lost fumbles against Minnesota. Last week, the Lions didn’t have issues with protecting the football, but they stalled for long stretches against the Steelers. The week before that, Detroit couldn’t keep pace with the Rams’ explosive offense.
If you look deeper, this team hasn’t been right ever since Dan Campbell took over offensive play-calling from John Morton coming out of the Week 8 bye. Bruising running back David Montgomery hasn’t been utilized much and the offense often looks to Jahmyr Gibbs to bail them out.
The creativity went out the door when former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson left to take the head coaching job with the Bears. It’s going to be on Campbell to find someone capable of calling offensive plays, because his team struggled with him focused on one side of the football.
—GM
Ugly: Detroit has plenty of questions after disappointing season
The Lions’ past two seasons have ended with six-turnover performances, going back to January’s divisional round loss to the Commanders.
Expectations were still high for this team despite losing Johnson and former defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, now the coach of the Jets. But the Lions were playing catch-up most of the season because of the offseason departures, including the retirement of All-Pro center Frank Ragnow, who attempted to help the banged-up offensive line with a midseason return, but failed to pass his physical last month.
Yes, losing Johnson as OC hurt this once mighty offense, but the unit suffered greatly from all the injuries on the offensive line throughout the season. Finding a quality center is going to be high on the offseason priority list.
Campbell might go into a second consecutive offseason searching for multiple coordinators depending on what he decides with Morton and defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, who led one of the worst units in the NFL. Perhaps it helps Sheppard that the defense stepped up for nearly four quarters against the Vikings. Still, it’s hard to overlook the defense getting torched by the Giants, Packers, Cowboys, Rams and Steelers the previous five weeks.
The divisional playoff loss was ugly, but it seemed Campbell was going to lead the Lions to the postseason on a yearly basis. Now, he needs to address several concerns after his team took many steps back in a disappointing 2025 season. —GM
Good: Cowboys’ offense provides holiday cheer amid lost season
Apparently, I was the only one who enjoyed the Zoom call with Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith during Netflix’s broadcast, because many on social media were upset about the random in-game interview taking up a sizable chunk of game time.
I thought hearing Smith’s stories were better than watching the Commanders’ awful defense in the first half, but fine, let’s highlight the Cowboys’ high-scoring offense instead.
Dak Prescott had no issues moving the ball on Washington coach Dan Quinn’s defense early. Dallas’s first three drives resulted in 240 yards and three touchdowns. Prescott (19-of-37, 307 yards, 2 TDs) connected with the speedy KaVontae Turpin for an 86-yard touchdown bomb that gave Dallas an 18-point advantage in the second quarter. At that point, it would have been better to watch a Christmas movie on Netflix. Then again, those upset about the in-game interview with Smith likely watched the entirety of this Christmas game filled with bad defenses. (Oh, the power of fantasy football championship week.)
But I’ll stop being negative about the product on the field because the Cowboys’ offense (480 total yards) gave its fans something to cheer about amid another disappointing season. If Dallas (now 7-8-1) can fix its defense—at least it’s not as bad as Washington's defense—this team could make some real noise in 2026 after the offense produced a 4,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher (Javonte Williams) and a pair of 1,000-yard receivers (George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb) in Brian Schottenheimer’s first season as head coach. —GM
Bad: Cowboys let Commanders hang around with 72-yard TD run
The Cowboys needed to play situational football after allowing Washington back in the game with Croskey-Merritt’s long touchdown run with 9:34 in the third quarter.
Dallas went from potentially cruising in a blowout to having to deal with a one-score game in the second half because the poor defense gave the Commanders a one-play touchdown drive that took only 10 seconds off the game clock. From there, all Prescott and his offense could produce were three consecutive field goal attempts, with Aubrey going two-of-three on the kicks.
By failing to score touchdowns in the second half, the Cowboys were forced to trust their bad defense not to let the game get closer than a touchdown. Prescott eventually came through when he killed enough clock on the final drive, but situational football could have easily been avoided if the defense hadn’t allowed the one-play scoring drive. —GM
Ugly: Washington will have a tough time fixing its defense
Have I mentioned that the Commanders (4–12) have a terrible defense? Well, let’s talk about it again because this team is going nowhere next season, even with a healthy Jayden Daniels, if the Washington decision-makers don’t make defensive upgrades.
Washington can look at Dallas for reasons why being a one-sided team doesn’t work in the NFL. The Cowboys can light up the scoreboard, but they’ll be taking their winter vacation at the same time as the Commanders.
But the Cowboys have a better path to repairing their defense because of the draft picks they gained in the Micah Parsons trade with the Packers. The Commanders lost picks due to the acquisitions of Deebo Samuel and Laremy Tunsil.
Washington, however, just needs an average defense that takes a bend-but-don’t-break approach because Daniels is capable of guiding a productive offense if he stays healthy in 2026. The Commanders will likely draft an edge rusher with their top-10 draft pick in April. They should also consider trading cornerback Marshon Lattimore and defensive tackle Daron Payne to gain draft picks.
This team is in desperate need of young defensive talent, especially after what this unit showed on Christmas. —GM
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- Controversial Call Late in Texans’ Win vs. Chargers Had Huge NFL Playoff Implications
- Bears Defender Fined for Hit That Concussed Packers QB Jordan Love
This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Good, Bad and Ugly, NFL Week 17: Houston’s Win Gives Denver the AFC West Title.
