The best football teams are like a big, happy family. You can see it in how they interact with each other on the sidelines and in the locker room, and that closeness more often than not results in wins and a place at or near the top of the standings.
Conversely, bad teams reflect some of the worst familial qualities. But as many of us prepare to share a table with that one weird uncle or a mother-in-law who can't stop talking politics as she passes the gravy, we'll choose to ignore that to keep with the spirit of the season.
What we have today is every team that currently occupies a playoff spot, as well as what they have to be thankful for through 12 weeks of the season. Whether they can build on these things and close out the regular season with a bang remains to be seen, but for now, they've earned themselves a big piece of turkey and a prime spot on the couch to decompress after the meal.
The Patriots are thankful for another elite head coach and quarterback combo
Patriots fans can't keep getting away with this. They already got to enjoy two decades of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, and after a brief respite, now they've been blessed with Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye. Vrabel was inexplicably let go by the Titans, who've since fallen off a cliff without him, and Maye has looked like the best quarterback in the 2024 draft and a future MVP after falling to the third overall pick. Sometimes you have to be lucky to be good, and the Patriots benefited twice over in this case. Now they're the current top seed in the AFC and the only 10-win team in the league.
The Broncos are thankful for a true home-field advantage
The Broncos have shown an uncanny knack for coming up big in the fourth quarter and erasing big deficits, but the biggest thing they should be thankful for is good, old-fashioned home cooking. Denver is 6-0 at home, and the only other undefeated home team is the Colts, who Sean Payton's boys would have beaten at Lucas Oil Stadium if not for a questionable penalty to give Indy a second chance at a game-winning kick. With the high altitude and the best pass-rush in the league, nobody is going to want to come to Mile High in January.
The Colts are thankful for bold decisions
The Texans were penciled in by most as AFC South champs coming into this season, but Colts head coach Shane Steichen flipped the script with a decision that has had far-reaching implications: He awarded the starting quarterback job to Daniel Jones over incumbent Anthony Richardson, essentially giving up on a player who was drafted to be the face of the franchise. That took guts, especially since Jones wasn't exactly seen as a catch in free agency. It's worked out better than anyone could have imagined, as Jones has revived his career while helping the Colts lead the league in points per game.
The Ravens are thankful for the AFC North
Of all the divisions that the Ravens could be in, they have to love that they're in the AFC North. The Browns are suffering through another futile season, the Bengals have the worst defense in the league, and the Steelers, even with Aaron Rodgers, are pretty much the team they have been for the last decade — fine, but nothing more. Baltimore has been able to withstand a horrifying 1-5 start thanks to getting their act together and rolling off five straight wins, but if they were in most other divisions, they'd be fighting for a Wild Card instead of seeming like an inevitable division winner.
The Chargers are thankful for a hot start
Some teams have improved as the season has gone on, while others are struggling to hang on. The Chargers fall into the latter camp, as they won three straight divisional games to begin the year but have gone just 4-4 since. It seemed like they had things figured out as they beat the Vikings, Titans and Steelers by 49 points combined, but their shocking destruction at the hands of the Jaguars before last week's bye had to set alarm bells off. Now they're just barely in the playoff field, with a schedule that concludes with the Eagles, Chiefs, Cowboys, Texans and Broncos, three of which come on the road. If not for that hot start, they'd have a massive uphill climb in front of them.
The Jaguars are thankful for late-game magic
Are the Jaguars any good? Their 7-4 record suggests they are, as does the fact that five of those wins have come against teams that are currently .500 or better. They've lost to the Seahawks, Rams and at the Texans, and there's certainly no shame in any of those. Jacksonville's performance against the weaker opponents on their schedule is cause for concern, though, and it's taken some stressful finishes just to escape these bad teams with a win. They stopped an overtime two-point conversion to beat the Raiders earlier this month, and they again won in extra time last week against the Cardinals after Arizona settled for a tying field goal at the end of regulation and turned it over on downs after crossing the 50 in overtime.
The Bills are thankful for having the best player on the field
The Bills are lucky they have Josh Allen, because he's covering up for what otherwise is a very average team. His pass-catchers have been injured and/or suspended, his offensive line is allowing a much higher pressure rate than a year ago and the play calling has been so uninspired that some are calling for offensive coordinator Joe Brady's job. The defense is ranked No. 1 against the pass but 30th against the run. When Allen decides to go nuclear, though, as he did against the Bucs two weeks ago, he's one of the very few players in the league capable of putting his team on his back and carrying it to victory. As long as the Bills have him, they have a shot.
The Rams are thankful for an old dog learning new tricks
Matthew Stafford was already well on his way to the Hall of Fame, but it seems like he's somehow getting even better at age 37. His 30/2 touchdown/interception ratio has him in line to win his first-ever MVP and the Rams positioned right now as the favorites to win the Super Bowl. It's not going to be easy to stop him, not with Puka Nacua and Davante Adams running routes for him. The defense is also keeping up its end of the bargain, as it's ranked second in turnovers forced and ninth in sacks. Remember when Stafford's back issues had fans worried in the preseason? That feels like ages ago.
The Eagles are thankful for the ability to work through their problems
Winning the Super Bowl usually affords teams a honeymoon period of sorts, but almost from the word go this season, the Eagles have seemed a bit off. The offense is predictable, Saquon Barkley looks like a shell of last year's version and the ongoing not-quite-feud-but-not-quite friendship between AJ Brown and Jalen Hurts is providing gossip material on a weekly basis. Through it all, though, Howie Roseman has built a strong enough roster that Philly is still 8-3 and sitting easily atop the NFC East. It all feels like it could blow up at any second, but all that matters is that the Eagles get themselves straight by the postseason. Even after last week's collapse against the Cowboys, they should have plenty of time to do just that.
The Bears are thankful for a complete change in culture
There's not a fan base in football, and maybe sports at large, more thankful right now than the Chicago Bears. Gone is the milquetoast Matt Eberflus and in is Ben Johnson, whose now-weekly postgame victory speeches have become appointment viewing. The Bears finally have a modern offense, and while Caleb Williams isn't totally there yet, he's shown all the hallmarks of being a future star. Add in a completely revamped offensive line and a defense that easily leads the league in takeaways, and this is not your same old Bears.
The Bucs are thankful for an early-season cushion
Similar to the Chargers, the Bucs started out like a house afire, winning five of their first six to jump out to a huge lead in the NFC South. Baker Mayfield was playing like an MVP candidate even amid injuries, but like a race car that's been driven too hard, Tampa's wheels are starting to come off. The Bucs are in a serious rut, and they've given up more than 34 points per game during their current three-game losing streak. Worse yet, Baker is now dealing with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder that forced him out of Sunday's beatdown against the Rams. Thankfully, they're still hanging on to the division lead thanks to their hot start, and that might be enough to see them through to the postseason.
The Seahawks are thankful for a receiver who is always open
The Seahawks signed Sam Darnold this offseason and immediately became serious contenders. Other than a forgettably awful performance against the Rams, Darnold has been quite good, but he's not the team's MVP. That's either the defense, which is stacked from the line to the secondary, or Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who has pulled off the difficult trick of being the player that every opposing team wants to stop — yet nobody can. JSN leads the league in receptions and yards, and he makes it look easy every week as he's simply always open while running the entire route tree.
The Packers are thankful for a chance to prove themselves down the stretch
The Packers are a strange bunch. They traded for Micah Parsons before the season to brand themselves as a Super Bowl contender, and they've mostly delivered on that as they've played to a 7-3-1 record. But there's a disconnect between their record and the eye test: Outside of an impressive season-opening win, Green Bay hasn't really dominated anybody, yet they almost always seem to be in control in the fourth quarter.
The advanced metrics say that Jordan Love has been really good, but he's also never mentioned as an upper-echelon quarterback. The Pack has looked rough offensively in their losses, scoring 30 points in total as they fell to the Browns, Panthers and Eagles. With an evil closing schedule that includes four road games, four games against divisional opponents and dates with the Broncos and Ravens, Packers fans should be thankful that they'll have ample opportunity to prove they really belong in the title conversation.
The 49ers are thankful for the next man up
Not many teams are capable of going 8-4 when their starting quarterback has missed eight games, but the 49ers have been the exception. Mac Jones deserves a ton of credit for stepping up in relief of Brock Purdy, but that next man up mentality has permeated the entire roster, which for the umpteenth year in a row has been ravaged by injuries. Kyle Shanahan is proving that his system works no matter who is playing in it, and Robert Saleh has made lemonade out of lemons with his undermanned defense. Surprisingly, Christian McCaffrey has been the one consistently healthy body, and he's putting up a career year. If he does go down, though, the Niners have the confidence to keep on trucking.