Plus, the Chiefs sleepwalk through another win, a Jets winning streak, the Bears move to within a win of the playoffs and more.
Reacting and overreacting to everything that happened in the Week 16 Sunday afternoon games...
Things That Made Me Giddy
Ben Roethlisberger, Like a Young Ponce De León: That’s the stuff. Down 24-7 in the second half, the Steelers started attacking downfield and Roethlisberger even—gasp!—took a couple of hits in the process. The result was 342 yards (the most he’s had since Week 16 of the 2018 season) and three touchdowns in a comeback win to clinch the AFC North.
Diontae Johnson Redemption: You know about the drops, and he left a touchdown on the field when he made the wrong read on Sunday. But this connection belongs in the Louvre.
Chiefs Live on the Edge Because … They Feel Like It?: For 58 minutes it was an absolute grind against an inferior opponent in a game they had no right winning. Then, repeatedly on the final drive (except for the Mahomes near-interception that A.J. Terrell dropped) Mahomes had all the time in the world and multiple weapons running uncovered downfield. Sunday was as ugly a win as they’ve had in the Mahomes era, but the common thread is: Whenever it’s time to turn it on, they turn it on.
A Jets Winning Streak!: And their 335 yards of offense was their second-highest total of the season. They’re locked into the No. 2 pick, have another first-rounder and a total of five picks in the top 100 and get the guy who’s supposed to be the nerve center of their defense (C.J. Mosley) back.
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Regrets
Why Did They Set Up That Week 18 Again?: Making yet another team suit up less than 48 hours after losing an entire unit to COVID protocols shows a complete lack of understanding of how an NFL team functions.
Colts Can’t Close It on Offense: After taking a 24-7 lead, they punted three times—including two three-and-outs—threw and interception and picked up a total of two first downs. Offense closes out games in 2020, and Indy had none of it in the second half in Pittsburgh.
Younghoe Koo Pushes It: He’s had a Pro Bowl year in Atlanta, hitting 35 of 36 going into Sunday, before pushing the potential game-tying kick from 39 wide right.
Steelers’ Desperate Struggle to Get a Yard: Which is why they punted on a fourth-and-1 from midfield where the conversion would’ve won it.
This Trubisky Interception: This, on first-and-goal, is maybe the worst piece of quarterbacking of the post-merger era.
Even Brandon Allen Is Picking on This Texans Defense!: No offense to Brandon Allen—well, I wouldn’t blame him if he took some offense to that statement—but Allen threw for 371 yards and put up 37 points in Houston (his highs in his previous six career starts were 240 and 24).
Exhibit B in the Case to Abolish the Draft:
What a Neat Franchise the Jaguars Are: Nothing like staging a game in the midst of a raging pandemic that involves a team with no interest in competing because you’ve built a system that rewards gross incompetence. What’s the point of sending them to Indianapolis next week? Anyway, enjoy playing your new team Trevor Lawrence.
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Moments We’ll Tell Our Grandkids About
Slot Receiver-to-Slot Receiver TD: Bill Belichick’s heart grew three sizes that day.
“Roughing” the Passer: Sometimes you just gotta laugh at yourself. Or someone else. Like whoever it was who threw this flag.
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What We’ll Be Talking About This Week
The Bears Control Their Fate—and, in a Way, All of Our Fates: Wait, no, just the first part. Mitchell Trubisky is pretty much the same guy, but they’ve built a more QB-friendly offense and are trusting him to do things like, say, throw the ball beyond the line of scrimmage on third-and-6. They’re kidding themselves if they think a long-term marriage will work, but Trubisky will be a nice backup/developmental project for a smart coach.
Dolphins Win Again on Sunday: In the form of the Texans’ loss, which now has Miami holding the fourth overall pick of April’s draft. Which raises the question, should they take another quar—never mind.
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