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Crazy Week 15 of the NFL season

December 19, 2024
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Crazy Week 15 of the NFL season

he Los Angeles Rams kicked off Week 15 of the NFL season with a Thursday night win over the San Francisco 49ers.

On Sunday, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson had an impressive five-touchdown performance, and wide receiver Davante Adams had his best game yet for the New York Jets, grabbing nine receptions for 198 yards. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was removed in the fourth quarter of the victory against the Cleveland Browns with an ankle injury.

Later, the Buffalo Bills handed the Detroit Lions their second loss of the season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers blew out the Los Angeles Chargers and the Philadelphia Eagles won the “Pennsylvania State Championship.”

Our NFL Nation reporters reacted to all the action, answering lingering questions coming out of each game and detailing everything else you need to know for every team. Let’s get to it.

The Houston Texans defeated Miami, 20-12, and along with Indianapolis’ Week 15 loss, clinched the AFC South division title for the second consecutive season. Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans is the sixth head coach since 2000 to win a division in each of his first two seasons, joining Jim Caldwell, Jim Harbaugh, Matt LaFleur, Sean McVay and Mike Tomlin.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, with losses by Indianapolis and Miami in Week 15, clinched a playoff berth for the fourth time in the past five seasons.

The Buffalo Bills defeated Detroit, 48-42, and became the fifth team all-time to score 30 points in eight consecutive games within a single season, joining the 2013 Denver Broncos, the 2007 and 2010 New England Patriots, and the 2000 St. Louis Rams.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen passed for 362 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns in Week 15, after recording three touchdown passes and three rushing touchdowns in Week 14.

Allen is the first player in NFL history with at least two touchdown passes and two rushing touchdowns in consecutive games and the first player all-time with three such games in a season.

Allen is the second player ever with at least 350 passing yards, 50 rushing yards, two touchdown passes and two rushing touchdowns in a game, joining Russell Wilson (Sept. 22, 2019, with Seattle).

Allen has 74 career regular-season wins, tied with Patrick Mahomes (74 wins) for the second-most regular-season wins by a quarterback in his first seven seasons in NFL history. Only Russell Wilson (75) has more.

Allen, who has 11 rushing touchdowns this season and had 15 rushing touchdowns in 2023, is the third quarterback all-time with at least 10 rushing touchdowns in multiple career seasons, joining Jalen Hurts (four seasons) and Cam Newton (three).

Allen has a rushing touchdown in five consecutive games, and along with his five-game streak of rushing touchdowns in 2023, is the first quarterback ever with multiple five-game streaks with a rushing touchdown.

The Philadelphia Eagles defeated Pittsburgh, 27-13, for their franchise-record 10th-consecutive win.

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who recorded two separate winning streaks of 11 games from 2021-22 and 2022-23, is the fifth quarterback since 1950 with at least three career winning streaks of 10-or-more games, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers John Elway and Peyton Manning as well as Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.

The Denver Broncos defeated Indianapolis, 31-13, to improve to 9-5 and clinched their first winning season since 2016 (9-7). Broncos linebacker Nik Bonitto had a 50-yard fumble-return touchdown in Week 15 and along with his 71-yard interception-return for a touchdown in Week 13 prior to the team’s Week 14 bye, became the first linebacker since 1970 with a 50-yard defensive touchdown in consecutive games.

Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson completed 21 of 25 pass attempts (84 percent) for 290 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions for a 154.6 passer rating and rushed for 65 yards in the Ravens’ 35-14 win at the New York Giants.

Jackson became the first player in NFL history with five touchdown passes, 50-or-more rushing yards and a completion percentage of 80-or-higher in a regular-season game (Josh Allen reached these marks on Jan. 15, 2022, in the AFC Wild Card round).

Jackson has eight career games with a passer rating of 150-or-higher, tied with Drew Brees (eight games) and Ben Roethlisberger (eight) for the most such games (minimum 15 pass attempts in each game) in NFL history.

Jackson has six career games with at least five touchdown passes, tied with Patrick Mahomes (six games), Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Marino (six) and Ben Roethlisberger (six) for the fourth-most such games in NFL history. Only Drew Brees (11 games), Tom Brady (nine) and Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (nine) have more.

Jackson is the third player all-time with three games of three-or-more touchdown passes and a passer rating of 150-or-higher in a season, joining Drew Brees (2018) and Kirk Cousins (2015).

Jackson has 6,001 career rushing yards and became the second quarterback in NFL history with at least 6,000 rushing yards, joining Michael Vick (6,109 rushing yards).

Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes had two touchdown passes in the Chiefs’ 21-7 win at Cleveland.

Mahomes has 87 career regular-season wins and surpassed Tom Brady (86 wins) and Russell Wilson (86) for the most wins by a starting quarterback in his first eight seasons in NFL history.

Mahomes has 74 career regular-season games with at least two touchdown passes, tied with Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (74 games) for the most such games by a player in his first eight seasons in NFL history.

Mahomes has 241 career regular-season touchdown passes, tied with Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Marino (241 touchdown passes) for the second-most touchdown passes by a player in his first eight seasons in NFL history. Only Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (244 touchdown passes) has more.

Mahomes has 31,772 career regular season passing yards and surpassed Derek Carr (31,700 passing yards) for the third-most passing yards ever by a player in his first eight seasons. Only Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (33,189 passing yards) and Matt Ryan (32,757) have more.

Mahomes has 300 career combined passing and rushing touchdowns (282 passing, 18 rushing) in 128 games, including the playoffs, and surpassed Aaron Rodgers (135 games) as the fastest player to reach 300 combined passing and rushing touchdowns, including the postseason, in NFL history.

Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow recorded three touchdown passes and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase registered nine receptions for 94 yards in the Bengals’ 37-27 win at Tennessee.

Burrow became the fifth player in NFL history with at least three touchdown passes in six consecutive games, joining Tom Brady (10 consecutive games in 2007) and Andrew Luck (eight in 2018) as well as Pro Football Hall of Famers Peyton Manning (eight in 2004) and Dan Marino (seven from 1986-87).

Burrow, who has 36 touchdowns passes this season and had 35 touchdown passes in 2022, became the fifth player in NFL history with at least 35 touchdown passes in two of his first five seasons, joining Josh Allen (three seasons) and Patrick Mahomes (three) as well as Pro Football Hall of Famers Dan Marino (two) and Kurt Warner (two).

Burrow has 133 career touchdown passes and surpassed Andrew Luck (132 touchdown passes) for the fifth-most by a player in his first five seasons in NFL history. Only Pro Football Hall of Famers Dan Marino (168 touchdown passes) and Peyton Manning (138) as well as Patrick Mahomes (151) and Josh Allen (138) have more.

Chase leads the NFL with 102 receptions, 1,413 receiving yards and 15 touchdown receptions this season and became the fifth player in NFL history with at least 100 receptions, 1,400 receiving yards and 15 touchdown receptions in a season, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Marvin Harrison (2001), Randy Moss (2003) and Jerry Rice (1995) as well as Cooper Kupp (2021).

Washington rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels completed 25 of 31 pass attempts (80.6 percent) for 226 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions for a 118.5 passer rating and added 66 rushing yards while wide receiver Terry McLaurin had seven receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns in the Commanders’ 20-19 win at New Orleans.

Daniels is the first rookie and the fifth player overall in NFL history with four games with a completion percentage of 80-or-higher (minimum 20 attempts in each game) in a season, joining Drew Brees (2018), Kirk Cousins (2019), Trevor Lawrence (2022) and Dak Prescott (2023).

Daniels has 3,045 passing yards and 656 rushing yards and became the fourth rookie quarterback in NFL history with at least 3,000 passing yards and 500 rushing yards, joining Robert Griffin III (2012), Kyler Murray (2019) and Cam Newton (2011).

Daniels’ 656 rushing yards are the fourth-most ever by a rookie quarterback, trailing only Robert Griffin III (815 rushing yards in 2012), Cam Newton (706 in 2011) and Lamar Jackson (695 in 2018).

McLaurin, who has 68 receptions and 969 receiving yards this season, became the fourth player in NFL history with 50 receptions and 900 receiving yards in each of his first six seasons, joining Mike Evans, A.J. Green and Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss. Seattle’s DK Metcalf (54 receptions and 812 receiving yards in 2024) can join this group on Sunday Night Football in Week 15.

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers passed for 289 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions for a 120.0 passer rating and wide receiver Davante Adams had nine receptions for 198 yards and two touchdowns in the team’s 32-25 win at Jacksonville.

Rodgers has 159 career games with at least two touchdown passes, tied with Pro Football Hall of Famer Brett Favre (159 games) for the fourth-most such games in NFL history. Only Tom Brady (204 games), Drew Brees (173) and Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (165) have more.

Adams has 101 career touchdown receptions and became the sixth player in NFL history with at least 100 receiving touchdowns in his first 11 seasons, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Jerry Rice (146), Randy Moss (135), Marvin Harrison (122) and Terrell Owens (114) as well as Mike Evans (103).

Adams has 18 career games with at least 100 receiving yards and two touchdown receptions, tied with Pro Football Hall of Famer Don Hutson (18 games) for the fourth-most such games in NFL history. Only Pro Football Hall of Famers Jerry Rice (27 games), Randy Moss (26) and Marvin Harrison (22) have more.

Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield, in his 100th career start, passed for 288 yards and four touchdowns and wide receiver Mike Evans recorded nine receptions for 159 yards and two touchdowns in the Buccaneers’ 40-17 win at the Los Angeles Chargers.

Mayfield has 159 touchdown passes, the fifth-most touchdown passes by a quarterback selected No. 1 overall in his first 100 career starts, trailing only Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (178 touchdown passes), Matthew Stafford (178), Andrew Luck (171 in 86 starts) and Carson Palmer (160).

Evans, who has 52 receptions this season, became the fifth player at time with at least 50 receptions in each of his first 11 seasons, joining Anquan Boldin, Pro Football Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison, Torry Holt and Larry Fitzgerald.

Evans has seven career games with at least 150 receiving yards and two touchdown receptions, surpassing Pro Football Hall of Famers Lance Alworth (six games) and Bob Hayes (six) as well as Mark Duper (six) for the fourth-most such games by a player in his first 11 seasons in NFL history. Only Pro Football Hall of Famers Jerry Rice (15 games) and Don Maynard (eight) as well as Tyreek Hill (eight, in first nine seasons) have more.

  • Additional notes from Sunday include:
    • Dallas wide receiver CeeDee Lamb had nine receptions for 116 yards and one touchdown and linebacker Micah Parsons had two sacks in the Cowboys’ 30-14 win at Carolina.

      Lamb has 489 career receptions and surpassed Jarvis Landry (481 receptions) for the second-most receptions by a player in his first five seasons in NFL history. Only Michael Thomas (510 receptions) has more.

      Parsons has 14 career games with at least two sacks, tied with Simeon Rice (14 games) for the fourth-most such games by a player in his first four seasons since 1982, when the individual sack became an official statistic. Only Pro Football Hall of Famers Reggie White (22 games) and Richard Dent (16) as well as J.J. Watt (15) have more.

    • Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert passed for 195 yards and two touchdowns with one interception in Week 15.

      Herbert has 20,182 passing yards since entering the NFL in 2020 and joined Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (20,618 passing yards) as the only players with at least 20,000 passing yards in their first five seasons in NFL history.

      Herbert, from Weeks 2-14, recorded 357 consecutive pass attempts without an interception, the fifth-longest such streak in NFL history, trailing only Aaron Rodgers (402 consecutive pass attempts in 2018), Tom Brady (399 in 2022 and 358 from 2010-11) and Jared Goff (383 from 2022-23).

    • New York Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers had 10 receptions in Week 15 and joined Odell Beckham Jr. (four games), Jaylen Waddle (three) and Brock Bowers (three, entering Week 15) as the only rookies in NFL history with three games of 10-or-more receptions.

      Nabers has 90 receptions this season and joined Odell Beckham Jr. (91 receptions) as the only players with at least 90 receptions in their first 12 career games in NFL history.

    • Jacksonville rookie wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. registered 10 receptions for 105 yards and two touchdowns while tight end Brenton Strange recorded 11 receptions in Week 15.

      Thomas Jr. is the sixth rookie in NFL history with at least 10 receptions, 100 receiving yards and two touchdown receptions in a game, joining Odell Beckham Jr. (Nov. 23, 2014, and Dec. 14, 2014, with the New York Giants), Anquan Boldin (Sept. 7, 2003 with Arizona), Jerry Butler (Sept. 23, 1979, with Buffalo), Ja’Marr Chase (Jan. 2, 2022 with Cincinnati) and Darius Slayton (Nov. 10, 2019, with the New York Giants).

      Thomas Jr. (22 years old) and Strange (23 years old) are fourth pair of teammates each under the age of 24 to record at least 10 receptions in the same game in NFL history, joining the New York Giants’ Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson (Sept. 26, 2024), Green Bay’s Davante Adams and Ty Montgomery (Oct. 20, 2016) and New Orleans’ Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead (Dec. 21, 2015).

    • Detroit quarterback Jared Goff passed for 494 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown had 14 receptions for 193 yards and one touchdown in Week 15.

      Goff is the first player in NFL history with four career games with at least 400 passing yards, four touchdown passes and no interceptions, surpassing Joe Burrow (three games), Drew Brees (three), Patrick Mahomes (three), Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (three) and Aaron Rodgers (three).

      Goff has 40 career games with at least 300 passing yards and became the fifth quarterback in NFL history with 40 such games in his first nine career seasons, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Peyton Manning (40 games) and Dan Marino (41) as well as Patrick Mahomes (47, in first eight seasons) and Matt Ryan (41).

      St. Brown has 410 receptions since entering the NFL in 2021 and joined Michael Thomas (470 receptions) and Jarvis Landry (400) as the only players with 400 receptions in their first four seasons in NFL history.

      St. Brown has 46 games with at least five receptions and surpassed CeeDee Lamb (45 games) for the third-most such games by a player in his first four career seasons in NFL history. Only Michael Thomas (52 games) and Jarvis Landry (49) have more.

    • New Orleans running back Alvin Kamara recorded his 25th career touchdown reception and along with 60 career rushing touchdowns, became the fourth player in NFL history with at least 50 rushing touchdowns and 25 receiving touchdowns, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Marshall Faulk and Lenny Moore as well as Christian McCaffrey.
    • Pittsburgh linebacker T.J. Watt had two sacks and a forced fumble in Week 15

Watt has at least two sacks in 25 career games and became the fifth player with at least 25 such games in his first eight seasons since 1982, when the individual sack became an official statistic, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Reggie White (33 games) and Richard Dent (25) as well as Jared Allen (28) and Simeon Rice (27) have more.

Watt has 33 career forced fumbles and surpassed Pro Football Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware (32 forced fumbles) for the third-most by a player in his first eight seasons since 2000. Only Pro Football Hall of Famer Dwight Freeney (36 forced fumbles) and Robert Mathis (36) have more

Monday Night Showdown….

The bye weeks are over and playoff spots are beginning to get clinched as Week 15 rolls on, culminating in a Monday Night Football doubleheader once again.

The Chicago Bears (4-9) will first visit the Minnesota Vikings (11-2), followed shortly after by a matchup between the Atlanta Falcons (6-7) and the Las Vegas Raiders (2-11).

The Vikings are coming into Monday on a six-game winning streak, having not lost since Week 8. They have a chance to clinch a playoff spot with a win over the Bears — if they haven’t already gotten in by game time thanks to a Seahawks loss on Sunday night. Meanwhile, Chicago will be trying to snap a seven-game losing streak and get its first win under interim head coach Thomas Brown in this NFC North matchup.

Thirty minutes later on the docket is a cross-conference showdown, with the Atlanta Falcons looking to keep pace with the Buccaneers in the NFC South race, and the Raiders still looking to play spoiler and earn their first win since Week 4.

As the season races toward its conclusion, both of Monday’s games could have significant implications for playoff contention and draft seeding while providing some weeknight entertainment to close out Week 15.

Here are four things to watch for when the Bears-Vikings and Falcons-Raiders games kick off on Monday Night Football on ESPN, ABC and NFL+:

1) The Bears need a win. It may be an understatement to say the Bears have had a rough go of it as of late. As multiple last-second heartbreaking losses sank Chicago from a 4-2 start to now a 4-9 record, the Bears first fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and then head coach Matt Eberflus after a Thanksgiving Day disaster, promoting Thomas Brown twice now to his role as interim head coach. But the Bears weren’t able to spark anything with the coaching changes last week, and Brown’s debut fell flat with a 38-13 loss to the 49ers. Notably, the defense that had been relatively consistent for most of the year had its worst game of the season under defensive coordinator Eric Washington’s play-calling. The unit allowed 400-plus yards for the third straight game and a season-high in points to a Niners team that was missing multiple key pieces. And then the offense — Brown’s area of expertise — was at one point in the first half outgained 320-2, with only minor improvements during the second half. If Brown wants a chance at earning the full-time gig through this trial run, Monday night and the following three games will need to be a sharp 180 turn from last week’s frustrating outing.

 

2) Vikings dynamic WR duo getting in sync. Everything seems to be clicking right now for the Vikings, from Sam Darnold getting his temporary turnover issues under control to the defense continuing to put pressure on opponents and get celebration-worthy turnovers. But one of the most encouraging signs at this point in the season, with a likely playoff run looming, is the tandem of Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison hitting their stride at the same time down the stretch. Both receivers have had big games this season, but up until last week they had not both been at their best simultaneously. Against the Falcons, though, Jefferson and Addision had 132 and 133 receiving yards, respectively, the first time this season they had hit the 100-yard mark in the same game. With five receiving touchdowns between them, they led Minnesota to 42 points for its highest score of the season. This duo will now face off against the Bears’ No. 16-ranked pass defense, though the unit surrendered 321 passing yards last week against the 49ers. If they can put together another high-volume game this week, it could be the sign that this offense is peaking at the perfect time, and could be even more dangerous than it’s been through the first three-fourths of the season.

3) Atlanta needs Cousins back on track. The Falcons remain in contention for the NFC South crown but have not looked like a division-winning team over the last four weeks — a stretch in which they have lost all four of their games by a combined 60 points, including getting doubled-up by the Vikings last week. A large portion of the problems over this span can be attributed to the regression by Kirk Cousins, who has zero touchdown passes and eight interceptions in that span. It is the first time in his career that he’s had four consecutive games with lower than an 80.0 passer rating, with seven total such outings in 13 starts this year. Before then, Cousins had a 17-7 TD-INT ratio, but now he leads the league in picks. The struggles have been notable enough that head coach Raheem Morris has now had to address whether to continue starting Cousins after the last two games, choosing to stand behind his QB despite the presence of rookie Michael Penix Jr. in the wings. This isn’t the Falcons’ sole issue they need to improve on if they want to get back in the win column, much less overtake the Buccaneers in the race over the last four weeks. But it starts with the play of their veteran quarterback, and this week could be a make-or-break opportunity with questions already swirling.

 

4) Vegas’ QB situation an unknown. Injuries haven’t been kind to the Raiders this season, with the latest blow coming in the form of Maxx Crosby’s season-ending ankle surgery. And there’s another injury storyline that bears monitoring with Monday’s game approaching, as the Raiders could have to send out their third starting quarterback of the season. Aidan O’Connell is the latest 4QB to deal with injury after suffering a bone bruise in his knee during last week’s game. The injury initially appeared significantly more serious, but even still O’Connell has missed all three practices this week and is questionable to play. O’Connell’s season has been up and down, taking over after Gardner Minshew’s benching, then injuring his thumb, and then returning to his QB1 role for the last two games, though he holds an 0-4 record in his starts. It’s looking less and less likely his injury will allow him to play this week, but if he does, it’ll give him a needed chance to lead his team to a victory. But if he isn’t able to go, it’ll be Desmond Ridder at the helm, with the QB coming in with personal history with the Falcons. Ridder played with Atlanta the last two years, starting 13 games in 2023. He went 6-7 with 2,836 yards, 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, and was benched multiple times by then-head coach Arthur Smith. He was ultimately traded to the Cardinals after Cousins’ signing, and then cut and signed by Las Vegas ahead of the regular season. Now if O’Connell is unable to play, he could get an opportunity to show his stuff to his new team and his old one. We’ll likely have to wait until just before game time to know whether it’ll be O’Connell or Ridder taking the start, but either QB’s performance will be worth paying special attention to.