NFL Games today: Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and 49ers reshape playoff race in wild Week action

The NFL games today felt like January arrived early. Playoff intensity, MVP-caliber performances, last-second field goals – and a standings shakeup that will echo all the way to Las Vegas. Between Patrick Mahomes dragging the Chiefs through another tight finish, Lamar Jackson making the Ravens offense look inevitable, and the 49ers bullying their way into pole position status, the race for seeding and the Super Bowl is officially on blast.

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Every scoreboard update shifted the playoff picture, from the AFC wild card traffic jam to the NFC arms race between the 49ers, Eagles and Cowboys. Fans tracking NFL games today were essentially watching a live bracket simulation: one missed kick here, a late pick-six there, and suddenly a team moves from Super Bowl contender to fighting for its life in the wild card race.

Mahomes goes late-game surgeon, Chiefs survive another thriller

Patrick Mahomes once again lived in the chaos. The Chiefs offense has been more grind than fireworks this season, but in the fourth quarter he turned the field into his personal chessboard. Down late in the two-minute drill, Mahomes bought time in the pocket, hit Travis Kelce over the middle to get into field goal range, then ripped a sideline out to set up the game-winning kick. It was not a blowout, it was a survival act – but one that kept Kansas City in striking distance of the AFC’s No. 1 seed.

Mahomes’ line told the story of the kind of controlled aggression that defines his MVP candidacy: efficient completions, chain-moving third-down throws and just enough off-script magic. The Chiefs are not front-page pretty, but in a league defined by razor-thin margins, a quarterback who never blinks is still the biggest advantage on the field.

Inside the locker room afterward, the tone was equal parts relief and resolve. The message from veterans: the details have to sharpen, but the belief that Mahomes can bail them out in any situation remains unshakable. And as long as that is true, Kansas City is a live Super Bowl contender regardless of where the AFC standings put them on paper.

Lamar Jackson keeps the Ravens in the thick of the AFC hunt

If Mahomes is the league’s steady closer, Lamar Jackson was the week’s sledgehammer. On a day when the Ravens needed a statement to stay on pace with the AFC’s top seed, Jackson delivered a dual-threat masterclass that reminded everyone why he sits near the top of any serious MVP race discussion.

He extended drives with his legs, punished blitz looks, and hit enough chunk plays downfield to keep the defense stretched in every direction. Every time the opponent tried to squeeze the box, Lamar answered with a strike down the seam or a scramble that turned a broken play into a back-breaking first down. It felt like 2019 MVP Lamar with 2024-level poise.

Schematically, the Ravens leaned into what makes them unguardable: spread formations that clear out running lanes, designed QB keepers in the red zone, and play-action concepts that take advantage of linebackers stuck in conflict. Defenses are forced to play on their heels, and you could see it on the sideline – hands on hips, gas tanks hitting empty by the fourth quarter.

49ers flex as the NFC bully in a statement performance

While the AFC keeps trading haymakers, the 49ers spent the weekend reminding everyone they might be the league’s most complete roster. Everything Kyle Shanahan dialed up seemed to hit: Christian McCaffrey slashing through the second level, Deebo Samuel turning tunnel screens into rugby scrums, and Brock Purdy running the offense with the kind of calm that has turned him from a curiosity into a legitimate franchise quarterback.

The line of scrimmage was not a contest; it was a tutorial. The Niners’ front controlled both sides of the ball, collapsing the pocket on defense and creating rushing lanes on offense even when the box was stacked. The result was the kind of one-sided physical beatdown that feels more like a January home playoff game than just another stop in the regular season.

Afterward, the talk coming out of Santa Clara was simple: this is the standard. That is the part that should scare the rest of the NFC. When the 49ers are healthy and rolling like this, there is a sense within the building that the only team that can truly knock them off is themselves.

Game recaps: turning points and highlight moments

Across the league, several NFL games today flipped narratives and moved teams up or down the playoff board.

One of the day’s most dramatic swings came in the fourth quarter of a conference showdown that turned on a single defensive play. With the opponent driving in the red zone, a corner jumped a quick out for a pick-six that flipped a potential go-ahead touchdown into a two-score cushion the other way. The stadium erupted. You felt the air leave one sideline and surge into the other.

Elsewhere, a would-be upset brewed for three quarters before experience finally took over. A young quarterback pushing for his first signature win made a couple of big-time throws into tight windows, but late-game blitz packages rattled him in the pocket. Two sacks in the final five minutes killed drives and kept the favorite out of what would have been a brutal trap-game loss.

On the ground, a veteran running back quietly posted one of the weekend’s most efficient performances, grinding out tough yards between the tackles and keeping his offense ahead of the chains. It did not light up the fantasy box score, but inside the locker room it was treated like gold – the kind of tone-setting physicality that wears down a defense over four quarters.

Standings watch: how today reshaped the playoff picture

Every Sunday night, the playoff picture looks different. Coming out of this slate of NFL games today, several key themes emerged in both conferences: the fight for the No. 1 seed, the wild card bottleneck and a couple of teams sliding toward bubble status.

The 49ers and Eagles continue to define the top shelf of the NFC, with the Cowboys lurking as the league’s most dangerous wild card profile. In the AFC, the Ravens and Chiefs are very much in the mix for that coveted first-round bye, while a cluster of teams sits one misstep away from falling out of the wild card race.

Here is a compact look at how the current division leaders and key wild card contenders stack up based on the latest NFL standings and results:

Conference	Team	Status	Note
AFC	Ravens	No. 1 seed mix	Lamar keeps them in pole position conversation
AFC	Chiefs	Division leader	Mahomes clutch again, pushing seeding pressure
AFC	Dolphins	Division leader	Explosive offense, but questions vs elite defenses
AFC	Jaguars	Division leader	Up-and-down form, but still in playoff control
AFC	Browns / Steelers	Wild card mix	Defense-driven, living on the edge in one-score games
NFC	49ers	No. 1 seed favorite	Most balanced roster, dominant on both lines
NFC	Eagles	Division leader	Grinding out wins despite injuries and tight schedule
NFC	Lions	Division leader	Offense remains dangerous; defense still streaky
NFC	Cowboys	Top wild card	Super Bowl ceiling, but path may run entirely on the road
NFC	Packers / Seahawks	Wild card hunt	On the bubble, every week feels like an elimination game

It is worth stressing: the separation line between a 5-seed and missing the dance altogether is frighteningly thin. A single loss in December can be a two-game swing in practice, because the tiebreaker math almost always comes back to head-to-head and conference record. That is why so many players and coaches this week kept repeating variations of the same theme: every game from here on out feels like a playoff game.

MVP race: Mahomes, Lamar and the star power surge

The MVP race is usually a quarterback conversation, and right now Mahomes and Lamar Jackson are very much at the center of it. Their stat lines and impact in NFL games today only reinforced that narrative.

Mahomes is stacking efficient weeks where the counting stats may not always scream video game numbers, but his late-game management, third-down conversion throws and ability to elevate a sometimes-inconsistent supporting cast continue to define the Chiefs’ ceiling. When voters start parsing resumes, those clutch drives matter.

Lamar, meanwhile, is padding his case with the kind of all-around dominance that tests defensive coordinators’ sanity. His combined passing and rushing production tilts the field every snap. When the Ravens are in rhythm, every play looks like a pick-your-poison dilemma: crash down on the run and he beats you over the top, sit back in coverage and he gashes you on the ground.

Beyond the headliners, a couple of other names remain on the fringes of the MVP race and award chatter. A dominant edge rusher turned in another multi-sack performance that swung field position all afternoon. A top wideout, shadowed by bracket coverage most of the game, still found a way to get free on a deep shot that effectively served as the dagger.

Coaches talk all the time about "players, not plays" deciding tight games. This week’s slate was a living example. When the margins tighten and the script breaks down, it is the true stars – the Mahomes, the Lamar, the elite pass rushers and game-breaking receivers – who change the math.

Injury report: bruises, setbacks and what it means for the stretch run

No week of NFL games today comes without a cost. Around the league, several key injuries and the latest official NFL injury reports are already shaping next week’s game plans and long-term outlooks.

A contending team in the AFC saw a starting offensive lineman exit with a lower-body injury, forcing them to shuffle protections and lean more heavily on quick-game concepts to keep their quarterback clean. Postgame, the early word out of the building sounded cautiously optimistic, but until imaging and the midweek practice reports drop, his status is firmly in the "monitor closely" category.

In the NFC, a playoff hopeful lost a starting cornerback to what looked like a soft-tissue setback. The ripple effect was obvious immediately: the defense shifted to more zone looks, safeties played deeper, and the opposing quarterback took what the coverage gave him underneath. If that injury lingers, it could be the kind of quiet storyline that decides seeding – and matchups – in January.

Star skill guys were not spared either. A featured running back spent stretches of the game on the sideline with trainers, dealing with what the broadcast described as a minor issue. He returned, but his workload was clearly monitored. That is the balancing act this time of year: push for seeding, but avoid burning out your best weapons before the playoffs even start.

Front offices and coaching staffs now live in the gray area between aggression and caution. Do you rest a banged-up star and risk a costly loss in the standings, or do you push him through and hope the offseason is long enough for full recovery? For several teams leaving this week’s NFL games today, that will be the defining question in the coming days.

Who is surging, who is slipping in the Super Bowl race

The Super Bowl contender list remains fluid, but this week helped crystallize a few tiers.

At the very top, the 49ers and Ravens look like teams that can win in any script – high scoring or grind-it-out. The Chiefs might not be as explosive as in years past, but with Mahomes and that defense, they sit firmly in the "never count them out" tier. The Eagles and Cowboys feel like they are one clean stretch away from jumping back into No. 1 seed debates, even if their current path might run through the wild card.

Beneath that, a set of "dark horse" teams is hovering: offenses that can hang 30 on anyone on the right day, but with just enough inconsistency on defense to make them hard to trust in back-to-back playoff games. Those teams might not own the inside track, but no one will be thrilled to see them on their side of the bracket either.

And then there are the bubble squads, the ones living week-to-week in the wild card race. They wake up every morning knowing one bad Sunday could send them from in the hunt graphics to offseason mode. That urgency is starting to show in play-calling: more fourth-down aggression, more trick plays, more willingness to put the ball in the hands of their best player and simply live with the result.

Looking ahead: must-watch NFL games next week

If you loved the drama of NFL games today, the schedule-makers have teed up another slate that could tilt the playoff picture again next weekend.

A marquee AFC showdown looms between two teams jockeying for seeding and tiebreaker leverage. Expect a playoff-level game plan: scripted drives to settle the quarterback early, heavy usage of motion to get tells on the defense, and every special teams snap feeling like a potential turning point.

In the NFC, all eyes will be on a heavyweight battle featuring the 49ers or Eagles against another contender, a game that could effectively decide the inside track to home-field advantage. These are the games where trench play decides everything – can you keep your quarterback clean on third and long, and can you get off the field in the red zone?

The prime-time slate looks tailor-made for storylines. A Sunday Night Football matchup featuring a desperate wild card hopeful against a division leader could swing two races at once. If the underdog pulls the upset, they jump back into wild card relevance and simultaneously tighten their rival’s grip on the division.

Layered over all of it is the individual narrative: Mahomes chasing seeding and another MVP argument, Lamar Jackson pushing for both the No. 1 seed and his own piece of history, and a wave of young quarterbacks trying to prove they belong in the postseason spotlight.

The NFL games today were a reminder of why this league owns the calendar from now until February. Every snap matters, every injury tweak shifts game plans, every missed block or blown coverage has playoff math attached to it. To stay locked in, keep one tab open on NFL.com for live scores, standings and the latest injury reports – because the race is only getting wilder from here.