NFL Week 11 Takeaways: Are the Bills the new team to beat in AFC?

For the first time this season — and dating all the way back to last Christmas — the Kansas City Chiefs came out on the losing end of a football game.

And what a game it was. 

A back-and-forth affair between the Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills featured a first half that saw the lead swap hands with every score to set us up for a down-to-the-wire finish — and a game-altering decision for Sean McDermott. On a crucial fourth-and-two, deep in Chiefs territory with 2:27 left to go in what was, at the time, a 23-21 game favouring Buffalo, the Bills head coach could’ve taken the safe route with a chip-in field goal attempt. 

But that’s not how you beat the Chiefs. 

It took a gamble, but putting the ball in Josh Allen’s hands has been just about the safest bet you can make this season. And it paid off on Sunday in a big way. MVP chants rained down around Highmark Stadium as tensions turned to jubilation with Allen’s every stride — to the first-down line… and then, all the way to the end zone for the 26-yard game-icing score.  

A clutch defensive effort to halt Patrick Mahomes’ comeback attempt with a late-game pick sealed the 30-21 win for the Bills and had the champagne flowing in Miami as the ’72 squad keeps its place in history.

The Bills outperformed the Chiefs in pretty much every statistical category on Sunday — passing yards, rushing yards, first downs, interceptions — and are the first team to score 30 points against Kansas City since the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII in February 2023. Josh Allen stayed on his feet, taking zero sacks, and used his legs as the team’s leading rusher in both carries and yards in the win. His Bills are the only teams to defeat Patrick Mahomes four times. 

The Bills’ statement-making victory brings a few more questions now: The Chiefs remain atop the conference standings, but is Buffalo the new team to beat in the AFC?

And, will we get to see a rematch of this showdown in January? 

These Chargers are different

Ask any Chargers fan what they were feeling as Joe Burrow connected with Ja’Marr Chase on a four-yard touchdown pass 10 minutes into the third quarter of what was looking like a blowout win for L.A., and the answer probably went a little something like that. 

Had you asked them again less than three minutes later, when Burrow aired it out to Tee Higgins for a 42-yard score to come within seven points, and you probably got something a little more… tense.

Check in again less than three minutes into the fourth quarter, and all you would’ve heard were alarm bells. 

The Chargers are Chargering! It’s happening again!

Only, it didn’t happen again. What did happen was Justin Herbert recovering from a late-game fumble, bouncing back from a series of three-and-outs with a string of missed connections, and marching his team down the field to grab hold of the game with 17 seconds to go. What did happen was the Chargers’ defence picking itself up after a string of Bengals scores and standing tall to make sure Burrow couldn’t turn this wild comeback into a win for Cincinnati. 

Every victory requires a little luck, too, and for once, the Chargers were on the good side of that — Bengals kicker Evan McPherson missed two crucial field goals that could’ve, would’ve, changed Cincinnati’s fate. Instead, the 34-27 outcome was the Chargers’ to celebrate. 

Try as Joe Burrow might, his 356-yard, three-touchdown effort wasn’t enough to fix what has ailed the Bengals — in this game, or in this season. Both have seen the Bengals start too slow and commit too many defensive errors, creating unnecessary obstacles of their own doing that are now catching up with them and proving too large to overcome. 

While the Bengals aren’t mathematically ruled out of AFC playoff contention, it’s going to take a minor miracle to climb back into relevance — especially considering who else won on Sunday. The Broncos, Colts, and Dolphins, all sitting ahead of Cincinnati in the standings, all won their respective matchups, adding salt to the Bengals’ wound and bringing their playoff odds down into the single digits.

Sean Payton and the Saints just made things interesting in NFC South

It doesn’t matter that Sean Payton is no longer manning the sideline of Atlanta’s top divisional rival down in New Orleans — even clad in Broncos orange, he still knows how to shut down the Falcons. Denver’s 38-6 blowout victory saw rookie quarterback Bo Nix put up the best numbers of his young career so far — 28 of 33 for 307 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions — but the bigger story here was the Broncos’ defence. 

The unit held Kirk Cousins to just 176 yards on 18 completions, sacking him four times and intercepting him once while keeping their own endzone untouched. Kicker Younghoe Koo was the only Falcon to register any points. 

In addition to keeping the Broncos’ wild card hopes alive and well — especially considering the Chargers kept up their own winning pace Sunday night against Cincinnati — the dominant victory also completed Denver’s season sweep of NFC South opponents, holding the four clubs to a combined 37 points through four wins. 

And while he surely brought back some not-so-happy memories for Falcons fans, the fourth and final stop of the Sean Payton Reunion Tour^TM may have also stirred up a little chaos in the NFC South playoff picture. Because while Denver was busy delivering Atlanta its worst loss of the year, his old club down in New Orleans won its second straight game since replacing Payton’s successor, Dennis Allen, with special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi. The Saints, who defeated the Falcons last Sunday to bring them to 1-1 against their division rival this season, defeated the Cleveland Browns 35-14 thanks to Taysom Hill’s trio of touchdown runs. Now 4-7 heading into their Week 12 bye, they’re still two wins shy of challenging Atlanta in the NFC South and their playoff probability is floundering in the single digits. But there are signs of life… and perhaps a few seeds of doubt sown in Atlanta as they head into their own bye week. 

Maybe the team we should be talking about most in this division is the one that didn’t play at all. The 4-6 Buccaneers are better than their record indicates and face a trio of sub-.500 teams in the Giants, Panthers, and Raiders in the next three weeks with a dazzling opportunity to gain some ground. 

Goff bounces back as Lions put on a show

With last week’s wild comeback win over the Houston Texans, the Detroit Lions proved they can still be great even if their quarterback isn’t. Sunday’s dominant win over Jacksonville showed us all it’s a lot more fun to watch this offence when he is. 

There might just be a new edition of The Greatest Show on Turf, and they’re dressed in Honolulu Blue. 

Jared Goff wasn’t just great against the Jaguars. He was perfect. One week after throwing five interceptions, Goff threw for 412 passing yards — the most of his Lions tenure — and four touchdowns with no INTs, connecting on 24 of 29 attempts for a perfect passer rating as Detroit trounced the Jaguars 52-6. 

While the Lions’ high-flying offence certainly makes for some entertaining football, Sunday wasn’t all fun for Detroit. The loss of defensive captain Alex Anzalone, who suffered a broken arm on Sunday, is big — especially with the team already playing without sack machine Aidan Hutchinson. 

Steelers defence steps up with statement division win

Let’s be honest: So much talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offence of late felt a little weird, right? We were starting to describe it with terms like “fun” and “explosive,” while Russell Wilson flexed his arm power and wagged his finger as he led the team to victory. 

But Sunday brought a return to normalcy as the Steelers did what the Steelers do best: Defence. Running the ball. Field goals. And, most importantly, beating the Ravens. 

Pittsburgh didn’t score a single touchdown in the 18-16 divisional victory over Baltimore — their eighth win in their last nine games against the Ravens. Instead, in their bid to stay atop the AFC North, they leaned on their ground game and kicker Chris Boswell, who was successful on all six field goal attempts. The defence was everywhere, sacking Lamar Jackson twice, forcing a trio of turnovers and holding Jackson to just 16 completions on 33 attempts. 

This felt like a signature win for the Steelers, considering the defensive efforts. And we know it was an important win in their first divisional contest of the season. But it’s worth mulling over this question: Was this a good Steelers win? Wilson threw for 205 yards and no passing touchdowns, with one interception against the league’s worst passing defence. He was sacked four times. And had Ravens kicker Justin Tucker not struggled so mightily — he converted just one of three field goal attempts — we might be talking about a very different outcome. The Steelers have emerged as one of the top teams in the AFC, and will need to be at their best — on both sides of the ball — down the stretch. In addition to five more divisional contests to come, beginning Thursday against Cleveland, Pittsburgh will face two fellow heavyweights in the Eagles and Chiefs. 

Rams, Seahawks leapfrog 49ers in wild NFC West

It may not be the strongest division in football this year, but the NFC West is certainly shaping up to be the most interesting — and on Sunday, the Rams and Seahawks upped the intrigue in a big way.

Both L.A. and Seattle entered Week 11 with matching 4-5 records to go with their identical playoff odds (11 per cent) and similar stakes. The Rams, whose three-game win streak was halted by Miami last Monday night, needed a bounce-back win over the New England Patriots in order to stay relevant in the playoff hunt. They got it, their 28-22 victory bringing their record up to an even 5-5. 

Seattle had more to lose — and more to gain — as they hit the field for a pivotal divisional rematch against the San Francisco 49ers. A second loss to San Francisco this season would’ve essentially sunk their season, and as the two-minute warning rolled around in what was a 17-13 game for the 49ers, it looked like that might be the case. But Geno Smith had other ideas, orchestrating a wild game-winning drive capped by a sensational 13-yard touchdown run to will his team to victory — and keep them alive in the hunt for a wild card spot.

Sunday’s outcomes put all three squads at 5-5 and reorganized the order of things below the 6-5 Arizona Cardinals (bye) with both the Rams and Seahawks leapfrogging the 49ers in the standings and setting us all up for some fun, high-stakes football to come.