NFL winners and losers, Week 10: Maybe the Chiefs will never lose again

Each week of the NFL season, The Baltimore Sun will recap the best and worst from around the league. Here are our winners and losers from Week 10:

Winner: Kansas City Chiefs

This was it. This had to be it.

The Broncos had thoroughly outplayed the two-time defending champions all afternoon. They had come into Arrowhead Stadium as 7 1/2-point underdogs and were on the precipice of handing the Chiefs their first loss since Christmas. The undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins could pop another bottle of champagne.

Denver played it perfectly. A 12-play march took nearly six minutes off the clock and brought the Broncos to Kansas City’s 12-yard line with just one second left. Patrick Mahomes could only watch from the sideline as Wil Lutz lined up a 35-yard field goal attempt. Make the chip shot, and the winning streak would be over.

You know what happened next. Leo Chenal burst through the left side of the line and blocked the kick, sending it skittering harmlessly to the sideline. CBS play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan lost his mind.

“It’s a complete shock, you know? Not much I can say about it,” Chenal said. “I was really praying for something to happen. That moment is so heavy. There’s a second on the clock, they’re going to kick a field goal and you feel the weight of the moment.”

Kansas City is only the fifth Super Bowl champion to win its first nine games the following season. Its 15-game winning streak is the longest in the NFL since the Packers won 19 in a row from 2010 to 2011.

Will they ever lose again?

Beat the Bills next week, and a potential 20-0 season becomes a real debate. Kansas City still has games remaining against the Panthers, Raiders and Browns. The Chargers, Texans, Steelers and Broncos (in what could be a meaningless Week 17 game for the Chiefs) have the best chance of ending this perfect run. At the very least, the top seed and first-round bye in the AFC is all but wrapped up.

What makes this streak so astounding is how vulnerable Kansas City looks. Mahomes is having one of the worst statistical seasons of his career, throwing 12 touchdown passes to nine interceptions while averaging a career-low 245.3 passing yards per game. He has missed open receivers, including throwing the ball over Travis Kelce’s head in the end zone Sunday. Even the defense has suffered lapses, allowing Broncos rookie Bo Nix to complete 22 of 30 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns Sunday while recording just two sacks and failing to force a turnover. The Chiefs’ average margin of victory this year is less than seven points.

No matter. The Chiefs have won nine straight games in which they trailed in the second half. In the biggest moments this year, they’ve thrived: Kansas City leads the NFL in converting third downs (52%) and rank third on fourth down (88%). Most remarkably, Mahomes is now 19-14 in games in which he trailed by 10 or more points. No other quarterback in NFL history has a winning record in those situations.

Is this sustainable? Of course not. Would you bet against the Chiefs keeping it up? Go ahead and try.

Loser: Chicago Bears

That Hail Mary might have broken the Bears.

Chicago was one play away from winning a fourth straight game and vaulting itself into playoff contention. Instead, Tyrique Stevenson taunted the crowd, Jayden Daniels’ last-second heave landed in the arms of Noah Brown, and the Bears lost a heartbreaker to the Commanders.

Things have only gotten worse.

Since that fateful game, the Bears (4-5) have been outscored 48-12 in losses to the Cardinals and Patriots. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams has looked worse each week, with a depleted and ineffective offensive line making his accuracy issues and tendency to hold onto the ball too long even more glaring. The Bears entered Sunday without both starting tackles and later lost left guard Teven Jenkins to an ankle injury. As a result, Williams was sacked nine times in a 19-3 loss to New England.

Bears coach Matt Eberflus said after the game that he will evaluate “everything from the top to the bottom,” and the team fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron on Tuesday. It might just be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic at this point, with Eberflus in danger of being fired if his team can’t turn this season around. Fans at Soldier Field have already started chanting for his removal with Chicago now 14-29 in his two-plus seasons in charge.

As the No. 1 overall draft pick, Williams was supposed to be the savior of a franchise that has never found the answer at quarterback, but it’s starting to feel like even he can’t overcome his circumstances. Against one of the league’s worst teams, Chicago totaled just 142 yards and went 1 for 14 on third down, while Williams finished a dreadful 16 for 30 for 120 yards. The offense has gone 23 straight drives without scoring a touchdown.

Amid the mess, Williams is putting on a brave face and saying all the right things. But it’s fair to start wondering whether Chicago is ruining another promising young quarterback.

Winner: Pittsburgh Steelers

There’s something different about these Steelers.

Thanks to coach Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh has found a way to stay relevant over the years with an aging Ben Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph, “Duck” Hodges, Kenny Pickett and Justin Fields at quarterback. But with Russell Wilson under center, the Steelers feel like a legitimate threat to make a deep postseason run.

In Sunday’s 28-27 win over the Commanders, Wilson helped lead a stirring second-half comeback punctuated by a 32-yard touchdown pass to newly acquired wide receiver Mike Williams with just over two minutes left. Pittsburgh’s offense was far from dominant, averaging just 4.2 yards per play, but Wilson is starting to look like his old self with his ability to make big plays down the field.

That included an early 16-yard touchdown pass to George Pickens, who made an acrobatic grab in the end zone despite tight coverage. Wilson was far from efficient Sunday, completing just 14 of 28 attempts for 195 yards, but his three touchdown passes made the difference.

“That’s one of his biggest components of his game: trusting his receivers,” Pickens said.

While Fields did an admirable job leading the Steelers to a 4-2 start and providing a valuable threat in the running game, he was not accurate or aggressive enough as a passer to keep up with an offense as good as the Commanders’. While Wilson has declined from his heights as a Super Bowl champion and NFL Most Valuable Player candidate with the Seahawks, he raises Pittsburgh’s ceiling just enough to potentially give the Chiefs, Bills and Ravens a scare in the postseason.

Despite the gaudy 7-2 record and AFC North lead, this team is far from perfect. A failed fake punt from the Steelers’ 15-yard line Sunday led directly to a Washington touchdown, cornerback Joey Porter Jr. committed costly penalties and running back Jaylen Warren fumbled at the goal line before Pittsburgh could score what should have been the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. It took a comeback from down 24-14 in the third quarter to escape with a win, after all.

But there’s no doubt that this version of the Steelers is more of a threat to compete for a championship than any since Big Ben, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell were leading the way.

Loser: New York Jets

Can we stop pretending the Jets are relevant now?

After New York fired coach Robert Saleh and traded for wide receiver Davante Adams, hope remained that the Jets could pull out of their tailspin and compete for a playoff spot despite their poor record. They still had Aaron Rodgers, and the defense would surely improve after such a woeful start to the season.

Well, it’s time to abandon all hope.

The Jets were blown out by the Cardinals on Sunday, 31-6, in a game that was basically over after the first quarter. The defense looked hapless all afternoon, missing tackles and leaving receivers wide-open as Arizona piled up 406 total yards. Defense was supposed to be the calling card for this team after that unit looked so dominant last year. Surely better quarterback play was the only thing missing to make the Jets a real contender.

Instead, the defense has fallen apart, going from one of the league’s best to one of its worst. Rodgers isn’t making much of a difference either; for the season, New York ranks 26th in scoring with 17.7 points per game. Since acquiring Adams at the trade deadline, a move touted as the final piece to unlock a struggling offense, the Jets have gone 1-3 while averaging just 16 points per game.

Rodgers is 3-7 for the first time in his 20-year career, so this is uncharted territory. Even his worst seasons in Green Bay never finished with fewer than six wins. He said there’s “a lot still in front of us” after Sunday’s latest loss, but what’s he supposed to say? That this move to New York has been a disaster? That there’s no hope? That, at age 40, it’s an open question whether he’ll even play again next year?

Rodgers and Adams are both under contract for next season, so maybe there’s a chance the Jets can build some momentum down the stretch in anticipation of new leadership and a better roster pushing the team back into contention in 2025. But for now, a 14th straight season without reaching the playoffs is all but assured for one of the league’s sorriest franchises.