Week 9 marks an important inflection point in the NFL calendar as we reach the halfway point of the regular season. Tuesday brings with it the trade deadline, the last chance for contenders to upgrade their rosters in a meaningful way, and the action this weekend could offer some significant sway in those deadline decisions.
The first Sunday of November also brought with it the seemingly annual regular-season matchup between Buffalo and Kansas City, which was given the standalone treatment in the 4:25 p.m. ET window on CBS. The contest produced quite a statement in the playoff chase, as the Bills produced a dominant display to help make them one of the biggest winners of Week 9. Let's take a deeper dive into winners and losers from the week, beginning in Buffalo.
NFL Week 9 Winners And Losers
Winner: Buffalo Bills
While an emphatic win off the bye was nice for Buffalo, it was fair to question whether their performance was a product of facing the Carolina Panthers with Andy Dalton under center. Beating the Chiefs in a game where they performed well from the opening kick is pretty emphatic, with Josh Allen's demolition of an improving Kansas City defense giving his team a critical head-to-head tiebreaker over Kansas City that could prove meaningful in January.
Perhaps the more impressive aspect of the day was the way the Bills' defense harassed Mahomes, who completed just 15-of-34 passes, was sacked three times and threw a critical interception in the fourth quarter when the Chiefs were trying to drive for a tying score. It's been a minute since the Bills looked like this against a strong opponent and they are now primed to chase down New England to claim the AFC East crown once again.
Loser: Our conceptions of good teams
Heading into Week 9, when asked who the best teams in the league were, most pundits would have offered up one of Green Bay, Indianapolis and Detroit as their champion. All three of those teams fell flat in Week 9, with the Packers' letdown loss against Carolina serving as a major disappointment following a convincing victory against old friend Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh last Sunday night.
Detroit's defense had issues containing the Vikings while the Colts had no answers offensively after Pittsburgh's defense put the clamps on Jonathan Taylor, containing the Offensive Player of the Year favorite to just 57 yards on 16 touches. The flops of these perceived contenders just go to show that we are in a year where whoever is hottest entering the postseason should be considered the favorite to hoist the Lombardi Trophy in Santa Clara.
Winner: The witching hour
After a tough few weeks of mediocre 1:00 p.m. ET slates, fans of RedZone got a big win as they had the most compelling witching hour in a while. The end of the early window was filled with dramatic one-score results, including a wild comeback from the Bengals that came up short as Chicago held on for dear life in a 47-42 victory that rates as a Game of the Year candidate.
Six games in the early window ended within one score, including a late field goal to steal a win for Carolina and heartbreak for Atlanta as Parker Romo's missed extra point loomed large in a 24-23 loss in Foxboro. The witching hour is back, friends, and that is a good thing for the league.
Loser: Cincinnati Bengals
The glory days of the Icy Hot Bowl victory over Pittsburgh feel so long ago for Cincinnati, which followed up a disastrous loss to the Jets last week with arguably the worst defensive performance of the year in a 47-42 loss to the Chicago Bears. While Ben Johnson is a good offensive coach leading an improving Bears team, giving up almost 600 yards of offense is unacceptable for an NFL defense, proving that the decision to scapegoat DC Lou Anarumo after last season was not the fix to the unit's issues.
The Bengals' complete ineptitude defensively wasted a career day from Joe Flacco, who threw for 470 yards and four touchdowns to nearly rally them back from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit. That effort went up in smoke as the Bengals let Colston Loveland go right down the seam for a 58-yard touchdown with 25 seconds to go, making it more difficult to justify rushing Joe Burrow back from his toe injury for a defense that isn't worth saving.
Winner: Chicago Bears
While it is fair to include a healthy asterisk here thanks to an awful defensive showing from their opponents, the Bears deserve credit for executing so well that Cincinnati had no answers for them. Chicago racked up 283 yards on the ground, which is a wild total to consider given that two of the Bears' top three running backs (D'Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson) sat out due to injury.
Rookie Kyle Monangai stepped up in a big way for the Bears, running for 176 yards on 26 carries, while Caleb Williams tossed three touchdown passes and racked up 280 yards through the air. Chicago is now 5-1 since their 0-2 start, setting up Johnson's team to be a factor in the NFC Wild Card picture the rest of the way.
Loser: Brian Daboll
It's never a good start to the day when a banner plane flies over your stadium asking for you to get fired. Brian Daboll didn't do much to dissuade his doubters with a bizarre coaching display in a 34-24 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, watching his defense get shredded by an injury-depleted San Francisco offense while displaying some incredibly cowardly coaching in the third quarter.
Trailing by 13 with fourth and goal at the 3, Daboll sent out his kicking unit, getting three points that didn't reduce their deficit to one possession. Those four missing points loomed large as the 49ers pulled away late, raising the temperature on Daboll's seat as he is now 2-7 for the third consecutive season.
Winner: Carolina Panthers
Certain victories can serve as a proof of concept for NFL teams trying to build a program, and Carolina's triumph in Green Bay on Sunday is one of those. While many wondered if the 4-4 Panthers were a paper tiger after they got destroyed by Buffalo in Week 8, Carolina roared back to life with a stunning 16-13 upset against a Packers team that entered the day favored by double digits.
While several key injuries to skill-position players depleted Green Bay's offense, the Panthers leaned heavily on the run as Rico Dowdle racked up 130 yards on 25 carries with a pair of touchdowns. Limiting possessions, and a relatively safe performance from Bryce Young in his return from an ankle injury, gave the Panthers a chance to hang around the game and steal a win in a contest that felt eerily similar to Green Bay's Week 3 loss in Cleveland.
Loser: Raheem Morris
While Daboll and Mike McDaniel have the hottest seats in the league, Morris is well on his way to joining them as his Falcons have fallen apart. Atlanta has dropped three straight after upsetting the Buffalo Bills in Week 5, with Sunday's 24-23 loss representing another wasted opportunity to get a critical victory to keep pace in a tight Wild Card race in the NFC.
The game plan for Atlanta also made little sense as the Falcons only gave all-world running back Bijan Robinson 12 carries while asking Michael Penix to throw 37 times, showing that Morris does not understand what makes his team tick. A return to featuring Robinson in next week's International Series contest in Germany may be the key to reminding Arthur Blank why he believed that Morris is a guy who can take an underachieving bunch back to the playoffs.