A bunch of disappointing teams around the NFL have spent most of the year assuring their fans that the best is yet to come. Well buddy, it's time to prove it, because there are only five games to go and the playoff race in both conferences is crowded, to say the least. The margin for error as we hit December is narrowing, and for some teams that haven't stacked wins the last few months, it's pretty much do-or-die time.
Clear your schedules, because this week is going to be wild, and it all starts on Thursday night with a critical game between the two traditional Thanksgiving hosts. We'll begin our bold predictions in Detroit, where the Lions are set to welcome the Cowboys.
The Cowboys continue their late-season push
If these teams met a couple of months ago, most fans would have expected the Lions to hang up 40 points in an easy blowout win. Now, the winds have shifted. The Cowboys have won three straight, including their last two against last year's Super Bowl teams, and they've looked like a legitimate threat to make some playoff noise, if they could only overcome their slow start to get there.
George Pickens has been a revelation while looking like one of the top receivers in the league. Dak Prescott went toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes and came out on top. And new arrival Quinnen Williams has played like an All-Pro since coming over from the Jets.
The Lions are home and favored, but they're looking for answers after alternating wins and losses the past eight weeks. The offense misses Ben Johnson terribly, and even switching to Dan Campbell as the new playcaller has yielded subpar results. The defense is much healthier than it was last year, but you wouldn't have known it against the Packers last week as Jordan Love had all day to throw while facing a puzzlingly nonexistent pass rush.
The Lions just don't lose back-to-back games under Dan Campbell, but I think that streak is finally coming to an end. Dallas has drastically improved its run defense, allowing less than 70 yards on the ground in its last three, and the Lions' passing game could be without Amon-Ra St. Brown, who's questionable with an ankle sprain.
The Cowboys offense is clicking on all cylinders right now, so I just don't see how the Lions are going to stop them. They're happy to be playing indoors on turf, and as the Lions showed against Green Bay's lesser receiving corps, they're prone to giving up the big play. Pickens and CeeDee Lamb are going to ball out, and the Cowboys will get a huge win while pushing the Lions closer to the brink.
The Mike Tomlin era hits rock bottom
Predicting that the Ravens will beat the Steelers doesn't qualify as bold. It's what everyone has expected since Baltimore was at nearly even odds to win the division even while limping to a 1-5 start. Steelers-Ravens is almost always a close, physical game, but the vibes are so bad in Pittsburgh that this has all the makings of a Ravens blowout.
To be clear, John Harbaugh's boys have won five of their last six, but they've hardly looked like the team that was one of the preseason Super Bowl favorites in doing it. Even since Lamar Jackson has returned, they've scuffled against the likes of the Vikings, Browns and Jets, and last week they looked toothless against a Bengals defense that has been historically awful.
Pittsburgh's offense looked even more anemic last week against the Bills. Things have gotten so bad as the team has lost five of seven that Steelers fans could be heard last week chanting for Mike Tomlin to be fired, all while Aaron Rodgers looked like Marv from Home Alone.
Aaron Rodgers looks like he tried to rob Kevin McCallister’s house pic.twitter.com/7XVhuQCXY5
— Boston Globe Pitchbot (@BostonSatire) November 30, 2025
The Ravens aren't all that great right now, but it still feels like they're going to whip the Steelers by at least a couple of touchdowns. Maybe Tomlin would be better off listening to his former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's advice and taking the Penn State job once this season mercifully comes to an end.
The Texans stick a fork in the Chiefs
The Chiefs have more than earned the benefit of the doubt since Patrick Mahomes arrived, and they've mostly been given some grace by fans this season who keep expecting the three-time defending AFC champs to turn things around. After their third loss in four games though, it's time for them to put up or shut up.
Kansas City is already on the wrong end of a potential Wild Card tiebreaker with the Bills, Chargers and Jaguars, and now they have to deal with a Texans team that's also jumped them in the standings. If the Chiefs lose this one, they're all but dead, and Andy Reid is out here talking about tickling tonsils.
The Texans have won four in a row. The Chiefs are 5-1 at Arrowhead this year. They haven't faced a defense like Houston's, though. The Texans have allowed more than 20 points just once this year, and in the last two weeks they've frustrated Josh Allen and held the top-ranked Colts offense in check.
The true measure of a champion is how they play when their back is up against the wall, but with an offensive line that's been depleted by injuries and the twin terrors of Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter rushing off the edge, this is a tough matchup at the wrong time. It'll be close, but the Texans will continue their winning ways while effectively ending the Chiefs' playoff hopes.
The Chargers force an Eagles coaching change
The Eagles have been able to shake off concerns about their lackluster chemistry and uninspired offense through most of the year because they kept winning, but back-to-back losses to the Cowboys and Bears have made the team's deficiencies impossible to ignore.
Saquon Barkley is not the same guy who reverse-hurdled his way through the league last year. The team's run defense is a major concern after being pulverized by the Bears, and Jalen Hurts is missing throws he normally makes. Even the Tush Push has fallen on hard times.
Philly has extra rest for this game, and they'll probably have more fans in attendance than the Chargers will. That might not be a good thing though, since their own fans were booing them as they laid a collective egg on Friday. Speaking of which, the classiest fanbase in sports also egged offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo's house after the loss to show their disapproval in their normal constructive way.
Nobody seems to be talking about the Chargers, yet they just keep barreling toward a playoff berth. Injuries across the offensive line haven't slowed them down, because Jim Harbaugh is a winning coach and Justin Herbert remains near the top of the league in wow plays per game. Herbert underwent surgery on Monday to stabilize a broken bone in his non-throwing hand. Does anyone think that'll stop him from slinging rockets on Monday?
These are two teams going in opposite directions. The Chargers have won four of five, but they know they're not out of the woods thanks to a diabolically difficult closing schedule. The Eagles have seen their lead in the NFC East shrink to just 1.5 games, and if the Cowboys win on Thursday as predicted above, they'll really be feeling the heat in this one.
Unless the Philly offense suddenly wakes up, this will be their third loss in a row, and it will almost certainly be the final game for Patullo, their embattled OC. The problems on this team run much deeper than one guy, but there comes a point where a scapegoat needs to be offered up.
The NFL serves up it's best weekend of games this year
If you're like me, you eat enough on Thanksgiving to not need another meal for a few days afterward. It's the one day of the year when stuffing your face is not only accepted, it's expected, so it's wild to think that anything on this holiday could merely be an appetizer.
When it comes to the football we all witnessed on Turkey Day, though, that's most definitely the case. The games were great throughout the day as the Packers completed their season sweep of the Lions, the Cowboys knocked off the Chiefs and the Bengals kept their slim hopes alive in Joe Burrow's return. Even Black Friday's game delivered as the Bears continued their improbable ascent by running it down the Eagles' throats.
Imagine someone handing you a full plate late Thursday night and insisting that you find the room for it. That's what the NFL is doing this week, as it's following up a smorgasbord of gridiron delights with a slate of games that might be the best all year. There may not be room for more turkey, but there's always room for more football, so NFL fans will happily accept another course.