Welcome back to The MMQB newsletter. The regular season is in the books, the playoff picture is set and Black Monday is here, already bringing about significant coaching changes around the league. But before we dive deeper into the coaching carousel, Albert Breer takes us back to Sunday night in Pittsburgh, where Aaron Rodgers led the Steelers to victory over the Ravens, securing the AFC North title and a spot in the postseason. It's been a weird and wild ride for Rodgers this season, but against all odds, the veteran has ridden the roller coaster back to the playoffs for the first time since 2021. Plus, Breer breaks down the entire postseason picture with his playoff preview, explaining why each team could win the Super Bowl. And Conor Orr lists seven potential coaching candidates for the Browns after Kevin Stefanski's firing and analyzes what went wrong for Raheem Morris and the Falcons. |
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By Albert Breer The takeaways are back for 2026, with the '25 regular season now complete, and the 272nd game giving you all the drama you could ask for. Let's dive in … It was pretty cool seeing Aaron Rodgers getting choked up on the field postgame Sunday night—and I think that was a real reflection from the Steelers' quarterback on where he is. And it was followed, as I've heard it, by Rodgers telling numerous people in the organization how much he's appreciated getting to be a part of what's going on there now. This year hasn't been perfect, of course. But it was clear listening to Rodgers postgame, as he joined NBC's Melissa Stark with teammates T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward, that all this wouldn't be as meaningful if it wasn't this difficult to get back to the playoffs. "It's pretty emotional," he told Stark. "It's been a great year. I'm thankful for these guys." Game 272 was a home run. It had Lamar Jackson shaking the rust off and connecting for 50- and 64-yard touchdown strikes to Zay Flowers in the fourth quarter. It had Rodgers coolly directing three scoring drives of 60 yards or longer in the second half, and looking as in command as he has at any point since becoming a Steeler. And what you didn't see was how those relationships Rodgers has built within Pittsburgh's organization paid off when it counted most. |
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By Conor Orr For the first time since their rebirth in 2002, the Browns seemed to find stability at the head coaching position with Kevin Stefanski. He lasted six seasons in Cleveland and reached the playoffs twice. However, after a five-win season and the departure of the strategy czar who blessed Stefanski's hiring (Paul DePodesta), the Browns have found themselves at a coaching crossroads again. Given Baker Mayfield's success in Tampa Bay after the Browns exiled the former No. 1 pick, Stefanski's story could have some familiarity for Cleveland fans. With a dearth of accomplished play-callers available in this year's cycle, Stefanski will quickly vault to the top of a couple teams' wishlists. Some in the industry have paired Stefanski as an ideal fit for both the Giants and Titans—two teams armed with young, talented quarterbacks looking for an offensive identity. It may not be long before the Browns' two-time AP Coach of the Year is winning that hardware in another locale. While the Browns are riding the momentum of a solid 2025 draft, Stefanski's firing highlights what has been the central issue of this team for a quarter century: The team is a cross-section of decent, well-conceived ideas (alongside perhaps the worst idea in modern NFL history) and, like many teams that are perpetually noncompetitive, happens to stumble into top-of-the-league talent. However, the Browns are seemingly never all in one place at once. |
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By Albert Breer The 2025 NFL playoffs are officially here, and so, too, is my annual preview of the field. As always, these scouting reports are the result of many calls with executives and coaches over the past few weeks to dig into the nitty-gritty of a playoff field that's as wide open as it's been in years. So as the regular season ends, let's dive in.
Read more at the link below. |
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By Conor Orr Heading into Black Monday—and perhaps its lesser-known but nearly-as-bleak counterpart, Ship Gray Sunday—many expected the Raiders to be the first team to announce a change at their head coaching position. But the Falcons offered the first decision resembling a surprise on Sunday by dismissing head coach Raheem Morris mere hours after he logged his fourth consecutive win to close out the season at 8–9. And while Morris was considered safer than general manager Terry Fontenot going into the weekend, the fact that both were let go signals a clear change of direction for the franchise. The team is having two different firms work to identify its next general manager and head coach, though the goal is absolute: to ultimately have a front office that can service and work with the coaching department more effectively. Fontenot struggled to supply the previous head coach, Arthur Smith, with players who fit his ideal scheme and left the team without an option at quarterback. Then, during the Morris era, the Falcons puzzlingly backstopped the signing of Kirk Cousins to a high-end contract with the selection of Michael Penix Jr., neither of whom seemed to find a comfortable landing spot on this iteration of the Falcons. The 2025 first round, which saw the Falcons nearly surrender a catastrophically high pick to the Rams, seemed to highlight a team that was some combination of desperate or just disjointed. |
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By Conor Orr If this ends up being the end for John Harbaugh in Baltimore, let's remember him walking briskly up behind Tyler Loop, catching him a few long strides away from the entrance to the visitor's locker room and putting his arm around the embattled kicker as the pair walked into the abyss (but not before getting machine gun-style videotaped and photographed by the waiting media on the way). Loop, bless his heart, will never forget that missed kick as long as he lives. He'll also never get the benefit of the doubt or the proper qualifiers attached to that moment—that Acrisure Stadium in sub-30 degree temperatures is one of the four most difficult places to kick in the NFL, according to league data. That the entire stadium is a blender of howling winter wind. That the frozen turf is post-Pangea-like, chunked up and unforgiving, disallowing for proper foot placement. But I also think he'll remember having a head coach who cared enough to at least try to mitigate the avalanche in his heart. The same as Mark Andrews last year, when the Ravens were bounced from the playoffs after Andrews dropped a critical two-point conversion ball in the end zone. Harbaugh said after the game that night in Buffalo that "There's nobody that has more heart and cares more and fights more than Mark." A few days later, Harbaugh said at a press conference that Andrews had a long-term future with the team, thus softening one of the more agonizing portions of the offseason, wondering whether that play would have forced the franchise stalwart to change zip codes. |
By Matt Verderame
It's been another down year for the Browns, but at least Clevelanders have something to remember that will make them smile.
On Sunday, Myles Garrett broke the single-season sack record, a mark that has held up since 2001 when Michael Strahan had 22.5 sacks. T.J. Watt tied Strahan with his '21 effort, but Garrett was able to eclipse it when he sacked Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow in the fourth quarter of the Browns' 20–18 win. Garrett's career has been light on team achievements but full of individual accolades. He's the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and a soon-to-be five-time first-team All-Pro. Garrett also has 125.5 career sacks, putting him 20th since sacks became official in 1982, tied with Dwight Freeney. With 13 sacks in 2026, Garrett could move into ninth on the list depending on whether Cameron Jordan or Von Miller continue playing. Regardless, Garrett is one of the best pass rushers in NFL history, and now owns the biggest single-season defensive record in the sport. |
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By Matt Verderame Of course, the big game was on Sunday night and it turned into a classic. Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson combined for 532 passing yards, with the game won by Pittsburgh when Baltimore's rookie kicker, Tyler Loop, missed a 44-yard field goal as time expired in a 26–24 loss for Baltimore. As a result, the Steelers are the AFC North champions and will host the Texans on Monday night. On the NFC side, the picture is set. Seattle will have the lone bye while the Bears earned the second seed despite losing to the Lions, allowing them to host the Packers on wild-card weekend. The Eagles will welcome in the 49ers as well in the matchup between third and sixth seeds, while the Rams visit the Panthers in Charlotte. Let's get to all the scenarios below, starting with the AFC playoff picture. |
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