{"id":588943,"date":"2025-12-10T06:44:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T06:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/588943\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T06:44:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T06:44:19","slug":"nfl-week-14-winners-and-losers-texans-defense-officially-puts-the-chiefs-to-bed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/588943\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 14 Winners and Losers: Texans defense officially puts the Chiefs to bed"},"content":{"rendered":"

NFL Week 14 Winners and Losers: Texans defense officially puts the Chiefs to bed<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Can you believe it\u2019s already Week 15? Neither can I. Each week in the NFL brings massive playoff implications and marquee matchups in a year where it seems like anybody can win any given game, and that was no different this week.<\/p>\n

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Most notably, the Texans put the Chiefs even further behind in the AFC playoff race on Sunday night with a 20-10 victory. The Chargers essentially sealed Kansas City\u2019s fate with a win over the Eagles in overtime on Monday, meaning the NFL\u2019s modern dynasty will very likely be watching the playoffs at home.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the Rams and Seahawks continued to mow down opponents in the NFC, the Packers took back first place in the NFC North with a win over the Bears, the Colts lost the lead in the AFC South and quarterback <\/a>Daniel Jones<\/a> to an Achilles injury.<\/p>\n

Who made the list of winners and losers from one of the more eventful Sundays of the year?<\/p>\n

Winner: The Texans\u2019 defense\"\u00a9<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Denny Medley-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Houston Texans<\/a> are arguably the hottest team in football right now after beating the Chiefs 20-10 on Sunday night in Kansas City to get to 8-5 on the season. Now, it appears very likely that the Texans will be in the playoffs, and they may have ended the Chiefs\u2019 hopes of joining them<\/a> there with this win.<\/p>\n

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Houston\u2019s defense has been the catalyst for this recent run, establishing itself as one of the best units in the NFL on either side of the ball. On Sunday, even Patrick Mahomes fell victim to DeMeco Ryans and company. The star Chiefs quarterback posted the worst EPA per dropback of his career at minus-0.54, the worst completion percentage of his career at 42.9% and the worst passer rating of his career<\/a> at 19.8, per ESPN\u2019s Ben Solak.<\/p>\n

The Texans make plays at all three levels, combining arguably the best pass-rushing duo in the league with an elite secondary that gets to the football on a frequent basis. In recent weeks, the Texans have shut down Mahomes, Josh Allen<\/a>, and an explosive Colts team as a part of a five-game winning streak that doesn\u2019t look like it\u2019s coming to an end anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Loser: The Chiefs, and everyone who has to play the Texans\u2019 defense<\/p>\n

On the other side of Sunday night\u2019s result is the likely end of the Chiefs dynasty, or at least this iteration of it. Kansas City\u2019s efficiency has been solid all season, but it has always felt like something was just a bit off.<\/p>\n

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That was never more true than in this game, when the Chiefs seemed to always have something go wrong on the offensive side. Fill-in left tackle Wanya Morris left with a season-ending injury<\/a> on the first play of the game, and Kansas City struggled with Houston\u2019s pass rush all night. When it wasn\u2019t the offensive line letting the Chiefs down, it was the receivers with a handful of back-breaking drops. When it wasn\u2019t that, it was a bizarre fourth-down decision from Andy Reid that immediately took away all of Kansas City\u2019s momentum and allowed Houston to get back in the lead.<\/p>\n

Now, the Chiefs have very likely played with their food a bit too much this year and have just a 12% chance to make the playoffs<\/a> according to The Athletic.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs aren\u2019t the first team to fall victim to the Texans defense, nor will they be the last. However, their failures throughout the season didn\u2019t give them the margin for error that it needed to take on a very good team with a lot of momentum like this one, and that is what will cost them a chance at another AFC Championship.<\/p>\n

Winner: Everyone who watched Bears-Packers<\/p>\n

After years of having the Bears in the cellar of the NFC North, we finally got a late-season matchup between the two longtime rivals with real playoff implications on both sides. To put it simply, it was glorious.<\/p>\n

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Chicago and Green Bay repeatedly threw haymakers at each other all afternoon at a freezing-cold Lambeau Field, going back and forth in a second half that featured 30 minutes of high-quality football on both sides. On one side, Ben Johnson was scheming up a dominant run game and Caleb Williams was improvising in all the right moments. On the other, Jordan Love firmly established himself in the MVP conversation<\/a> with a stellar performance of his own.<\/p>\n

In the end, Green Bay got a 28-21 win and reclaimed first place in the NFC North after Williams was picked off in the end zone by Keisean Nixon in the final minute. But the real winner here was the fans, and we get to see it again in just two weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

Loser: The Colts, in all possible ways\"Doug<\/p>\n

Doug Engle\/Florida Times-Union<\/p>\n

The Colts were one of the surprises of this NFL season for the first half of the year, jumping out to a 7-1 start led by an explosive offense, a lethal run game, and a defense that did more than enough to get the job done on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n

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The Colts came into Week 14 having lost three of their last four games, as the shine had worn off on their new-look offense with Daniel Jones. Jonathan Taylor cooled off after his historic start to the season, but Indianapolis still had a chance to take control of the AFC South once again on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.<\/p>\n

However, things didn\u2019t last long even on Sunday morning. With the Colts trailing in the first half, Jones went down with a torn right Achilles<\/a> and will be out for the rest of the season and potentially into the 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n

Indianapolis essentially went all-in on Jones when it traded two first-round picks to the New York Jets for star cornerback Sauce Gardner. Now, the Colts don\u2019t have many avenues to acquire another starting quarterback, and Jones is a free agent this offseason. All signs point to him being back as the starter on a new deal when he is healthy, but what that deal looks like is just one of the many questions that this devastating injury brings to the table.<\/p>\n

Winner: Josh Allen dashing through the snow<\/p>\n

It seems like that once every year, Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills<\/a> get to play in a driving snowstorm on their home field. The 2025 edition came on Sunday, and Allen certainly did not disappoint.<\/p>\n

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The reigning MVP re-entered the conversation for the biggest individual honor again this season with a four-touchdown performance to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 39-34 in a comeback effort and keep Buffalo in the mix in the AFC East.<\/p>\n

Allen had another signature moment with his legs in this one, scrambling for a 40-yard touchdown<\/a> to start the comeback effort in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

The Bills QB has had some down games this season, but he is starting to show that he is still the best of the best when it matters most.<\/p>\n

Loser: Justin Herbert<\/a>\u2019s well-being on the field\"Gary<\/p>\n

Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Chargers beat the Eagles 22-19 in overtime on Monday night to get to 9-4 on the season and put themselves in a very good position in the AFC playoff race. However, it was impossible to come away from that game with any other takeaway than concern about Justin Herbert\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

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Herbert, who was already playing with a broken hand that was surgically repaired just seven days before the game, took a career-high seven sacks against a very good Eagles defense<\/a> and was pressured on 68.3% of his dropbacks. No, that is not a typo.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the third-highest pressure rate<\/a> faced by a quarterback in the Next Gen Stats era, according to Tony Holzman-Escareno.<\/p>\n

The Chargers have one of the most beat-up offensive lines in the NFL, and things only got worse on Monday when Trey Pipkins went down with an injury. The schedule isn\u2019t getting any easier for the pass protection either, as the Chargers will take on the Chiefs, Cowboys, Texans and Broncos to close the season.<\/p>\n

Herbert has his team in position to make the playoffs again in 2o25. What state he is in by the time they get there is another question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NFL Week 14 Winners and Losers: Texans defense officially puts the Chiefs to bed appeared first on ClutchPoints.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[374,232,53,1036,692,346,256,2005,230,2772,3607,7,41,2004,125,1753,1724,872,1159,118,9761,255,1592,6,499,424,7536,238,222,5340,1866,7577,8401,9915],"class_list":{"0":"post-588943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-broncos","10":"tag-buffalo-bills","11":"tag-caleb-williams","12":"tag-chicago","13":"tag-chiefs","14":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","15":"tag-colts","16":"tag-cowboys","17":"tag-daniel-jones","18":"tag-demeco-ryans","19":"tag-football","20":"tag-green-bay","21":"tag-indianapolis","22":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","23":"tag-jonathan-taylor","24":"tag-jordan-love","25":"tag-josh-allen","26":"tag-justin-herbert","27":"tag-kansas-city","28":"tag-keisean-nixon","29":"tag-new-york-jets","30":"tag-nfc-north","31":"tag-nfl","32":"tag-patrick-mahomes","33":"tag-rams","34":"tag-sauce-gardner","35":"tag-seahawks","36":"tag-texans","37":"tag-the-chargers","38":"tag-the-chiefs","39":"tag-the-texans","40":"tag-trey-pipkins","41":"tag-wanya-morris"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}