The regular season for the NFL is over, and now we can begin to see which teams will make it to the Super Bowl. The Buffalo Bills reclaimed the top spot in the AFC with a late surge. The Miami Dolphins need to travel to Kansas City to face the Chiefs in the wild-card round because they lost three of their last five games. There are a lot of conclusions to be drawn from the finale for teams who didn't make the playoffs. Here are the winners and loser from the last day of the regular season.
Young Packers are doing well.
The Green Bay Packers have had a great season, even though they have had some rough patches. As the season wore on, Jordan Love improved as the team's starting quarterback, limiting turnovers and unleashing an accurate downfield passing attack. He elevated Green Bay's young receivers with six receptions for 61 yards and two touchdown. The Bears had won four of their previous five games and had averaged 30.7 points in their last three wins. It is nice to see players get a boost in their bank accounts when they reach their incentives. Chris Jones, the star defensive tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs, earned a bonus of $1.25 million for his 1012 sacks, while Baker Mayfield, the quarterback of the Buccaneers, earned $1 million for leading the team to the playoffs. The Houston Texans have a bright future with DeMeco Ryans and C.J.
The Houston Texans finished last season with a 3-13-1 record, which was the second worst in the NFL. The Texans became the first team in history to win their division with a rookies quarterback and head coach and Ryans has completely changed the culture of the team. The job Ryans has done is a testament to how efficient and mistake-free the team has been. The Texans may come to dominate the AFC South for years to come with Ryans and Stroud as their cornerstones.
TheJaguars were frauds all along.
The team that collapsed worse this season was the Jaguars. A win-and-in finale against a team that had only five victories was one of the reasons Jacksonville lost five of its last six games. The quarterback, at this time of the season, had multiple breakdowns with his receivers and often missed them. TheJaguars wasted opportunities, played inefficiently, made mental mistakes, dropped passes and had star potential underwhelm. If this is the end for the coach in New England, the GM let him down.
The New England Patriots have a winning percentage of.235 this season, which is 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465. His inability to maintain and develop talent on the offense was the main factor in his failure, as uncertainty swirls about his future at the organization. Despite some impressive personnel decisions, the New England's Super Bowl runs have been without any significant difference-makers on offense. Pop Douglas was the team's leading receiver in 2023, but he gained just 561 receiving yards. Nick Caserio, the general manager of the Texans, might be needed to guide roster decisions if he goes on to lead another team.
The Eagles lost five of their last six games and two of them were against the New York Giants. In the second quarter, with Philadelphia already in a 17 point hole, Giants receiver Slayton slipped past a pair of Eagles defenders on the left side of the field who clearly miscommunicated their assignment, allowing him to score. Philadelphia's offense has been outgained in eight of their last 10 games. The Eagles have injuries to account for, but they do not have the look of a deep playoff run.
The Miami Dolphins have faced a lot of injuries this season, and that affected their performance. The Dolphins have not done well in big games, and much of the blame goes to coach Mike McDaniel. The first four Miami drives yielded 13 plays, 24 yards, one first down and four punts. In the first half, De'Von ran the ball eight times for 55 yards, at a clip of 6.8 yards per carry, with one touchdown. In the second half, when Miami was playing with a lead, McDaniel gave Achane two carries and one yard.