4) The Bears are a mirage. Until Sunday, the Bears had not beaten a team with a winning record. The rest of their schedule will be a much tougher test, starting with the Black Friday game in Philadelphia, and including two games against the Packers. But on Sunday, in beating the Steelers — albeit with Mason Rudolph starting instead of the injured Rodgers — the Bears toppled a winning team, and did it without six defensive starters. And with six games to go, the Bears are in first place in the NFC North with no dominant team in the division.
5) Joe Burrow will return to save the Bengals’ season. Burrow will return — perhaps on Thanksgiving night — but it is getting very late for the Bengals to save 2025. At 3-8, the Bengals are three games behind both the Steelers and Ravens in the division, and they are well outside the AFC wild-card field. To be fair, it hasn’t been Joe Flacco’s fault that the Bengals have won just one game in Burrow’s absence. The Bengals defense continues to be abysmal and that may have been a problem even if Burrow was healthy all season. Still, having Burrow back is good for the NFL and definitely good for the Bengals, who have a much better chance of winning out — which would get them to nine wins — with Burrow on the field.
6) The Indianapolis Colts can be on cruise control in the AFC South. Not quite yet, not after they blew a 20-9 lead at the start of the fourth quarter in Kansas City to lose in overtime. The problem was the offense, which leads the league in scoring and in yards, which went three-and-out on four straight drives in the fourth quarter and overtime, forcing a gassed defense back onto the field to contend with Patrick Mahomes‘ heroics. Coach Shane Steichen repeatedly said after the game that he has to be better with his play-calling. But after starting 7-1, the Colts have lost two of their last three, which has kept the Texans and Jaguars alive for the division title. The Colts face both of them twice in the final six games, with the Seahawks and 49ers the other foes. The Colts may still prevail, but they are not making it easy on themselves.