On paper, Sunday afternoon’s Week 12 NFL games didn’t exactly look like the most entertaining day of football, considering there were exactly zero matchups between the teams with record victories. Instead, while the second set of matches was one-sided, the first window delivered a series of frenetic finishes and shocking twists. The final minutes of regulation of these games were the best commercial the NFL could have ever done for the RedZone channel.
Some of these massive plays didn’t actually result in their teams winning the game. The Panthers used two pass interference penalties to set up a touchdown and the game-tying 2-point conversion from the one-yard line against the Chiefs, but they gave Patrick Mahomes just enough time to rush downfield shooting for a Kansas. City victory. The Bears scored 10 points in 26 seconds to tie their game with the Vikings and lost. And the Commanders pulled off something even more miraculous than their Hail Mary victory over the Bears and still managed to lose by eight points. It was a weird day.
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Leaving the Chiefs aside, let’s talk about three teams with young quarterbacks that were involved in dramatic games on Sunday, both because they played a convincing game and because it’s a good time to discuss what’s going on. passes with them. They’ve all lost their games, but are they and their teams heading in the right direction? I’ll start with Chicago, where the Bears finished a three-game homestand with their fifth straight loss, but they might still feel a sense of optimism about their future:
Access a match:
Vikings 30, Bears 27
Titans 32, Texans 27
Cowboys 34, Commanders 26
Week 12 result: Lost to the Vikings, 30-27
For a subset of Bears fans, the last two weeks have been close to an ideal outcome. After the disastrous 19-3 loss to the Patriots led to widespread condemnation of Chicago’s offense, calls for the firing of Matt Eberflus and his coaching staff grew. Instead, the team moved on from offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Since then, the Thomas Brown-led offense has gotten quarterback Caleb Williams back on track, while the Bears have continued to lose games in heartbreaking fashion. If your goal for 2025 is to see a thriving Williams with a new offensive-minded head coach in Eberflus’ place, you’re probably enjoying Bears football right now.
Although Eberflus was rightly criticized after being conservative in field goal range last week, I’m not sure there was much that could be done in terms of game management on Sunday. He correctly scored 2 points in the fourth quarter, trailing 24-16, although it didn’t work when Williams couldn’t hit Keenan Allen. The Bears scored 2 points on their subsequent score to make it a three-point game with 29 seconds left, then chaos ensued.
