NFL Winners and Losers: Chiefs teeter on edge, but come up with a massive OT win over Colts
- - NFL Winners and Losers: Chiefs teeter on edge, but come up with a massive OT win over Colts
Frank Schwab November 24, 2025 at 1:21 AM
0
The Kansas City Chiefs are living on the edge this season. Their playoff hopes were flickering late in the early window of games. The Indianapolis Colts had them on the verge of a huge home loss that would have knocked them below .500 and been a massive blow to their postseason hopes.
But the Chiefs remembered how to win in close games.
The Chiefs overcame a 20-9 deficit to the Indianapolis Colts with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation, then in overtime their defense forced a punt and Patrick Mahomes led a drive for the win. Harrison Butker hit a field goal for the 23-20 victory to push the Chiefs to 6-5 this season. Mahomes had a tremendous game, but it wasn't all him in the win. Kansas City needed everyone and everything to beat the Colts.
Nothing is coming easy for the Chiefs this season. But they avoided falling under .500. They're not in perfect shape in the playoff race but a loss would have been a big setback.
Even though Mahomes had help — from a defense that clamped down on Daniel Jones in the second half and made Jonathan Taylor a non-factor, and also from Rashee Rice and his 141 receiving yards — the Chiefs' quarterback was the key factor in the win. He had 352 yards passing and another 30 rushing. The Chief were in danger many times and Mahomes found ways to make plays.
If the Chiefs rally to make the playoffs, Mahomes will get some MVP consideration, with Sunday's game being a big positive mark on his side.
The Colts are a tough opponent and for a long time it looked like they would go 9-2 and make a big statement as the best team in the AFC. But the Chiefs have been in this position many times before and aren't scared of having their backs against the wall. They just hadn't been able to win in a one-score game this season, before Sunday.
This season has been a challenge for the Chiefs. There's a reason they have five losses already. There's a reason they were trailing in the fourth quarter and had many plays they had to make just to stay alive. But it won't be that easy to get rid of the Chiefs. If they end up rallying to make the playoffs, it's because of their moxie in close games. You had to know that Mahomes wasn't going to fade into irrelevancy this season without a great fight.
Here are the rest of the winners and losers for Week 12 of the NFL season.
Jameis Winston: Winston is fun. It's not always perfect, or close to it, but it's usually exciting.
The New York Giants' game at the Detroit Lions wasn't supposed to be that interesting, and it turned into a three-ring circus. Winston made big play after big play, including a receiving touchdown and a touchdown pass on a backward lateral to him, giving the Lions some of their own trick-play medicine. Detroit had to rally, getting a 59-yard field goal from Jake Bates that barely hooked inside the upright in the final minute of regulation to force overtime.
On the first play of overtime, Jahmyr Gibbs broke a 69-yard touchdown run. Winston had the Giants moving downfield in an attempt to tie it but on fourth down Aidan Hutchinson had a walk-off sack for the 34-27 overtime win.
The Lions won with a monster game from Gibbs, who had 219 yards rushing and 45 receiving. But don't blame Winston, who kept his team in the game and made it entertaining throughout.
Winston finished with 366 yards passing. The Lions hadn't given up a 300-yard passing performance all season. The Giants had 10 catches of 20 yards or more, their most since at least 1991, according to the Fox broadcast. He was fantastic. But the Lions are the far better team, and it took everything they had to sneak out a win.
The 31-year-old Winston is unlikely to be more than a preferred backup for most of the rest of his career. We've seen too many mistake-filled games for him to be a team's voluntary starter to begin a season. But he can come in and give a team an instant boost. Just enjoy the ride, whether it's going up or down.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba: There are many great receivers in the NFL, so nobody had Smith-Njigba as the favorite to be the first to surpass 2,000 receiving yards in a season.
But Smith-Njigba breaking Calvin Johnson's single-season receiving record is becoming more realistic by the week. Smith-Njigba had another huge game as the Seattle Seahawks beat the Tennessee Titans 30-24.
Smith-Njigba got the Seahawks' first touchdown on a 63-yard play in which he outfought the cornerback for the ball deep downfield, and it was all Seattle after that. Smith-Njigba had 167 yards and two touchdowns. He has 1,313 yards through 11 games, and with six to play he's on pace for 2,029 yards this season.
Smith-Njigba was coming off a very good season for the Seahawks, and it's not like he was an unknown coming into the season. But nobody was expecting this type of explosion. JSN isn't just becoming a star; he is closing in on a major milestone in his third season.
Chicago Bears' close win magic: The Bears are the 2024 Chiefs. They just refuse to lose in close games.
The Bears were in another close one on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who were without Aaron Rodgers, and they found a way to win. The Bears' 31-28 win over the Steelers pushes their record to 8-3, and their record in close games is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in that win column. Chicago has won games by 1, 1, 5, 4, 2 and 3 points this season.
Chicago won't care how the wins are coming. Caleb Williams had three touchdown passes and the Bears' defense came up with two key stops inside of the final three minutes Sunday. The Bears will go into Week 13 in first place of the NFC North, and nobody in Chicago is apologizing for that.
Las Vegas Raiders: In Shedeur Sanders’ first NFL action, he could barely complete a pass. On Sunday, he had more than 200 yards and helped the Browns to a 24-10 win.
Sanders was certainly better with a week to prepare. But this Raiders team makes every opponent look better.
The chances of Pete Carroll getting a second season in Las Vegas seem to be getting slimmer. There’s really no reason to run this back in 2026. The Raiders are terrible on both sides of the ball. The Raiders offensive line might be the worst in the NFL; it allowed Geno Smith to be sacked 10 times. Myles Garrett had three of those sacks, and with 18 this season he needs just five more in Cleveland’s final six games to set the NFL’s single-season record. Sanders is a big name but he’s still a fifth-round rookie who was making his first career start and the Raiders looked did very little to make him uncomfortable. There’s no hope for the Raiders. The only question is how different everything will look next season.
Minnesota Vikings, and not for just this year: The Vikings have to feel sick. They might have hitched their wagon to a bad quarterback, and it's not going to be easy to fix.
Another week for the Vikings, another alarming performance by J.J. McCarthy. There have to be major concerns for Minnesota after watching McCarthy flail around again in a 23-6 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The Packers have a good defense, but McCarthy continues to play poorly. He showed no awareness on the sacks he took, including a couple near his own end zone. He can't even get Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson the ball.
It's still early in McCarthy's career, but there are no signs that he's a viable starter. He was 12-of-19 passing for 87 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. That's a 34.2 passer rating.
The Vikings need to consider benching him, even though their other option is undrafted rookie Max Brosmer.
The Vikings got terrific play from Sam Darnold last season, went 14-3 and decided to not re-sign him and see what they had in McCarthy, the 10th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. That gamble looks like it could set the Vikings back well beyond this season.
Steelers' AFC North hopes: The Baltimore Ravens weren't great Sunday. They pulled out a too-close 23-10 win over the New York Jets. And they won't care that much. They won their fifth straight game after a 1-5 start. That, paired with the Steelers' loss at Chicago, creates a first-place tie atop the AFC North. It didn't even take until Thanksgiving for the Ravens to catch Pittsburgh.
The Steelers and Ravens still have two games left against each other, and that will go a long way in determining the division title. Even though the Ravens haven't played great lately, they keep winning. Derrick Henry had two touchdowns Sunday to overcome a sluggish day. And with six games left, the Ravens are back to a first-place tie.
The Bengals' defense against tight ends: Every tight end who plays against Cincinnati this season turns into prime Tony Gonzalez.
There are many issues with the Bengals' defense, and the biggest is that tight ends crush them week after week. On Sunday it was Hunter Henry's turn. The New England Patriots' tight end had seven catches for 115 yards and a touchdown, and the Patriots' defense had a late stop for a 26-20 win.
Henry was by far the Patriots' leading receiver on the day. Second was fellow tight end Austin Hooper, with 39 yards. The Patriots could have suited up 56-year-old Ben Coates and he would have gotten a few receptions against Cincinnati.
It's a big win for the Patriots, who struggled to put the game away and were in danger in the final minute before a broken up pass on fourth-and-10.
Joe Burrow could return to the Bengals on Thanksgiving, but after Sunday's loss knocked them back to 3-8, there is also plenty of incentive to evaluate whether it's smarter to shut him down this season.
Source: “AOL Sports”
