Like the proverbial curate’s egg, Week 17 of the 2025 NFL season was ‘good in parts’. Elsewhere, the smell was quite apparent.

Of the edible fare, two offensive masterminds went to battle in northern California on Sunday night, as the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers duelled over the right to play for the NFC’s #1 seed. A barnburner ensued as both teams took lumps out of each other’s defense in one of the season’s highest-scoring encounters.

Elsewhere, Drake Maye solidified his MVP credentials by guiding the New England Patriots not just to a crushing win over the hapless New York Jets, but also to the first AFC East crown of the post Brady/Belichick era. The Houston Texans defense put forward another complete performance to ensure that the AFC South title goes to the wire, as will the destiny of top spot in both the NFC South and AFC North.

On the negative side, the NFL schedule makers paid for their Christmas Day expansion with two terrible games on Sunday afternoon.

Here’s what happened in Week 17…

WEEK 17 SCORES

(to Monday 29th December)

Thursday

(7-8-1) Dallas Cowboys 30 @ 23 Washington Commanders (4-12)

(8-8) Detroit Lions 10 @ 23 Minnesota Vikings (8-8)

(13-3) Denver Broncos 30 @ 13 Kansas City Chiefs (6-10)

Saturday:

(11-5) Houston Texans 20 @ 16 Los Angeles Chargers (11-5)

(8-8) Baltimore Ravens 41 @ 24 Green Bay Packers (9-6-1)

Sunday:

(3-13) Arizona Cardinals 14 @ 37 Cincinnati Bengals (6-10)

(9-7) Pittsburgh Steelers 6 @ 13 Cleveland Browns (4-12)

(6-10) New Orleans Saints 34 @ 26 Tennessee Titans (3-13)

(12-4) Jacksonville Jaguars 23 @ 17 Indianapolis Colts (8-8)

(7-9) Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17 @ 20 Miami Dolphins (7-9)

(13-3) New England Patriots 42 @ 10 New York Jets (3-13)

(13-3) Seattle Seahawks 27 @ 10 Carolina Panthers (8-8)

(3-13) New York Giants 34 @ 10 Las Vegas Raiders (2-14)

(11-5) Philadelphia Eagles 13 @ 12 Buffalo Bills (11-5)

(11-5) Chicago Bears 38 @ 42 San Francisco 49ers (12-4)

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GAME OF THE WEEK

Chicago Bears 38 @ 42 San Francisco 49ers

Sunday Night Football pitted two of the league’s pre-eminent offensive minds against each other in a game with real postseason stakes.

Where other fixtures with such billing have failed to live up to the hype at times this term, Ben Johnson’s Bears and Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers delivered a high octane affair populated with big plays driven by scheme wizardry and outstanding quarterback play from both Caleb Williams and Brock Purdy. The two teams combined for ten touchdowns and just five punts in a 42-38 victory for the Niners.

Shanahan’s vaunted run attack was on full display, with the second generation coach dialling up an array of motions and shifts to spring Christian McCaffrey in the open field. CMC finished the game with 140 rushing yards on 23 carries, providing a balanced attack that put Purdy in manageable late down situations; the Niners went eight-for-11 on third and fourth downs. Many of those conversions came from stellar Shanahan playcalling, however Purdy delivered highlight after highlight, none better than his six yard touchdown pass to Kyle Juszczyk. The former Mr Irrelevant avoided multiple Bears pass rushers with a stepback move that looked more at home on a basketball court than the gridiron, before splitting two tacklers and lobbing a pass to his fullback in the front corner of the endzone.

Even with Purdy and Shanahan performing at their very best, the Bears stayed in the fight. Chicago had nine plays of more than 20 yards on the day, with touchdowns of 35 yards, 36 yards and 22 yards. Johnson matched his more experienced counterpart, gashing Robert Saleh’s defense with perfectly timed bomb after perfectly timed bomb.

However, in the crunch moments, the former Detroit playcaller may have got too deep in his bag. With the Bears trailing by four points with just 21 seconds remaining, the rookie head coach dialled up a hook-and-ladder to D’Andre Swift to advance the ball to the Niners four-yard line. While the call engineered a first down, it left Williams with just one shot at the end zone, as the Bears had to clock the ball with no timeouts left.

Saleh thus managed to take the last laugh in his personal battle with Johnson, creating a breakdown in Chicago’s protection despite dropping eight men into coverage from a packed front. A hurried Williams could not find a completion on the move, giving the Niners a massive win in the NFC playoff mix. While neither defense looked up to mustard, both will prove a tough out if their prodigious head coaches keep putting forth such explosive offensive gameplans.

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MVP OF THE WEEK

Drake Maye (QB, New England Patriots)

Rather than string together a sequence of flowery superlatives over Drake Maye’s performance in the Patriots’ 42-10 demolition of the New York Jets, I’ll let the stats do the talking.

Maye threw for five scores in the win, giving him the best performance by any quarterback in total EPA (30.6) in the 2025 season. His 87.5 percent success rate was the best mark by any passer this century. The 99.8 grade he scored on ESPN’s QBR is the highest since the metric was created in 2006. Maye was otherworldly before being removed from the action halfway through the fourth quarter.

Of course, he was playing the Jets, a team that has now allowed 32 passing touchdowns and notched zero interceptions on the season. Maye has enjoyed success against a cadre of the NFL’s weakest sides thanks to New England’s last-placed schedule from last season, however, he has performed against decent defenses too, putting up more than 30 points against the Bills and the Cleveland Browns. With the Pats clinching the AFC East for the first time in six years, there will be renewed calls for the young star to be crowned the league’s best player come the end of the regular season.

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Winner: DeMeco Ryans

In the aftermath of the Houston Texans’ 20-16 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, Jalen Pitre delivered the quote of the week.

“God is the greatest,” said the fourth-year safety. “The Texans defense is maybe second.”

At this point, it’s hard to argue. The Texans coolly, and matter-of-factly smothered the life out of the Chargers on Saturday without having to step outside of their established gameplan. They pressured Justin Herbert on 48 percent of his dropbacks, sacking him five times. Ryans’ defense has made opposing signal callers pay all season, despite sending an extra man on just 23 percent of plays, the tenth lowest rate in the league.

The run defence was just as stingy, as L.A. were held to just 2.1 yards per rush, (good for -.49 EPA/per rush) on their 17 attempts.

Ryans’ unit covered for another pedestrian outing from Houston’s offense. C.J. Stroud started hot, producing 142 yards and two scores from his first four drop backs, before throwing for just 93 yards over the final three quarters. He chipped in two picks that kept L.A. in the game. However, with a surfeit of defensive talent and the best defensive head coach in the NFL, the Texans should be able to weather up-and-down play from their third-year quarterback, and still make a splash in a wide-open AFC.

 

Loser: The sanctity of an NFL Sunday

What’s your ideal Christmas? Mine obviously involves opening a few thoughtful gifts from my loved ones before eating my bodyweight in turkey and all the trimmings. The afternoon involves board games, and lots of them. This year, my partner beat my Dad and I in a hotly-contested game of Scrabble. In the background, I had the Cowboys and Commanders on, much to my partner’s chagrin.

You see, as I spent every Sunday glued to my TV watching RedZone, having the league commandeer my attention on the ‘Big Day’ really is not great for marital or familial relations (and I’m sure I’m not the only one experiencing this issue). Squirrelling away three games for that Thursday left this week’s Sunday slate with just two matchups in the late afternoon window: the sorry ‘tankathon’ between the Raiders and Giants, with a Bills and Eagles duel stymied by the terrible weather in upstate New York.

Might I suggest leaving us with a couple of more interesting games on the days when everyone has had enough of their family, and is begging for some semblance of routine?

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THE ROUND UP

Maxx Crosby was supposed to be playing on Sunday but, just like the rest of us, was instead forced to watch the Raiders-Giants ‘Toilet Bowl’ after the Las Vegas franchise shut him down for the remainder of the 2025 season. Both Crosby and Brock Bowers were sat for ‘knee injuries’, however the superstar sack man posted videos of himself playing basketball with his daughter shortly after the announcement. “I don’t give a f*ck about the pick, I don’t play for that,” Crosby said earlier in the week. “That’s not my job. My job is to be the best defensive end in the world, and that’s what I focus on every day — being a great leader and being an influence and being that guy on a consistent basis for my team.” The Raiders’ 34-10 loss to the Giants may well have given them the inside rail on the number one pick in next year’s draft, but has it alienated one of their incumbent stars in the process?

The Seahawks looked destined to throw away their one-game advantage over their NFC West foes as they entered the half in Carolina locked in a 3-3 tie with the hometown Panthers. DeMarcus Lawrence and the defense stepped up, however, smothering the hosts and sparking a 24-10 win to maintain an edge in the hunt for home field in the postseason.

 

The Eagles and Bills continue to mystify in all the wrong ways. Philly raced to a 13-0 lead in Buffalo, before bogging down offensively and leaving the door open for Josh Allen. The Bills scored on an Allen ‘Tush Push’ with seconds left on the clock to bring the game within one point, however the reigning MVP could not find Khalil Shakir in the back corner of the endzone as Sean McDermott admirably chased the win in regulation.

What did the Colts do to deserve this? Indy opened the season 7-1, but have since slipped to 8-8 after a 23-17 home loss to the surging Jaguars. Liam Coen now holds the fifth most wins for a head coach in franchise history, despite only managing sixteen games for the Duval County outfit.

The Christmas Day slate was lacking the type of stakes the league’s schedule makers would have hoped for, with four of the six teams already eliminated from playoff contention. Aside from the Lions dropping out of the postseason a year removed from being the NFC’s number one seed, the big story was Travis Kelce’s possible farewell to Arrowhead Stadium. The veteran tight end seems destined to hang up his cleats come season’s end.

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STAT OF THE WEEK

• Shout out to Doug Clawson for the research on this one. The Pittsburgh Steelers are winless in their past five games (0-4-1) against teams entering the gameweek 8+ wins below .500, tying the longest such streak in league history. The Steelers lost an underwhelming AFC North matchup to the Cleveland Browns 13-6 on Sunday, leaving the door open for the Baltimore Ravens to pip them to the division crown.
  

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