When the Carolina Panthers watched Saturday night's Bears-Packers game, it could have been a reminder of a mistake.
DJ Moore, a key part of a massive trade that the Panthers made to move to draft Bryce Young No. 1 overall, scored agame-winning touchdown for the Chicago Bearson a great catch in overtime. A big reason the Bears are 11-4 is the bounty they got in that trade. The Panthers haven't come close to that type of breakthrough with Young. But this season has marked some progress.
The Panthers lead the NFC South with two games to play after a huge win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. Regardless of what happens next, this season has to already be considered a success for the Panthers.
Panthers rookie safety Lathan Ransom, who took a very costly penalty late in the Panthers' loss to the Saints last week, had an interception with 42 seconds to go to seal the 23-20 win. The Buccaneers fell to 7-8 as their late-season swoon continues. Baker Mayfield in particular continued to struggle. He had just 145 yards passing and there was no Buccaneers receiver even close to where he was throwing on Ransom's game-clinching interception.
It was a big game in the NFC South race, though it's not like either team was on a streak coming in. Last week the Buccaneers blew a 14-point lead and lost to the Falcons at home, and then the Panthers blew a 10-point lead and lost to the Saints. That was a big help to the Buccaneers, who then needed to just win two of their final three games to clinch the division title. But for a team like the Panthers, which has had six straight seasons with double-digit losses, any sniff of being in theplayoff huntis a big step forward.
The Panthers took a 23-20 lead just ahead of the two-minute warning. Young wasn't great but he did enough to maneuver the Panthers into position to have the lead in a huge game. Earlier, Young made perhaps the biggest play of his career when, on third down, he scrambled to avoid the rush and found tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders for a touchdown to give the Panthers a 20-17 lead late in the third quarter.
The Panthers haven't arrived, and the massive trade to the Bears still looks like it set back the franchise. But they're getting better. There should be excitement in Carolina for being in the NFC South hunt. The division could still come down to a Week 18 rematch against Tampa Bay. But the Panthers showed Sunday they're capable of winning — and being a surprise division champion.
Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Sunday's action in Week 16 of the NFL season:
WINNERS
Mike Tomlin:The streak lives.
The Pittsburgh Steelers won their ninth game of the season, meaning Mike Tomlin still has never had a losing season as Steelers coach. And It was an impressive and important win on Sunday.
The Steelers beat the Detroit Lions 29-24 despite being road underdogs to improve to 9-6 and maintain their lead in the AFC North. The Steelers defense wasgreat for three quarters, and when the Lions rallied in the fourth quarter and had a shot to win, two offensive pass interference calls wiped out touchdowns and the Steelers held on.
There has been a lot of talk about Tomlin's future this season, and even "Fire Tomlin" chants at one of the Steelers' home games. But he keeps winning.
Houston Texans, but it wasn't pretty:The Texans had been on a roll lately, and the Las Vegas Raiders have been the worst team in the NFL for a while.
The Texans almost took a terrible loss to a moribund Raiders team on Sunday. Luckily, they did just enough to win.
Las Vegas got a big game from rookie running back Ashton Jeanty, which has been rare this season and was unexpected against the Texans' stellar defense. A 60-yard catch for a touchdown by Jeanty gave the Raiders a 14-13 lead, and a 51-yard touchdown run by Jeanty cut Houston's lead to 23-21 late in the game. But the Texans put together a drive to kill the clock, with Nico Collins' 24-yard catch sealing the 23-21 win.
The Texans got the win and that's what matters. But the offense wasn't great and the defense had its worst game in weeks against a terrible Raiders offense. It's wise to give the Texans a pass for having one flat game, but it was still a bit alarming.
James Cook III:It was a rare day for the Buffalo Bills. They didn't get a massive performance out of Josh Allen but won 23-20 anyway. That doesn't happen too often.
The biggest reason the Bills won was they were playing the Cleveland Browns, but theBrowns were in the game late.Instead of Allen saving the day, it was Cook who shouldered most of the offensive load. Cook had 117 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Allen had an unusually quiet day with just 130 yards passing and no touchdowns. That's a reason the game was close at the end, but the Bills' defense backed up the Browns and forced a punt on fourth-and-32, then the offense got the first down it needed to kill the clock.
It's the NFL and no wins should ever be taken for granted, but the Bills' lukewarm performance doesn't make it easier to buy them as the favorite to win the AFC. But in games against tougher competition, Allen will presumably be a much bigger factor. Cook, one of the NFL's best running backs this season, will be there to help as well.
Jim Harbaugh:Harbaugh isn't going to get any NFL Coach of the Year votes, but maybe he should.
The Chargers have dealt with plenty of injuries, including to both star offensive tackles, but they keep winning in spite of that. The Chargers were underdogs for some reason against aDallas Cowboys team that was officially eliminated from the playoffsSaturday, but Los Angeles got an easy 34-17 win. The Chargers are 11-4 and not out of the race for the AFC West championship.
That's a credit to Harbaugh, one of the NFL's best coaches, and also his defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who has done a fantastic job all season and will be in demand this offseason for head coaching jobs. Before then, the Chargers have some work to do in the postseason.
Brian Flores:Speaking of defensive coordinators who should get some interest in head coach openings this offseason, Flores had a great day for the Minnesota Vikings in their 16-13 win over the New York Giants. TheVikings lost J.J. McCarthy to a hand injuryand the offense didn't do much with Max Brosmer in the game. It didn't matter much because Flores' defense was so good.
By halftime, Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart had completed 1 of 5 passes for 2 yards, and threw an interception. He had a 0.0 passer rating at the half. That might be a statement on the Giants rookie regressing, but any quarterback will have issues against Flores' defense. It was excellent Sunday.
The Vikings aren't going anywhere this season, but Flores is still showing he's one of the better defensive play-callers in the NFL.
Kellen Moore:By this time in the season, plenty of teams with double-digit losses have no chance to win. Some of it is due to talent deficiencies, injuries or both. Sometimes teams playing out the last few games of a miserable season look completely unmotivated and it shows.
The Saints' season has been done for a while, but they're still playing hard. The New York Jets are one of those teams that looks like it can't wait for the season to be over, but it's still a good sign that the Saints beat New York 29-6 on Sunday. It's a sign they're buying into what Moore is selling in his first season as head coach.
After going 2-10, the Saints have won three in a row. That includes victories over the Buccaneers and Panthers. The Saints still need an infusion of talent, but they should feel pretty good they made the right coaching hire.
LOSERS
Denver Broncos:The Broncos worked for 15 weeks to take over the top seed in the AFC, get control of the AFC West and also get some respect as one of the best teams in football. They might have blown it all with their first blowout loss of the season.
The Jacksonville Jaguars came to Denver and handed the Broncos a 34-20 loss. The Jaguars continue to ascend late in the season, and Trevor Lawrence had another strong game. Lawrence had 279 yards passing and three passing touchdowns, and added another rushing touchdown. The Jaguars came into the game trying to hold off the Texans for the AFC South title, and getting a win at Denver was a huge step toward that. The Jaguars also are just a game behind the Broncos for the first seed in the AFC.
The Broncos are 12-3 but can't be comfortable anymore. The Chargers are 11-4 and right behind them in the AFC West. The road to the No. 1 seed in the AFC got tougher with the loss. Hopefully they don't look back on Sunday as a loss that changed their season for the worse.
Jacoby Brissett:When Brissett took over as quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, the offense looked better than it had under Kyler Murray. That has been fading lately.
Brissett had just 203 yards and threw an interception in the final minute that was snagged on a great catch by Atlanta Falcons cornerback C.J. Henderson, which clinched the 26-19 win for the Falcons.
Everything about the Cardinals has been a difficult watch this season. They've lost 10 of 11 games. For a while Brissett was making plays for the offense, but like the rest of the Cardinals, he is fading fast into the offseason.
The irrelevant Kansas City Chiefs:It had been a long time since the Chiefs played a game after being eliminated from the playoffs. It was strange that their game against the Tennessee Titans meant nothing.
The Chiefs, who will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2014 season, will have an odd finish to the season. It got even weirder in the first half when Gardner Minshew, who was replacing an injured Patrick Mahomes,left the game with a reported torn ACL. He was replaced by Chris Oladokun, who you might not have heard of before Sunday.
Oladokun was the Steelers' seventh-round pick out of South Dakota State in 2022. He had appeared in one NFL game, rushing once for 5 yards last season, before he got in the game Sunday. He struggled against the Titans, as should be expected, not leading any touchdown drives in the Chiefs' listless 26-9 loss to Tennessee, who might have played its way out of contention for thefirst pick of the NFL Draftwith its third win of the season.
Oladokun could end up getting some starts to finish the season. That would include what is becoming a depressing Christmas game against the Denver Broncos.
It's not like it matters. The Chiefs are playing out the string to end the season. After playing so many enormous games the past few seasons, the Chiefs quickly faded into obscurity this season.
Quinn Ewers:Even though Mike McDaniel said he went with Ewers over Tua Tagovailoa because it gave the Miami Dolphins the best chance to win, everyone knew that was nonsense. The team decided Tagovailoa was done as its quarterback and it was wise to get a look at Ewers, a seventh-round draft pick, before the season ended.
Ewers needed to play very well to become the unquestioned top option heading into the 2026 season, and it's not like that happened Sunday. TheDolphins had a rough game and Ewers wasn't greatin a 45-21 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. He padded his stats in a blowout, throwing for 260 yards, but threw two key interceptions that helped the Bengals pull away.
Ewers is likely to start the final two games of the season, so he still has a chance to make an impression. But his time to do so is short.
