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Bill Barnwell, ESPN Staff Writer
On paper, Sunday afternoon’s Week 12 NFL games didn’t exactly look like the most entertaining day of football, given that there were exactly zero matchups between teams with winning records. Instead, while the second slate of games ended up being one-sided, the early window delivered a series of frantic finishes and shocking turns. The final few minutes of regulation in those games were the best advertisement the NFL could ever do for the RedZone channel.
Some of those massive plays didn’t actually win their teams the game. The Panthers used a pair of pass interference penalties to set up a touchdown and the game-tying 2-point conversion from the 1-yard line against the Chiefs, but they left Patrick Mahomes just enough time to scramble into field goal range 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 that was 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 aside the Chiefs, let’s talk through three teams with young quarterbacks who were involved in dramatic games Sunday, both because they played in a compelling contest and because it’s a good time to discuss what’s going on with them. They all lost their games, but are they and their teams heading in the right direction? I’ll start in Chicago, where the Bears concluded a three-game homestand with their fifth straight defeat yet still might feel a sense of optimism about their future:
Jump to a matchup:
Vikings 30, Bears 27
Titans 32, Texans 27
Cowboys 34, Commanders 26
Week 12 result: Lost to the Vikings, 30-27
To a subset of Bears fans, the past two weeks have been something close to an ideal outcome. After the disastrous 19-3 loss to the Patriots led to widespread condemnation of the Chicago offense, the calls to fire 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 place of Eberflus, you’re likely enjoying Bears football right now.
While Eberflus deservedly came in for criticism after getting conservative in field goal range last week, I’m not sure there was much to be done in terms of game management Sunday. He correctly went for two in the fourth quarter down 24-16, although it didn’t work out when Williams couldn’t hit Keenan Allen. The Bears got the 2-pointer on their subsequent score to make it a three-point game with 29 seconds to go, and then chaos happened.