The penultimate week of the NFL regular season featured a Saturday tripleheader that showcased the Los Angeles Chargers vs. New England Patriots, Denver Broncos vs. Cincinnati Bengals and ended with the Arizona Cardinals at the Los Angeles Rams in the finale.
Jim Harbaugh, Justin Herbert and the Chargers earned a playoff berth with a win. The Bengals kept their playoff hopes alive by beating the Broncos in overtime. And the Rams are on the cusp of an NFC West title after winning in front for their home fans at SoFi Stadium.
USA TODAY Sport assesses the winners and losers from Saturday’s three NFL games:
WINNERS
Justin Herbert
Herbert threw for 281 yards and a season-high three touchdowns in a 40-7 demolition of the Patriots.
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During the contest, Herbert surpassed Hall of Fame QB Peyton Manning to become the NFL player with the most passing yards through five seasons. The Chargers quarterback has amassed 20,747 passing yards in his five-year career.
Saturday’s win earned Herbert his second career playoff appearance (he’s 0-1).
Jim Harbaugh
Harbaugh’s turned around programs at all his coaching stops. The head coach guided Stanford out of college football purgatory, turning the Cardinal into a Pac-10 power. He led the 49ers to a 44-19-1 record during four regular seasons and made one Super Bowl appearance. Then he turned Michigan’s football program around and helped the Wolverines win the 2023 national championship. Now, he’s led the Chargers to a playoff appearance in his first year at the helm.
Harbaugh’s Chargers punished the Patriots to advance to the postseason for just the fourth time since 2010. Fans at Gillette Stadium booed the Patriots as time expired.
It’ll be Harbaugh’s fourth time in the NFL playoffs. He went to the playoffs three times as the 49ers’ head coach, reaching the NFC title game every time.
Tee Higgins
Higgins, a free agent-to-be playing on the franchise tag, proved he’s worth top wide receiver money.
The Bengals wide receiver had his way with the Broncos’ secondary, picking them apart on a variety of intermediate routes. He tallied a career-high three touchdowns, doing most of his damage against helpless Broncos cornerback Riley Moss.
Higgins hauled in a 31-yard reception on a go-route in overtime to put the Bengals on Denver’s 3-yard line. On the ensuing play, Higgins caught the game-winning touchdown on an out route.
He produced 11 catches, 131 yards and a touchdown hat trick in the overtime win. He was the player of Saturday.
Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase and Mike Gesicki combined for 30 catches and 319 of Joe Burrow’s 412 passing yards.
Bengals’ playoff hopes
A four-game winning streak kept the Bengals’ slim playoff hopes alive. Cincinnati needs the Indianapolis Colts and Miami Dolphins to lose; they need to beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh next week; and need the Broncos to fall versus the Kansas City Chiefs next week.
The Bengals are the most dangerous team currently outside of the playoffs … yet they need the most help to get in.
Ahkello Witherspoon
The Rams cornerback caught the game-sealing interception with under 45 seconds remaining.
Kyler Murray’s pass deflected off tight end Trey McBride in the end zone. The ball hung in the air seemingly forever, and Witherspoon dove and got it.
Witherspoon also added six tackles and two pass deflections.
LOSERS
Patriots’ trick play
The Patriots tried to get cute midway through the second quarter and ran a toss reverse sweep. The timing of the play was awful. Drake Maye’s toss landed on the ground, and it was scooped up by Chargers safety Derwin James.
Los Angeles’ offense scored a touchdown off the turnover.
New England came into Week 17 with a minus-9 turnover differential, which ranked 27th in the NFL. The Patriots lost the turnover battle 1-0 against the Chargers.
The Patriots were also 0-for-3 on fourth downs.
Riley Moss
Moss had a game-high 14 tackles versus the Bengals, but that’s because Cincinnati picked on him all game.
The Broncos cornerback couldn’t cover Higgins at all. Per Next Gen Stats, Moss allowed seven catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns on 25 coverage snaps against Higgins, including the game-winning touchdown.
Broncos’ overtime offense
Bo Nix and Marvin Mims Jr. connected on a spectacular touchdown to force overtime. Denver’s overtime performance, however, was the antithesis of spectacular.
Nix and the Broncos’ offense couldn’t take advantage of a missed 33-yard field goal by Bengals kicker Cade York, going three-and-out for the second consecutive series.
Nix missed a couple of passes he should’ve completed and the Broncos couldn’t get anything going on the ground. Denver gained 6 yards on six plays in overtime.
Denver’s inability to move the football in OT cost it the game.
Seahawks
The Rams have a good chance to clinch the NFC West upon the conclusion of Week 17 due to the strength of victory tiebreaker. They’ll be rooting for the Bills, Browns, Vikings, Commanders and 49ers this weekend.
Next week’s game versus Seattle is meaningless if the Rams clinch via the strength of victory tiebreaker.