During the early portion of the NFL regular season, fans are treated to football on Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. It’s incredible.
Yet, late in the year, when the college football regular season wraps up, fans also get another day of NFL action, coming on Saturday too. The fun begins in Week 15, this Saturday, Dec. 16, with a trio of matchups, all featuring playoff implications.
Early on, it’s the Minnesota Vikings vs. Cincinnati Bengals at 1 PM EST. Then, at 4:30 PM EST, the Pittsburgh Steelers kick off against the Indianapolis Colts. Capping off the night will be the Denver Broncos battling the Detroit Lions.
As mentioned, each game could be a major decider in whether any of these six teams reach the postseason or, for the Lions, which seed they get in the NFC. With just three games spread throughout the day, millions of eyeballs will be tuning in for Saturday’s NFL tripleheader. Here are our five bold predictions for the trio of matchups.
Related: Week 15 NFL Saturday tripleheader schedule
Cincinnati Bengals become second team to top 30 points on Minnesota D
Before Jake Browning was ‘starring’ for the Cincinnati Bengals, the former undrafted QB was with the Minnesota Vikings. The former Washington Huskies QB spent parts of three seasons on Minnesota’s practice squad before Cincinnati gave him a second chance.
That makes this a revenge game for the new Bengals’ starting QB, who’s impressed since being thrust into action following Joe Burrow’s injury. In fact, Browning’s 86.5% completion rate is the best mark in NFL history for a QB making his first start.
Browning has played well, but so has first-year defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ defense with the Vikings. The last time the Vikings had a top-ten defense came in 2019, but Flores has this unit allowing the fifth-fewest points in the NFL entering Week 15. The only team to score 30 or more against the Vikings this season came in Week 2 when the Philadelphia Eagles put 34 points on the scoreboard.
With Browning playing well, in addition to Ja’Marr Chase being motivated to try and show why he should be considered the best receiver in the NFL, we’re going out on a limb and saying this is the game the Vikings defense comes up short.
Related: NFL MVP odds 2023-24
Mason Rudolph leads Pittsburgh Steelers to victory against Indianapolis Colts
Even though the Pittsburgh Steelers offense was far from dominant early on, now the team dreams it could see Kenny Pickett return to the lineup. While Pickett isn’t expected to miss much more time if at all, the brief stints we’ve seen from Mitch Trubisky have been far from impressive.
Trubisky has seen extended action in three games this season, and they’ve all ended badly, with the Steelers going home as losers each time. With Pittsburgh holding out slim hopes for a playoff spot, Mike Tomlin can’t afford to sit back and watch a nonexistent offense struggle to move the chains again.
If Trubisky struggles again, don’t be surprised to see Mason Rudolph take over at Lucas Oil Stadium. Even though the Colts have a top-ten offense, Gardner Minshew will give Pittsburgh’s seventh-ranked defense plenty of chances to capitalize on his mistakes.
Right now, Rudolph doesn’t even know that he’ll be playing on Saturday, but my crystal ball tells me he better get ready to lead his team to victory.
Jameson Williams has best game of NFL career vs. Broncos
During the 2022 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions traded up to select a receiver who had torn his ACL with the 12th overall pick. The move was a bit of a surprise at the time, considering Williams was expected to miss most of his rookie year. Yet, even though the wide receiver was viewed by many as the best receiver prospect in the draft class, his limited sample size has been far from productive.
Williams is still just 22 years old, and he’s seen time in just 15 games, not even a full season. Yet, the concerns have to be growing in Detroit for a player they hoped would begin showing signs of being a No. 1 receiver by now.
If asked today, I’d say Williams is a bust, but it’s far too early to throw around those labels for a player who likely would have clocked a 4.3 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. Still, he’s never recorded more than 53 yards and a touchdown in any of his games just yet.
Taking on the Denver Broncos, who boast one of the best cornerbacks in football with Patrick Surtain II, we’re going bold with the prediction that Williams records his first 100-yard, two-touchdown game in the NFL. It’s not even a crazy stat line, but for the second-year pro, it would be his best game yet, by far.
Related: Ranking all 32 NFL starting QBs today: Who’s the best and worst?
NFL Saturday tripleheader delivers rare kick return touchdown
The kick return is a dying art in today’s NFL. One wonders if previous stars like Dante Hall or Devin Hester would even be able to make a name for themselves in today’s game. But that doesn’t mean teams don’t value kick returners with special ability.
With the NFL rule change, allowing players to fair catch the ball from anywhere on a kickoff, the return rate is down, leading to just two kick return touchdowns this season. A year ago, there were six.
Unfortunately, Saturday’s slate features two games inside domed stadiums, which likely means there will be zero kick returns in the Steelers-Colts and Broncos-Lions games. Kicking inside, without wind, fans at Lucas Oil Stadium and Ford Field can expect touchback after touchback unless the game is on the line, where a single play could swing the difference.
This means for this rare prediction to come true, we’re pretty much looking at you, Kene Nwangwu. The Vikings’ backup running back and All-Pro kick returner is expected to have a larger role offensively on Saturday with starting tailback Alexander Mattison already ruled out of action. Yet, that doesn’t mean the Vikings will pull him off kick returns. Or, maybe it’s the player we’re overlooking, in Cincinnati’s backup running back Trayveon Williams, who averages a solid 24.2 yards per return this season.
Of all the predictions listed here, this is the boldest of the bunch, but crazier things have happened.
Denver Broncos continue ascension under Sean Payton, dominate Lions by double digits
In Week 7, if someone told you that the Broncos would whoop the Lions by double digits for their Week 15 matchup, you’d probably get accused of not knowing your ball. I mean, the Lions were 5-1, and the Broncos were 1-5, just three weeks removed from the worst loss in the NFL all season when the Dolphins smashed the Broncos by 50.
Yet, here we are months later, and the Broncos are surging at 7-6, winning six of their last seven games. Meanwhile, the Lions are fading after an 8-2 start and have lost two of their past three games to Green Bay and Chicago.
Even though the standings suggest the Lions are the better unit, these two teams are headed in opposite directions as of late. Much of Denver’s recent success has been thanks to a defense that is suddenly creating turnovers at an elite rate, with 17 turnovers forced in their past six games. With a mistake-prone Jared Goff on the other side, we’re going for some shock value here, saying the Broncos will become just the second team to beat the Lions by 10+ points this season.
Related: NFL mock draft 2024: Projecting landing spots for top 2024 NFL Draft prospects