NFL Week 17 action gave us a little bit of everything. Saturday night’s game between the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys provided unwanted officiating controversy.
On Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens made a major statement in a 56-19 win over what seemed to be a hapless Miami Dolphins team.
Meanwhile, the Philadlephia Eagles handed the San Francisco 49ers the No. 1 seed in the NFC by virtue of a humiliating home loss to the previously three-win Arizona Cardinals. These are among the winners and losers from NFL Week 17.
Related: NFL Week 17 power rankings
Winner: Baltimore Ravens make another statement
Less than a week after going into San Francisco and making a statement against the NFC-best 49ers, Baltmore was back up to its old tricks on Sunday. John Harbaugh’s squad had a chance to clinch home-field advantage and a first-round bye in the AFC Playoffs.
Pretty much from the get, the Ravens imposed their will against an 11-4 Dolphins team. Lamar Jackson threw five touchdowns. Rookie wide receiver Zay Flowers added a 75-yard touchdown.
Meanwhile, the Ravens’ rushing attack went for 160 yards. On the other side, Baltimore picked off Tua Tagovailoa twice in what ended up being a blowout 56-19 win. Baltimore certainly looks like the odds-on Super Bowl favorite after NFL Week 17.
Related: NFL Playoff and Super Bowl predictions
Loser: NFL officiating comes up small
Saturday night’s game between the Lions and Cowboys had widespread playoff implications. It was a hard-fought game between two legitimate conference title contenders. Both played good football. But the game in Dallas ended with officiating controversy.
Jared Goff led Detroit down the field for a touchdown with the team down by seven points in the final seconds. Gambling head coach Dan Campbell then opted to go for two and the win. Goff hit offensive tackle Taylor Decker for what seemed to be the game-winning two-point conversion.
That’s when officials on hand in Big D called Decker for illegal touching because they said he didn’t report as eligible. However, video clearly shows that Decker did indeed report. Campbell then opted to go for it again with Goff throwing an incomplete pass to end the game.
The Lions’ head coach was obviously upset after the game as his team lost out on a chance to earn home-field advantage in the NFC Playoffs. As for Dallas, it is now in the driver’s seat to win the NFC East. Just brutal that the game was decided in part by terrible officiating.
Winner: Brock Purdy rebounds in NFL Week 17
Last week’s four-interception performance against Baltimore was very much an outlier for this sophomore signal caller. He entered that game as the odds-on NFL MVP favorite. While that is no longer the case with Lamar Jackson doing his thing, Purdy returned to form against a bad Washington Commanders team on Sunday.
The quarterback completed 22-of-28 passes for 230 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions in the 27-10 win. He also made some eye-opening plays throughout the game.
The end result was another double-digit win for San Francisco with Purdy breaking the franchise record for passing yards in a season en route to the 49ers earning the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Related: NFL Week 17 QB rankings
Loser: Philadelphia Eagles just aren’t it
Philadelphia entered NFL Week 17 as the odd-on favorite to win the NFC East. All the team needed to do was defeat the Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants to close out the regular season. In a scenario that’s been par for the course for Nick Sirianni’s squad since back in Week 13, the team just did not come to play.
Taking on a three-win Arizona Cardinals team at home, the Eagles’ defense yielded 449 total yards of offense. That included Kyler Murray leading Arizona to a game-winning 70-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter.
Philadelphia now looks like nothing more than a wild card team with Dallas in the driver’s seat to win the NFC East. Who would’ve thought that possible when the team started the season 10-1? Did San Francisco really break this squad?
Winner: Justin Fields, Chicago Bears keep on rolling
Chicago now finds itself at 7-5 since an ugly 0-4 start to the season following Sunday’s blowout 37-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons. Justin Fields was absolutely brilliant in the game, completing 20-of-32 passes for 268 yards with a touchdown. Chicago’s rushing attack also went for 192 yards and three touchdowns.
Defensively, the Bears picked off Falcons quarterbacks a total of four times with Tyrique Stevenson picking off two of them.
On the very same day that it was reported head coach Matt Eberflus was returning for another season, Chicago made a major statement. He has the team playing stellar football. Meanwhile, the decision Chicago’s front office has to make regarding Justin Fields was made more difficult despite the Bears clinching the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Related: NFL Week 17 Playoff picture
Loser: Major fail for Mike McDaniel, Miami Dolphins
A New Year’s Eve game with legitimate playoff and potential Super Bowl implications. Most figured that Miami would get up for a matchup of this ilk with the Baltimore Ravens given that home-field advantage and a first-round bye was on the line.
About that? The Dolphins picked the worst time to put up an absolute dud. Miami lost by the score of 56-19 with its defense coming up incredibly small (six passing touchdowns allowed). Offensively, it was clear that the Dolphins missed Jaylen Waddle.
Even more than this loss, the decision by McDaniel to play his starters on defense with the team down 30 late in the third quarter could have huge implications moving forward. Bradley Chubb suffered what appears to be a serious knee injury. One of Miami’s best defenders, it remains to be seen how long Chubb will be out. But given the look of the injury, he’s unlikely to go during NFL Wild Card Weekend. Just a terrible final day of 2023 for Miami.
Related: NFL Week 17 offense rankings
Winner: Mike Tomlin has Pittsburgh Steelers in thick of it
It remains to be seen if Pittsburgh will be playing playoff football. The team needs to win next week against the Baltimore Ravens with the Jacksonville Jaguars losing to the Tennessee Titans in order to make the wild card round.
That’s fine and dandy. But what Tomlin has done with this team is absolutely amazing. Sunday’s 30-23 win over the Seattle Seahawks in the Pacific Northwest is a prime example of this. Mason Rudolph completed 18-of-24 passes for 274 yards. Najee Harris spearheaded a rushing attack that went for 202 yards. George Pickens added 131 yards through the air. In reality, Pittsburgh’s offense was humming for a second consecutive game.
As rumors swirl about Tomlin’s future in Pittsburgh, the head coach is finishing off his 17th consecutive non-losing season with the Steelers. That’s absolutely unreal.
Related: NFL Week 17 defense rankings
Loser: Cincinnati Bengals eliminated from playoff contention
Cincinnati did what it could to remain alive in the AFC Wild Card picture Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs on the road. In fact, the team found itself up 17-7 in the second quarter after a Jake Browning touchdown run.
The Bengals would not score another point in loss a second consecutive game. It was always going to be hard for Cincinnati to earn a playoff spot once franchise quarterback Joe Burrow went down to injury. But for a team that entered this season with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations, being eliminated before the calendar hit 2024 has to be seen as a major disappointment.