Christmas Day was rough on the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers — but the Baltimore Ravens, boosted by Lamar Jackson, earned a big, fat present.
The Chiefs lost again. The Eagles struggled against the lowly Giants. The 49ers were embarrassed at home.
Christmas Day was rough on Super Bowl contenders except for the Ravens.
An offense that has sputtered throughout the season couldn’t do much against the Raiders and was unable to overcome the costly mistakes.
“I thought defense played a good game, just two mistakes that gave them two touchdowns there when you’re backed up in their red zone, so you just can’t do that,” Mahomes said. “Especially when defense is playing like they’re playing, but I just have to be better in that sense and not make those mistakes and try to find a way to play the game and the best way to win it.”
Kansas City still has a two-game lead over the Raiders and Broncos in the AFC West but hasn’t clinched the division title yet. The Chiefs need one win over the Bengals or Chargers to wrap it up. But their road back to the Super Bowl will look different. Mahomes likely is going to have to play the first road playoff game of his career if the Chiefs advance beyond the wild-card round.
After the Chiefs were upset, it appeared there would be a rout in Philadelphia. The Eagles jumped to a 20-3 halftime lead over the Giants that sent Tommy DeVito to the bench.
But a pair of turnovers, including a pick-6 by Adoree Jackson off Jalen Hurts, got New York closer and Tyrod Taylor threw a 69-yard TD pass to Darius Slayton that cut it to 30-25 with 5:22 left.
Down 33-25, the Giants had a chance despite clumsy clock management. Taylor’s pass from the Philadelphia 26 was picked in the end zone to end the game.
The Eagles (11-4) snapped a three-game losing streak and stayed in control of the NFC East with an outside shot to still earn the No. 1 seed. But a shaky performance against the Giants isn’t going to silence critics. The Eagles often haven’t looked like the team that went to the Super Bowl last year.
“We know we have better football in us,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “To be 11-4 and still have better football left in you, that’s encouraging, but let’s go. We have to get there. We have to get there and saying we have two more games before the playoffs start, all we’re thinking about is the next game against a team that’s going to come in here and try to take what we have as well.”
Monday’s results along with the rest of Week 16 left more questions open across the NFL. There’s two weeks remaining to answer those before the playoffs.
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