Wild Card Weekend hangover: One thing we learned about every team

The return of the NFL playoffs delivered on even the loftiest expectations. Wild Card Weekend had it all: 12 fourth-quarter lead changes across the first four games, an NFL record; three road wins by teams that were trailing in the final three minutes; four games decided by four points or fewer.

Now that the dust has just about settled, it's time to take stock of what we learned. Which teams and players rose to meet the occasion? Which came up short, and now face an offseason full of tough questions? Here's one takeaway about each of the 10 teams that took part in a wild couple days of football.

Los Angeles Rams: This secondary is a real concern

Los Angeles can exhale for now, but it's hard to come away from Saturday afternoon's thriller without some serious concerns about this team's viability moving forward. For the second time this season, Carolina used its supersized receiving corps — Tetairoa McMillan and Jalen Coker most especially — to simply body up a Rams secondary whose lack of size could prove fatal as these playoffs progress.

Granted, with Philly now out, the Panthers are better suited to exploit that weakness than just about anyone else in the NFC field. But you can bet that Ben Johnson will turn on the tape and see all sorts of ways to put Rome Odunze and Colston Loveland in one-on-one, contested-catch situations. This Bears offense lives on YAC, and they could have lots of success getting the ball out quick and forcing the likes of slot corner Quentin Lake to make a play.

Carolina Panthers: Bryce Young is worth believing in (to a point)

Hand up: I have long been a hater when it comes to Young's odds of success in the NFL, but I was impressed by the way he played down the stretch on Sunday. I still have questions about his physical limitations, but his fearlessness and his willingness to make plays with his legs give him a much higher ceiling than I previously thought.

The question now is just how much, as young enters the final guaranteed year of his contract next season, that ceiling is worth investing in. I don't blame Carolina for being down to lock Young up with an extension, based on what we saw over the weekend. If he's willing to take the Sam Darnold/Baker Mayfield deal, great; it's really hard to find top-10 quarterback play, by definition, and you shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. But it's also hard to build a winner when you've tied your cap sheet up in a giant new deal for a just-pretty-good QB. The Panthers should be wary of making that mistake, because while Young has proved some doubters wrong, he still has a long way to go.

Chicago Bears: This team can't keep getting away with it If... right?

If you missed Saturday night's classic Round 3 between Chicago and Green Bay, here's a brief recap:

In a lot of ways, the win was a microcosm of Chicago's season; they started off with a slew of sloppy mistakes that dug them a multi-score hole, but just when it looked like they were dead in the water, Caleb Williams and Co. erupted to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. I don't mean this to be damning with faint praise: The Bears are a good team way ahead of schedule, and they're learning how to win January football games in real time.

But still ... come on now. Eventually, this formula is bound to catch up with Ben Johnson's team. They're simply too erratic on a down-to-down basis, too willing to short-circuit drives with poor execution. And their defense doesn't have the sort of impact talent necessary to make up for that shortcoming. It's been a fun ride, but if they try to pull a similar escape act against the Rams next weekend, good luck.

Green Bay Packers: Matt LaFleur needs to take a look in the mirror

The Packers reportedly want to hammer out an extension with LaFleur despite the Packers' loss over the weekend, and I think that's the right call; he's too good a play-caller to simply let go, and he'd immediately shoot to the top of the coaching carousel big board if Green Bay were to move on.

That said: This is a pivotal offseason for LaFleur, one in which he needs to bear down and learn how to become as good a head coach as he is an offensive coordinator. The clock management has been downright abysmal in key moments this year, culminating with a horror show in the fourth quarter on Saturday night. Combine that with a certain softness underneath the brightest lights, and it's clear that LaFleur needs to change both how he connects to his locker room and how he approaches in-game strategy.

Buffalo Bills: Brandon Beane is taking years off Josh Allen's prime

Buffalo kept its Super Bowl hopes alive in thrilling fashion in Jacksonville on Sunday afternoon, and they deserve credit for withstanding a tough Jaguars team to pull out a road win. But man, is it hard to come away from that performance and feel great about where this roster is at as a whole.

The defense has been undermanned all year long, and sure enough, it got gashed by an offense that had struggled to run the ball up to this point. And then there's the offense, where Allen had to make magic happen despite a lack of weapons on the outside and an interior of the offensive line that was getting whipped on a consistent basis. Maybe Allen and this rushing game are good enough to continue moving through a wide-open AFC bracket; this is a tough way to win, though, and if they fail to break through this season, it's fair to look at Beane's work with this roster and wonder whether he's the man to shepherd the rest of Allen's prime.

Jacksonville Jaguars: It's time to fix this offensive line

As mentioned above, the Jags had no problems moving the ball on the ground against Buffalo on Sunday. And yet, Liam Coen dialed up exactly 15 carries for his running backs, instead putting the ball into the hands of a good but still fairly erratic Trevor Lawrence.

It's not hard to figure out why. Jacksonville was one of the worst rushing attacks in the league this season by both EPA and success rate, and it shouldn't be a surprise that Coen didn't fully trust leaning on his offensive line with his season up for grabs. A feisty but relatively no-name defense could use some beefing up in the trenches as well, but job No. 1 for GM James Gladstone should be finding better solutions up front offensively.

San Francisco 49ers: Kyle Shanahan might somehow be underrated

The Niners were already without Brandon Aiyuk and Ricky Pearsall, with left tackle Trent Williams banged up as well. Then they lost star tight end George Kittle to a devastating Achilles injury in the first half. And yet, despite all of that, going up against a Vic Fangio defense that was among the best in the league this season, Shanahan and San Francisco still put up 6.2 yards per play en route to a 23-19 win in Philly.

Sure, the mess that is the Eagles offense certainly helped. But Sunday's game was also a testament to just how good Shanahan is at this, how he consistently draws blood from a stone as a play-caller and also how regularly he earns buy-in from his locker room. It would've been very easy for the 49ers to write this off as a lost season at various points, but they've never wavered, and now they're back in the Divisional round. If he's not the best head coach in the league, he's darn close, weirdly conservative game management be damned.

Philadelphia Eagles: It's time to talk about Jalen Hurts

I certainly don't want to come to the defense of OC Kevin Patullo, head coach Nick Sirianni, WR AJ Brown, the offensive line or anyone else involved in the offensive debacle in Philly on Sunday. The Eagles absolutely have both a scheme problem and a talent problem that need to be fixed this offseason.

But the 49ers loss also underscored the extent to which they also have a QB problem. That may sound strange to say about a guy who just led his team to a Super Bowl, and again, it's not like this is entirely Hurts' fault; the refusal to incorporate designed runs was particularly confusing. But Hurts' limitations also affect the kind of offense his team can run, especially when it no longer has a league-best running game to lean on. His arm is mediocre, and he still has a very hard time throwing over the middle of the field and not bailing out of the pocket well before it's necessary. For all of Philly's problems, that game was still there for the taking, and Hurts left a lot of plays on the field.

New England Patriots: We still don't know what we need to know

It's hard to know what to say about the Patriots that wasn't also true before this weekend. They played well against the Chargers, but they also had moments of sloppiness, and it's worth noting that Los Angeles' offensive line was borderline nonfunctional (more on that in just a second).

It's also worth noting that Sunday's win was just the third time all year New England beat a playoff team, joining Carolina (which went 8-9 in the regular season) and Buffalo (which they promptly lost to in the rematch). If you want to believe in the Pats and Drake Maye, you probably still do. If you thought they were untested for a No. 2 seed, well, they probably didn't change your mind. We should know all we need to next weekend.

Los Angeles Chargers: Greg Roman gotta go

The interior of the Chargers' offensive line simply isn't good enough, and losing both starting tackles put the team behind the 8-ball. Justin Herbert also laid yet another postseason egg, missing open receivers and holding the ball too long even when he had time to survey the field.

But man, can you blame him given the infrastructure he has to work with? At this point, it seems clear that Roman's philosophy works well enough in the regular season but runs into a brick wall come playoff time. Sure, your offensive line is bad, and your receivers are having a hard time winning; but when was the last time Roman schemed up something easy? Where are the screens, why isn't Herbert on the move more, heck, why not throw in a trick play or two? For this team to take the next step, more is needed from Herbert. But there's very little justification for Jim Harbaugh to hold on to his OC for another year.

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