Welcome back to The MMQB newsletter. There is only one week remaining in the regular season and the playoff picture is all but set with just two postseason berths left unclaimed heading into Week 18. The Steelers and Ravens will battle for the AFC North title on Sunday, while the Buccaneers and Panthers will face off for the NFC South crown on Saturday. Playoff seeding is on the table as well, with the NFC's top seed on the line when the 49ers host the Seahawks on Saturday. It's been a miraculous end to the season for San Francisco, riding a six-game winning streak amid injury woes that have plagued the squad all year. Albert Breer spoke with Brock Purdy about what makes this 49ers team different after the star quarterback led his side to a thrilling victory over the Bears on Sunday Night Football. Plus, Conor Orr weighs in on a critical offseason for Tom Brady and the Raiders, and Mike Tomlin's terrible loss to the Browns, while Gilberto Manzano breaks down the remaining concerns for the Bills. |
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By Albert Breer We're nearly through 17 weeks of the 2025 season, with 17 games to go. And to recap the 15 games already played this extended holiday weekend, we have the takeaways … The game-winning touchdown in Sunday night's thriller was a microcosm of the 49ers' season—and how San Francisco has handled its trials. As Brock Purdy took the shotgun snap, it was journeyman Austen Pleasants, rather than future Hall of Famer Trent Williams, protecting his blindside from the left tackle spot. As Purdy looked downfield, there was no Deebo Samuel or Brandon Aiyuk or even George Kittle to look for. Given all that, and with the 49ers down 38–35 with 2:24 to go, it seemed to be time for the team's $55 million man to put the cape on. Instead, he sat there cool, calm, collected and content to run the play like Clark Kent. "Yeah, you know, if we had that look, just two-high safety, we had a little answer on the backside with [Jauan Jennings] to be able to get to that part of the field," Purdy told me over the phone, in a quiet moment postgame. "And, honestly, I just thought we had a good completion there, a good chunk play, and I was going to get ready for the next play call. But, obviously, he cross-courted it and made a great play to score. "So I didn't really expect that. It was really cool, but it was just J.J. being a football player." It was also enough to put the 49ers over the top on this night, with the 38-yard touchdown giving San Francisco a 42–38 win over a tough Bears team, and a place in a winner-take-all clash Saturday against the Seahawks for the NFC West crown and the conference's No. 1 seed. |
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Mitchell Leff/Getty Images |
By Conor Orr As Tom Brady closed out a solid, one-gloved broadcast Sunday in Buffalo, his attention no doubt turned to—or was already leaning toward—the NFL draft. Buoyed by some swift administrative work that had Las Vegas's two best players off the field, a lifeless Raiders club was roundly beaten by the Giants, a team that had not won on the road since Jan. 5, in a meaningless end-of-season game against the Eagles in Philadelphia. This all but secured the Raiders the No. 1 pick at a critical juncture. The franchise has not made the playoffs since 2021, under interim coach Rich Bisaccia. Before that? In 2016, under Jack Del Rio. Before that? Their Super Bowl season in 2002. The Raiders have been a case study in personality disorder, having tried on so many different identities in such a short period of time that the remaining pieces are merely cockroach survivors, not building blocks. This is a team that has perpetually lacked a sense of self since Y2K. Selling Brady a sweetheart percentage of minority ownership was a very expensive, complicated and clamorous way of changing that. Brady, the greatest quarterback in NFL history, now has a chance to draft a quarterback at the top of the board. He has the chance to trade his best, slightly disgruntled player before the draft (Maxx Crosby) and he will very likely have a second opportunity in as many years to help hire a head coach and assemble a staff. |
By Gilberto Manzano I'm sure there are diehard Clemson and Jaguars fans who are taking their victory laps and shouting "I told you so" to all the Trevor Lawrence nonbelievers after Jacksonville's signature 34–20 victory vs. Denver on Sunday. It took longer than expected, but finally, Lawrence is playing up to the high expectations that were placed on him as the 2021 No. 1 pick coming out of Clemson. Lawrence carved up the Broncos' dominant defense and has Jaguars fans thinking about the Super Bowl for the first time in a long time. I know Lawrence has the epic come-from-behind wild-card win over the Chargers in 2022, but what he did to the Broncos' stout defense on Sunday might be the best performance of his five-year career. |
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Nick Cammett/Getty Images |
By Conor Orr Use all the necessary qualifiers you want, including the fact that Aaron Rodgers was throwing DK Metcalf–style routes to, well, someone who wasn't DK Metcalf, in the frantic, waning moments of the game. That T.J. Watt is recovering from surgery due to a collapsed lung. That receiver Calvin Austin III was out, further depleting the wide receiving corps. That behemoth tight end Darnell Washington broke his arm in the first half. That most of the Steelers' secondary was on the injury report. And still, Sunday was one of the most inexcusable losses of the Mike Tomlin era. Pittsburgh fell to a previously three-win Browns team (technically still eligible for the No. 1 pick in the draft) by a score of 13–6 in a game that could have clinched an AFC North title and knocked the Ravens out of contention. Now, Pittsburgh has to host the same Ravens team that put up 41 points against the Packers on Saturday without Lamar Jackson. Jackson, too, will have another week to heal from a back contusion and potentially make an appearance in this winner-go-home contest. So ends the brief honeymoon Tomlin had enjoyed through a stretch of three wins after a tumultuous blowout loss to the Bills in Week 13, able to clap back at everyone who questioned his unquestioned status as the team's coach of tenure with wins over the flailing Ravens, Dolphins and Lions, that first win over Baltimore aided by the controversial overturning of an Isaiah Likely touchdown that necessitated testimony from an MIT metaphysics expert to legitimize. |
Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images |
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By Matt Verderame Kyle Shanahan has a vision. A dream to raise the Lombardi Trophy. It's something he's worked for over 21 NFL seasons and never achieved. But in this, his 21st attempt, Shanahan has the best hand he's ever been dealt. This certainly isn't the best 49ers team he's coached. Even after beating the Bears in a 42–38, high-octane shootout on Sunday Night Football to improve to 12–4, there's no case to be made that this is the most talented roster he's overseen. In 2019, San Francisco went 13–3 and cruised to the NFC's top seed. It had a hoard of superstars, including linebacker Fred Warner, tight end George Kittle, defensive end Joey Bosa, defensive tackles DeForest Buckner and Arik Armstead, rookie wideout Deebo Samuel and corner Richard Sherman, among others. In the playoffs, the 49ers dispatched the Vikings and Packers by a combined score of 64–30. In the Super Bowl, they led the Chiefs 20–10 with under seven minutes remaining. Then Patrick Mahomes happened. Final score: Chiefs 31, 49ers 20. |
By Matt Verderame, Gilberto Manzano Forget about Eagles OC Kevin Patullo for a moment. Let's focus on Philly's defense. Philadelphia beat the Bills on Sunday in rainy Orchard Park, winning 13–12 behind a defensive effort worthy of contender status. The Eagles shut out Josh Allen & Co. for the first three quarters before finally allowing 12 points in the final frame, worn down after the offense managed a measly 17 second-half yards. All told, coordinator Vic Fangio put on a master class. The Bills were held to 4.5 yards per play and went 6-of-15 on third down while James Cook, the league's leading rusher entering the game, was limited to 74 yards on 20 carries. As for Allen, the Eagles harassed him throughout, totaling five sacks and a lost fumble. To win the Super Bowl, the Eagles need so much more from their offense. Patullo can't sit on a two-score lead against a good team. Jalen Hurts can't go 13-of-27 for 110 yards passing. Saquon Barkley can't rush for 3.6 yards per carry. None of that works. But if there's a reason to hope for back-to-back titles in Philadelphia, it's because the defense is playing at an elite level, having not allowed more than 24 points since Week 6. |
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David Jensen/Getty Images |
By Matt Verderame In Week 17, the Broncos clinched the AFC West by beating the Chiefs on Christmas and getting a Chargers loss to the Texans on Saturday. The Bears also earned the NFC North title with the Packers' loss to the Ravens, with Green Bay backing into the playoffs with Detroit's loss to Minnesota. The Texans are also in the playoffs after their win over the Chargers.
Elsewhere, there's chaos. Week 18 will have a pair of winner-take-all divisional matchups, with the Steelers hosting the Ravens, and the Panthers visiting the Buccaneers. The winners of those games will be their conference's fourth seeds while the losers will be eliminated from postseason contention. |
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