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Happy Holidays! We’ve officially entered into perhaps the most underrated part of the NFL season: December Football. While we already have a few teams clearly out of the playoff race and planning offseason vacations, the rest of the league is pushing for one of the coveted 14 postseason spots as the weather gets colder. But which teams are the biggest threats to make deep playoff runs and take home the Lombardi trophy? Here are my three favorites to watch as we move into the home stretch of the regular season.
Let me start off by briefly listing my honorable mentions: The Cincinnati Bengals, the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Minnesota Vikings. While these four teams are all great and could certainly make playoff runs, I put the following three squads above them because of their all-around incredible combination of coaching, quarterback play, and offensive and defensive talent.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs have been serious contenders ever since they drafted Patrick Mahomes as their quarterback, and that narrative is no different this year. The loss of star wide receiver Tyreek Hill has seemed to have not impacted their offense, which currently leads the league in total yards per game and passing yards per game. Travis Kelce continues to show out and prove his status as the best tight end in the league, and Kansas City has redistributed Hill’s touches to a variety of different receivers like JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Mecole Hardman. With the dynamic duo of Mahomes and coach Andy Reid, the Chiefs’ offense will continue to click into the postseason.
But this squad isn’t an unstoppable juggernaut by any means. The defense is middle-of-the-pack in yards allowed per game and near the bottom of the league in passing yards allowed per game—in other words, you can score points on Kansas City, as Joe Burrow and the Bengals proved last week in their 27–24 win in Cincinnati. And while the offense appears to be just fine without Hill, there have certainly been moments this season where they have missed his game-breaking speed; it’s worth considering whether the Chiefs have enough receiver talent to beat the best playoff defenses. But at the end of the day, I just can’t bet against Mahomes, and thus Kansas City is my pick to come out of the AFC.
Buffalo Bills
Buffalo has loads of talent on both sides of the ball, probably the second-best quarterback in the league in Josh Allen, and a great coach in Sean McDermott. Is this finally the year that the Bills break through to the Super Bowl? After back-to-back losses against the Jets and Vikings, Buffalo has stabilized with three wins in a row and has returned to the top of the AFC. The offense is expectedly dominant. They are second in the league in total yards per game and third in the league in passing yards per game, but the defense has also played fairly well, currently sitting top-ten in yards allowed per game and in the top half of the league in sacks per game. Buffalo looks relatively balanced.
The concerns? Star pass rusher Von Miller was recently ruled out for the season with an ACL injury, which will significantly impact the defense and their ability to get to the quarterback. The unit has also allowed 20+ points in four out of their last five games, so they’ve been at the top of their game lately and are certainly vulnerable in the right matchup. Another worry is the sometimes shaky decision-making of Allen. There have been a few moments this year where he’s tried to make the hero play and has ended up turning the ball over, putting his team in a difficult position. The verdict? This team has more than enough talent to win it all, but it all rides on the shoulders of their star quarterback, who has to maintain the stamina to play top-quality football throughout the playoffs.
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles have been one of the best stories of the NFL season, surprising everyone with a dominant 11–1 record after many expected the Dallas Cowboys to win their division. Quarterback Jalen Hurts has been incredible, leading an offense that’s top five in rushing yards per game and second in points per game. Hurts is no longer the one-dimensional, run-dependent quarterback he was before. His accuracy and decision making has markedly improved, making the Eagles offense incredibly hard to stop. I haven’t even mentioned their ferocious defense, which is currently 2nd in yards allowed per game, 2nd in sacks per game, and 1st in turnovers in the entire league. Philadelphia is scary, and coach Nick Sirianni has captained a team that can seemingly do it all.
But is the Eagles’ offense explosive enough to play from behind? Their one loss was to the Washington Commanders, who built a lead that Philadelphia could never catch up to. There’s also the question of experience. Both the Bills and Chiefs have been established contenders and playoff participants for a while, but this is the Eagles’ first year since their 2018 Super Bowl run where they’re truly in the mix to win it all. Can Hurts handle the pressure? Can Sirianni? Time will tell, but I’m a believer in this team; I think their defense will translate well to the playoffs, and while I don’t think the offense will be as good as it was in the regular season, Hurts has made enough improvements to lead this team to a deep postseason run.
There are certainly teams not mentioned here that will sneak into the AFC or NFC championships; it happens every year. Regardless, the next month of pre-playoffs football will be incredible, and hopefully, all of you can take some time over break to enjoy it!
Teddy Benchley can be reached at tbenchley@wesleyan.edu.