The football of Wild Card Weekend was mostly awesome. It started with a Rams and Panthers game that came down to the wire. Then we got a Bears and Packers game that went down to the wire. It picked back up on Sunday with a Bills and Jaguars game that, wouldn’t you know it? Went down to the wire, too.
The Eagles and 49ers game was technically close as well, but no one in their right mind thought that the Eagles were actually going to win that football game… As for the Patriots and Chargers game? Meh.
Every game had one thing that really stood out, and those things deserve awards.
Most Expected Performance of the Week: Philadelphia Eagles
The last four games of the Eagles' regular season were against the Raiders, the Commanders (twice), and the Bills. All of those teams have abysmal defenses, and we all told ourselves that any level of success that the Eagles offense had against those teams didn’t matter because playoff defenses were going to be infinitely better.
Against the Raiders, the Eagles dropped 31 points, and 29 points against the Commanders (the first time). Things were looking good, but it was all garbage and nonsense. Then they went into Buffalo and scored 13 points…
It turns out we were right: any success that the Eagles had didn’t matter… but their lack of success absolutely did matter.
The Eagles, in fact, had a terrible offense led by a terrible offensive coordinator. They went into every week with a game plan of, ‘I dunno. Let’s just win.’ That’s who they were all season, and they did nothing to change… Even when they had numerous chances to change.
Ugly pic.twitter.com/VRWcECqOy1
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) January 12, 2026
They had a mini-bye week after they lost to the Giants in Week 6. No change.
The bye week in Week 9. No change.
Another mini-bye week after the loss in the Black Friday game in Week 13. No change.
They went into the playoffs with the same mentality, the same coaches, and the same lack of identity.
There was a valid question: ‘Maybe they can turn it on in the playoffs. Maybe the Eagles are one of those teams where the regular season is just a prologue to the postseason. Maybe they’ll be a different team.’
The answers: They couldn’t, and they never stood a chance. They aren’t, and it was crazy to think they were. They weren’t, and they were exactly who we thought they were.
The offense was exactly as pathetic as it was all season, and it’s exactly what we all should’ve expected.
Allegation Beater of the Week: Caleb Williams
Do you remember when people dumped all over Caleb Williams because he cried after he lost a game in college? How about the whole painted nails thing? What about last year, when he looked like he was literally drowning when he was under pressure because his offensive line consisted of poorly drawn stick figures?
It turns out that none of that might actually matter, and he’s actually a good quarterback. I’m not going to go out and say he’s a divine gift given to us by the Football Gods because of that fourth-down throw that he made, but sheesh… that’s a throw that good quarterbacks can actually make.
Caleb Williams really made this throw on 4th and 8 😱 pic.twitter.com/lVKFf5p6yH
— NFL (@NFL) January 11, 2026
Good quarterbacks are weird cats by nature. So much so that it’s weird any time you see a guy with a normal personality that actually is good. We’re just used to seeing them have the personality akin to a serial killer… Caleb Williams, on the other hand, is a total dweeb.
Maybe, just maybe, that’s the kind of weirdo the Bears need. Regardless, he’s a winner, and the people who don’t like that personality are in a tough spot.
Allegation Loser of the Week: Justin Herbert
Could the Chargers’ offensive line have been better? Yes. Could the receivers have caught more balls? Yes. Could the play calling have had more structure and sequence? Yes.
Did Justin Herbert lose another postseason football game? You betcha.
Society is still up in the air about wins and losses actually being a quarterback stat, but the reality is that they’re the only thing that actually matters to the history books. Justin Herbert is now 0-3 in postseason games, and his team has been outscored 45-79. 27 of those points came in the first half of his first playoff game, and 14 of those points came off of short fields.
Whether you like it or not, film and analytic nerds are right about a whole lot of things… but the one thing they are consistently wrong about is how good Justin Herbert is.
Some of his throws are super sick. He’s tough. He’s smart. He’s not a winner, and he doesn’t elevate his team in the biggest moments. It sucks because he’s a likable dude, but it's undeniable at this point: the allegations that Justin Herbert just ‘ain’t that guy’ are remarkably true.
Moral Victory of the Week: Panthers
No one really gave the Panthers a chance. They were 10-point underdogs to the Rams, even though they beat the Rams a month and a half beforehand.
To be fair, that Week 13 win was fueled by turnovers, which isn’t something they were particularly good at getting throughout the whole season, so it was a little bit of a fluky win… and the Panthers fell face-first into the postseason.
It turns out they were more than ready for the playoffs.
The Rams got off to a hot start and went up 14-0, but Carolina turned it on, came back, and were in a position to win.
Ultimately, they played prevent defense and lost (because that’s how that always works out). But if you’re the Panthers or a Panthers fan, you have to feel really good about where Dave Canales, Bryce Huff, Tetairoa McMillan, and the whole team are right now.
Old heads will tell you that there aren’t any moral victories in football, but this game for Carolina is pretty damning evidence to the contrary.
Hypocrite of the Week: Sean McDermott
One of the big stories of last offseason was the NFL trying to ban the Tush Push. The Packers were the ones who initiated the movement, but Sean McDermott (who’s on the Competition Committee) was very outspoken about how it should be banned.
May 21, 2025: Bills are among 22 teams that voted to ban push sneak.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 12, 2026
January 11, 2026: Bills go 4-for-4 in converting push sneak in 4th quarter, including game-winning TD.
Cc: @PaulHembo
pic.twitter.com/zpp6eQbqh4
His whole thing was about how it was a dangerous play, even though there was exactly zero evidence that it was actually dangerous.
So, as hypocrites tend to do, Sean McDermott kept using the tush push at an extremely high rate, in extremely high-leverage situations, and with an extremely banged-up quarterback.
That hit its climax on Sunday. With 1:10 left in the fourth quarter, the Bills were down 20-24 and had a fourth-and-one from the Jaguars’ 11-yard line. They ran the tush push… and gained 10 yards on it.
The dude tried to ban a play, bashed it to no end, and then used it to save his season even though Josh Allen’s body was already on the fritz. What a joke.