With the NFL season heading towards the stretch, individual performances can achieve legendary status with the proper context. In a season where the Chiefs are in jeopardy of missing the postseason, all eyes have focused on them, but it was easy to forget that Detroit also entered Week 12 outside of the playoff picture if the season were to end today.
The Lions may not be fully in the postseason yet after a huge overtime victory against the Giants, but if they do get in, then Jahmyr Gibbs' dominant display against New York could be looked at as the turning point of their season. Let's take a look back at the big winners and losers of the latest NFL Sunday, beginning in Detroit with Gibbs' mind-boggling day.
NFL Week 12 winners and losers
Winner — Jahmyr Gibbs
While the Lions tab the backfield pairing of Gibbs and David Montgomery as Sonic and Knuckles, Week 12 was a clear victory for Sonic. Gibbs was unstoppable against the Giants, rushing 15 times for 219 yards and two touchdowns while adding 11 receptions for 45 yards and another score, accounting for over half of Detroit's total yardage by himself.
This kind of day helped make Gibbs a weekly winner in fantasy circles and showcased why he is the most dynamic skill player in Detroit's offense. Head coach Dan Campbell, who recently assumed play calling responsibilities, should work hard to ensure the football is in Gibbs' hands as often as possible if the Lions want to reach the playoffs for a third straight year.
Loser — J.J. McCarthy
The quarterback class of 2024 has offered some potential stars, including Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels, but it looks more and more likely that J.J. McCarthy will be the biggest bust of the group. McCarthy was completely ineffective in Minnesota's loss at Green Bay, throwing for just 87 yards and averaging only 4.6 yards per attempt with two interceptions.
There is an asterisk on McCarthy's career progression since he missed his entire rookie season due to injury but few passers could ask for a better setup than the one McCarthy has, with Minnesota providing him an elite supporting cast and a solid offensive line. The Vikings made a big bet on McCarthy by letting both Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold leave the building in the offseason and it looks like that ticket will bust if McCarthy doesn't show serious progress down the stretch.
Winner — Shedeur Sanders
It took several trades and injury for Shedeur Sanders to get a shot as an NFL quarterback but he got the chance to make some history on Sunday. Cleveland's win in Las Vegas made Sanders a winner in his NFL debut and the first Browns' rookie quarterback to win his first start since 1995. It ended a stretch of 17 straight losses for rookie passers since the Cleveland franchise was re-activated in 1999.
The Browns didn't ask Sanders to do much, attempting only 21 passes against 27 runs, but he did show flashes of brilliance by hitting Isaiah Bond for a 52-yard play that set up a touchdown run for Quinshon Judkins. Head coach Kevin Stefanski has previously indicated that Dillon Gabriel will get his job back after he clears the concussion protocol but Sanders played well enough to give his coach something to think about in the coming days.
Loser — Pittsburgh Steelers
Falling to the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field was a tough pill to swallow for the Steelers, who have dropped four of their past six games after a 4-1 start to the season. Aaron Rodgers didn't play after breaking a bone in his wrist in Week 11, leaving Mason Rudolph in charge of the offense, and Rudolph cost Pittsburgh dearly with a pair of key turnovers in a three-point loss.
The swoon from the Steelers, combined with Baltimore's surge up the standings, means Pittsburgh could miss the postseason entirely if they can't get their acts together. Things won't get any easier in Week 13 with an angry Buffalo team coming to town with three extra days of rest after a tough loss to the Texans on Thursday.
Winner — Dallas Cowboys
It would be hard to blame casual fans for leaving the Cowboys for dead after they fell behind the Eagles 21-0 in the first half. NFL games are 60 minutes, however, and Dallas turned things around after the break by tying a franchise record for the largest comeback victory in history with a stunning 24-21 victory over the reigning Super Bowl champs that may have saved their season.
George Pickens was a game-wrecker for Dallas, catching 9 passes for 146 yards and a score, including a key 24-yard reception with under a minute to go to set up the Cowboys' game-winning field goal attempt. The much-maligned Dallas defense also made key halftime adjustments, shutting the Eagles out down the stretch and forcing two key turnovers to facilitate the comeback.
Loser — Indianapolis Colts
It was a tough day at the office for Colts' backers, who saw their team go toe-to-toe with the Chiefs but fail to close the deal. Despite entering the fourth quarter with a 20-9 lead, Indianapolis couldn't close out Kansas City, going three-and-out twice after the Chiefs cut it to 20-17 before their defense let Patrick Mahomes march 87 yards in the final 4:43 to allow Harrison Butker a chance to tie the game and force overtime.
Daniel Jones led another three-and-out before giving the ball back to Mahomes, who led Kansas City on another lengthy drive to set up a game-winning field goal from Butker. Although the effort against the Chiefs may have proved the Colts are a legitimate playoff contender, they still lost and saw the two teams directly behind them in a competitive AFC South (Houston and Jacksonville) both earn wins in Week 12, making the four games they have against them critical to their hopes of just reaching the postseason.
Winner — Kansas City Chiefs
Things were getting dire for the Chiefs on Sunday as they were poised to blow another AFC game to a team ahead of them in the standings. Some Mahomes magic, along with a resurgent defensive effort that saw Kansas City's standout unit force three straight three-and-outs down the stretch, ensured the three-time defending AFC West champs got back in the win column and live to fight another day.
There are still warts to iron out for the Chiefs, who looked far from perfect here, but a loss against the Colts would have meant that their postseason odds dipped below 40 percent thanks to all of their tiebreaker losses. The victory now opens up a path for Jacksonville to win the AFC South, which would remove one of their more damaging head-to-head tiebreakers, while giving them a tiebreaker on Indianapolis that could prove quite useful in mid-January.
Loser — Breece Hall
This week was not a good one for Hall, who created a distraction for his team by picking fights with beat reporters online over their line of questioning towards benched quarterback Justin Fields. With the Jets threatening to pull a big upset in Baltimore on Sunday, they put the football in the hands of Hall near the goal line down 20-10 in the fourth quarter and he coughed it up at the two, allowing the Ravens to recover and deny New York much-needed points.
That play was the nail in the coffin for the Jets, who gained just four yards on eight plays the rest of the way, turning the ball over on downs once and having Tyrod Taylor throw a game-icing interception on the other drive. While the Jets did get Hall involved a lot offensively, giving him 20 touches he turned into 119 total yards, he didn't find the end zone and made the single-biggest blunder of the day for an upset-minded squad.