The end of the 2025-26 NFL Season is upon us and there are a few things that have changed for the better. The competitive balance throughout the league right now is off the charts. Nobody knows how conferences, end of the season awards, or even how divisions will turn out by the time the New Year comes around. With neither AFC or NFC Champion from last season being a top two seed right now in the playoff picture, who knows how the last couple of weeks will play out.
AFC Overview: Out With The Old, In With The New.
The Kansas Chiefs are 6-7 and currently sit in third place in the AFC West, which is something nobody expected. After the loss on
Sunday Night Football against the Houston Texans, the Chiefs playoff chances got shot down to 15%. The Denver Broncos are holding the crown as the number one seed in the AFC along with the top seed in the AFC West. The LA Chargers are another sneaky team in the West. Coming off of their 22-19 hard fought Monday Night Football win against the Philadelphia Eagles, they find themselves just two games behind of the Broncos.
To highlight some more of the surprising teams, the battle of the AFC South was a fun to watch, until this past week. On Sunday (12/7) the 8-4 Jacksonville Jaguars played host to the 8-4 Indianapolis Colts. These two teams were fighting for the division. The Colts haven’t seen a division title since 2014, but the power and the offensive scheming from head coach Shane Steichen and Daniel “Indiana Jones” was straightening this squad out. The Jaguars ended up winning, 36-19. Colts Comeback Player of The Year (CPOTY) candidate and star Quarterback Daniel Jones, suffered a season ending achilles tear, and will be out for the season. Indianapolis recently worked out now unretired quarterback Philip Rivers and he sits at the age of 44. Not everyone can pull a Brady, but that’s all that will be said. If all cards are played right, the Jags should have this division locked up.
Nobody liked seeing the duo of Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid in the Super Bowl three years in a row. Neither did anyone like seeing Belichick and Brady dominate for a decade, it gets boring to watch after a while. One of the best parts about it is that there are a ton of young players who are leading the way. So, during this season there has been some change and us fans are more than happy to see it.
NFC Overview: New Contenders Rise.
The Chicago Bears are making their statement. After bringing in a ton of pieces for their roster, along with brand new head coach Ben Johnson, this team has showed who they are so far this season. Their biggest victory yet, was against the Eagles on Black Friday. The Bears haven’t seen a season with an above .500 record since 2018, now they’re competing for a division and they will be fighting for a conference championship come playoff time. As far as team totals go, they sit in the fifth spot for total offense this season, and have 4,806 total offensive yards. Although the Bears took a heartbreaking loss to the Packers on Sunday (12/7), they have given this competitive NFC conference yet another team to look out for later on this season.
The Super Bowl champions were doing fine…until they weren’t. The Philadelphia Eagles were in the driver’s seat, looking forward to finishing the season at the top of the NFC. This all fell apart in week 12. The Eagles took the trip to Arlington Texas, to play their longtime rival, the Dallas Cowboys. Things were looking great, even AJ Brown was getting all of the catches that he was so worried about. The Birds went into halftime up 21-0, then things collapsed from there. They ended up losing that game after an unanswered comeback that was finished by a Brandon Aubrey 42 yard field goal with three seconds remaining. To make things worse, the Bears loss was already mentioned, and so was the Chargers loss, this loss has some more too it then just the defeat. Although Jalen Hurts threw not one, but four interceptions, this game was only lost by three, 22-19. They are back home in week 15. They’ll play host to the Las Vegas Raiders, which should be a game in which they should be able to get back on track.
End of Season Awards
By week 15, NFL usually fans will have an idea on who the frontrunner is for each award. For Most Valuable Player (MVP), there are two candidates that one up each other every week, going back and forth for the frontrunner position. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and Patriots quarterback Drake Maye are the two at the top of the list currently. Although the NFL MVP award has been and always will be a quarterback award, Colts running back Jonathan Taylor is making a strong push as a non quarterback. Taylor has rushed for 1,356 yards, 16 touchdowns, and he’s averaging 5.5 yards per carry.
Rookies making a change
NFL Rookies have been another factor that fits well into this topic. A perfect example at the moment is, Shedeur Sanders. The son of NFL Legend Deion Sanders was definitely not Cleveland’s first option. The Browns started a handful of guys this season who were in front of Shedeur. In his first start, he was proving the outside voice right. Everyone claims that Sanders is not ready, and some go as far as saying that he is only in the league because of his father. In his second and most recent starts against the Titans, Shedeur shut everyone up. The quarterback scored four total touchdowns, three passing and one rushing. He threw for 354 yards, had a 54.8% completion percentage, and managed to only turn the ball over once. After this Offensive Rookie of The Year-like (OROTY) performance, Shedeur Sanders has been named the Browns starter for the rest of the year.
Panthers standout wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan has been nothing but fun to watch. The Arizona Wildcat product, has rung in impressive numbers in just his first year. McMillan’s breakout game came during week 11, when the Panthers took on the Falcons in a NFC South showdown. T-Mac recorded 130 receiving yards and reeled in four touchdowns, one coming at the 1:08 mark in the fourth quarter to give Carolina the lead. He will also be in the run for a OROTY award. If he can secure the award, he’ll be the first Panthers player since Cam Newton (2011) to win it.
Final Look at NFL Playoff Picture
The NFL Playoff picture is all messed up and mind boggling. With teams fighting for seeding, teams fighting for home field advantage, or just teams fighting to clinch a wild card spot, things are getting intense. The Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Chicago was sent down to the 7th seed and the Packers climbed to the 1st Seed. The Denver Broncos have been able to find success under young phenom Bo Nix paired with head coach Sean Payton. They sit on top of the AFC Conference with Drake Maye and the Pats right behind.
