NFL Winners and Losers: Fair or not, Daniel Jones' performance vs. Steelers is why there's skepticism on Colts Frank Schwab November 2, 2025 at 4:33 PM 1 The Indianapolis Colts did nothing in the first eight weeks to indicate they were anything but one of the best teams in the NFL. They were 71 and even their loss, against a good Los Angeles Rams team on the road, came on a couple of dumb and uncharacteristic mistakes. Yet the Colts weren't being embraced as a true Super Bowl contender. The naysayers now have a terrible performance to point to.
- - NFL Winners and Losers: Fair or not, Daniel Jones' performance vs. Steelers is why there's skepticism on Colts
Frank Schwab November 2, 2025 at 4:33 PM
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The Indianapolis Colts did nothing in the first eight weeks to indicate they were anything but one of the best teams in the NFL. They were 7-1 and even their loss, against a good Los Angeles Rams team on the road, came on a couple of dumb and uncharacteristic mistakes.
Yet the Colts weren't being embraced as a true Super Bowl contender. The naysayers now have a terrible performance to point to.
The Colts were bad in a 27-20 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's the kind of game from quarterback Daniel Jones that will fuel more doubts about him and the Colts going forward.
Against a Steelers defense that has been bad most of the season, the Colts couldn't do much. The Steelers clearly wanted to take Jonathan Taylor out of the game and were successful at that. That put Jones on the spot. He had been good all season. But on Sunday, Jones looked like the quarterback who was cut by the lowly New York Giants in the middle of last season. That version of Jones, with unsteady play and untimely mistakes, is the player everyone got used to seeing when he was in New York.
Jones was hesitant and made the types of mistakes that he had avoided over the first half of the season. He was sacked five times after taking just nine in the first eight games. The Colts, who had four turnovers all season before Sunday, had three in the first half against the Steelers. Indy finished with six turnovers, four of which were on Jones. He had two interceptions and two lost fumbles. Jones finished with 342 passing yards but that was a lot of empty calories at the end of a game that was rarely in doubt for the Steelers.
If it was a classic Steelers defense, a bad game would be more reasonable for the Colts, who were bound to have a down performance eventually. But Pittsburgh has had trouble stopping anyone this season.
Jones wasn't solely to blame. His offensive line played its worst game of the season. Taylor has been amazing all season but was a non-factor Sunday. The Colts' defense wasn't terrible but didn't make any big plays to help the offense out.
After a 7-1 start, one rough performance is excusable. However, it won't help the perception of the Colts as being a step behind some of the better teams in the NFL, despite them posting the best record in football through eight weeks. It won't help anyone be more confident in Jones playing at a top-10 level all season.
Every team in the NFL has had a couple of down weeks. Nobody figured on the Colts avoiding some downturns for a full season. Now they have to prove themselves again to the NFL world that the first half of the season is their true level. It isn't easy to fight preconceived notions.
Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Week 9 of the NFL season:
Matthew Stafford: In August, concern over Stafford's back reached a panic level. Remember that?
Maybe not. Stafford was healthy for the start of the season and is having one of the best seasons of his fantastic career. Stafford had another huge game, throwing four touchdowns in an easy 34-10 win over the hapless New Orleans Saints.
Stafford will start to get mentioned as an MVP candidate. Stafford has 21 touchdowns and two interceptions for a Rams team that is 6-2. Not bad for a 37-year-old quarterback everyone was worried about a few months ago.
Pete Carroll, even if it didn't work out: The Las Vegas Raiders could have taken the tie. Carroll didn't want that.
With 16 seconds left in overtime, Raiders tight Brock Bowers caught his third touchdown, capping an incredible game. That made the score 30-29 in favor of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Carroll had a decision to make. The Raiders could kick the extra point to tie it or go for 2.
RAIDERS COME UP SHORT ON THE 2-PT CONVERSION AND THE JAGS WIN IT IN OT 🤯(via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/tH6paNcmp0
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) November 3, 2025
Maybe it wasn't much of a decision. The Raiders were 2-5 coming in, and settling for a tie wouldn't have been popular. Still, Carroll deserves credit for going for the win with the 2-point conversion. He wasn't rewarded. Geno Smith's pass was batted at the line and the Jaguars won. It was a good win for the Jaguars, who had multiple clutch drives and now gain a game in the AFC South on the Colts, who lost earlier Sunday.
The NFL's new overtime rules, in which both teams are guaranteed a possession but the extra period is only 10 minutes, will lead to more ties. It's inevitable. But at least Carroll didn't want to send everyone home with that unsatisfying result.
J.J. McCarthy: There's a long way to go for McCarthy to show he's the Minnesota Vikings' answer at quarterback, or even a good option in the present. But he and the Vikings needed a game like Sunday.
In McCarthy's first game back to the lineup after dealing with an ankle injury, he played well in a 27-24 road win over the Detroit Lions. The Lions were big favorites but struggled all game. McCarthy took advantage. He had two passing touchdowns and another rushing TD as the Vikings pulled off the upset, and he clinched it with a completion on third-and-5 when the Lions still had a timeout left. McCarthy wasn't prolific, with just 143 passing yards, but he did enough.
The Vikings needed a win to avoid falling to 3-5. Now they're 4-4 and if McCarthy looks like the confident quarterback we saw Sunday and continues to grow, it's not too late for the Vikings to be a factor in the NFC playoff race.
Mac Jones: He might have made himself some good money the past few weeks, with Brock Purdy out for the San Francisco 49ers.
Jones hasn't been perfect but he has done pretty well filling in for Purdy. He played well again against the New York Giants in a 34-24 win. Jones was 19-of-24 passing for 235 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. If Purdy returns for the 49ers' next game, Jones will head back to the bench after helping the 49ers to a 5-2 record with their starting quarterback sidelined.
His play will be looked at closely by teams looking for the next Daniel Jones/Sam Darnold reclamation as a starter, or even as a high-end backup. The 49ers have him under contract for another season. The team will likely field calls on him, but San Francisco might not be quick to deal him. Jones might have to wait until the 2027 offseason to cash in, but he'll be just 28 years old then. He'll be in demand whenever he's available.
Fourth quarter Bo Nix: At some point this season, Sean Payton will have to figure out how to get Nix to play the entire game like it's the fourth quarter. Maybe the Denver Broncos can use hypnosis. For now the Broncos will take the wins that Nix has pulled out of the fire.
Nix didn't do much against a very good Houston Texans defense but did just enough on a late fourth-quarter drive, with a couple of huge runs that picked up 34 yards, setting up Wil Lutz for a game-winning field goal as time expired. The Broncos are 7-2 after an ugly 18-15 win.
Denver's record is good but its offense has to find more consistency. Nix has played well enough in the fourth quarters of games against the Giants, Eagles and Texans to give hope that an offensive revival is on the way.
Kansas City Chiefs' playoff path: If the Chiefs meet the Buffalo Bills again in the playoffs, it will likely be in Buffalo. And there's no guarantee the Chiefs will enter the playoffs as division champs.
The Chiefs had a rough Sunday. The Broncos went on the road and got a minor upset over the Texans on the final play. That, along with the Chiefs' 28-21 loss to the Bills, might have some big implications down the line.
The Broncos lead the Chiefs by two games in the AFC West. The Bills, who showed Sunday they're still a Super Bowl contender, have a game and a half lead over the Chiefs and also now have the head-to-head tiebreaker if it comes to that. A Chiefs-Bills game in Buffalo doesn't mean the Bills would win, but it's preferable for them.
The Chiefs had been on a roll but struggled Sunday. Patrick Mahomes had a tough time against the Bills' pressure. Kansas City's defense gave up too many big plays, many of which went to Bills tight ends. Dalton Kincaid had 101 yards and a touchdown. Losing at Buffalo isn't a terrible outcome for the Chiefs or anyone else. But it probably won't be good for their playoff positioning.
Bengals defense: Even when the Cincinnati Bengals had what looked like a comeback for the ages, it was too good to be true. Because their defense still had to play for 54 seconds.
The Bears gave up two touchdowns in the final two minutes, with a rare successful onside kick by the Bengals in between, and Cincinnati led 42-41 with 54 seconds left. But somehow Caleb Williams found rookie tight end Colston Loveland over the middle of the field and two Bengals gave halfhearted tackle attempts, allowing Loveland to break free and go 58 yards for the touchdown with 17 seconds remaining.
The Bears held on after that for a wild 47-42 win, one week after the Bengals had a similar collapse in the fourth quarter to the winless Jets. Williams had three touchdown passes and a receiving touchdown on a trick play. It was a huge game in his career path, pulling out a win after it seemed like it would be a devastating collapse.
But just about anyone can look good against the Bengals' defense. You don't even need a full minute at the end to make Cincinnati look bad.
Los Angeles Chargers: The Chargers might have lost Sunday if they were playing a real NFL team and not the Tennessee Titans. But that's OK. A win in any form isn't bad, especially on the road.
The problem for the Chargers was they lost offensive tackle Joe Alt again. Alt had his leg rolled up on from behind, and he had to be carted off. The Chargers ruled him out with an ankle injury, which looked bad. When Alt missed time earlier this season with a high-ankle sprain, their offense wasn't the same. It was already without offensive tackle Rashawn Slater, who suffered a torn patellar tendon in the preseason.
The Chargers beat a 1-8 Titans team, 27-20, on Sunday. But it might end up being a bad day in their season, depending on the news with Alt.
Falcons and their kicking woes: Once you're on the kicker carousel in the NFL, you might stay on it all season.
Early in the season the Falcons cut Younghoe Koo after some costly misses. John Parker Romo replaced him and was mostly good, but he had a miss Sunday that dearly cost the Falcons.
Drake London scored his third touchdown of the game and it looked like the Falcons would tie the New England Patriots at 24 in the fourth quarter. But Parker Romo missed the extra point. The Falcons never got in position after that to take the lead, and the Patriots ran out the clock in the final minutes to secure a 24-23 win.
The Falcons played well enough to beat the Patriots, who are in first place of the AFC East. But kicking problems are a big reason Atlanta is 3-5 to start the season. It's likely we haven't heard the last of its kicking struggles either.
Green Bay Packers: Maybe head coach Matt LaFleur should have just enjoyed his Halloween.
LaFleur gave a viral and explicit answer when asked about Halloween this past week, saying he didn't care about it. The Packers' effort Sunday didn't show that LaFleur's extra work during the week was worth it. The Packers were flat, as they've been often this season, and lost 16-13 to the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers were 13-point underdogs and pulled off one of the biggest wins of the season on a field goal with no time remaining. They did so a week after being blown out at home, 40-9, by the Buffalo Bills.
The Bills look like they could be a Super Bowl contender and more often than not, the Packers haven't. Green Bay has been winning games but often struggled to put away inferior opponents. On Sunday it caught up to the Packers. Their defense wasn't very good and their offense didn't do nearly enough, with Jordan Love having a mostly quiet day. An injury to tight end Tucker Kraft didn't help and is a concern going forward.
The Packers (5-2-1) have often let bad teams hang around before winning at the end. On Sunday they took a bad loss that will follow them around for the rest of the season.
Source: "AOL Sports"
Source: Sports
Published: November 03, 2025 at 10:27AM on Source: MONDAY MAG
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