NFL Week 17 Winners and Losers: Derrick Henry dominates, Steelers leave door open

The regular season in the NFL is winding down, with just one week to go until the playoffs get underway. There are still two playoff spots up for grabs, with both the NFC South and the AFC North playing de facto championship games in Week 18.

Those games were set up by some truly disastrous performances in Week 17 (and one good one), but there was plenty else to talk about coming out of the final Sunday of 2025. Drake Maye retook the lead in the MVP race, Tyler Shough and Cam Ward put on a rookie firework show, and the Texans got a big win over the Chargers in the AFC Wild Card picture.

Did those things make the list of winners and losers from Week 17? Let’s get into the list.

Winner: Derrick Henry still has his top gear

The Baltimore Ravens have been one of the biggest underachievers of this 2025 season, but their playoff hopes were just barely alive heading into Week 17. Their half of the deal came on Saturday night, when Baltimore had to go into Lambeau Field and get a win over the Packers without Lamar Jackson, who was out with a back injury.

With their star quarterback sidelined, the Ravens looked to Derrick Henry to carry them through Week 17. One week after being unintentionally benched in a loss to the Patriots, Henry put on a vintage performance for the ages: 36 carries, 216 yards and four touchdowns in a 41-24 win.

Henry has had a somewhat frustrating year, struggling to generate the same explosive plays that he did in 2024 behind a Baltimore offensive line that deteriorated somewhat from what it was a year ago. But he still has nearly 1,500 yards and 16 touchdowns with a game to go and is heating up at the right time.

Even better? Henry and the Ravens will get a chance to steal the AFC North title and a playoff spot, because…

Loser: Steelers… really?

The morning after the Ravens took care of business in Green Bay, the Steelers had a chance to make it a moot point with a victory over the lowly Cleveland Browns on Sunday. The Browns came into the game 3-12, and a win would have secured the division crown and a playoff spot for Mike Tomlin and company.

Instead, the Steelers put forth one of the most pathetic offensive performances of the entire season… by anyone. Pittsburgh mustered just 4.5 yards per play in a 13-6 loss to the Browns on Sunday in which it went just 3-for-15 on third down.

The absence of DK Metcalf, who was serving the first game of his two-game suspension for a fan altercation, is clearly killing this Steelers offense. Aaron Rodgers doesn’t have any receivers he trusts, especially after Darnell Washington went down with a broken arm on Sunday. At one point, Rodgers threw a go-ball to Scotty Miller on a fourth-and-1 before ending the game with three consecutive Marquez Valdes-Scantling targets against Denzel Ward.

The Steelers can still win their way into the playoffs with a victory over the Ravens in Week 18, but Metcalf isn’t coming back for that game. The state of this offense right now doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence that Tomlin and company can get it done.

Winner: Bears-49ers turns into an old fashioned Big 12 game

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good defense and a low-scoring battle. We get a lot of them in the NFL, especially with great defenses running the top of the league. But every once in a while, we get treated to an old-fashioned shootout, and Bears-49ers was exactly that.

From an offensive standpoint, this game had just about everything. Ben Johnson and Kyle Shanahan, two of the best play-callers in the sport, were going back and forth and showcasing their genius all night. Caleb Williams made spectacular throw after spectacular throw, while Brock Purdy created big plays out of nothing on his way to his second five-touchdown game in a row.

The game came down to the final play, when Williams just ran out of time and couldn’t find anyone open in the end zone to get the ball to, giving the 49ers a 42-38 win. San Francisco is now still in the race for the NFC’s No. 1 seed, and the Bears are eliminated from first-round bye contention.

Disregarding what this game says about each of the defenses involved, this was one of the most enjoyable contests of the season between two playoff contenders.

Loser: Everyone involved in the miserable NFC South race

The AFC North should be thankful for the NFC South for taking the unquestioned throne of the worst division in football. Both the Buccaneers and Panthers seem like they are fighting for who shouldn’t make the playoffs rather than who should.

The Bucs have been in a severe tailspin of late, losing six of their last seven games to fall to 7-9 on the season. Sunday may have been the worst loss yet, as Todd Bowles’ club put forth a lifeless performance in a 20-17 loss to the Quinn Ewers-led Dolphins in Miami. Baker Mayfield is clearly playing hurt and is quite frankly playing some of the worst football of his career, a trend that needs to flip quickly if Tampa Bay wants to get into the playoffs.

The Bucs still have that chance thanks to the Panthers, whose offense got shoved in a locker by the Seahawks on Sunday. Playing in front of their home crowd with a chance to clinch the division, Carolina picked up just 10 first downs and 139 total yards on 2.7 yards per play in a 27-10 loss.

Carolina and Tampa Bay will now play a Week 18 decider, with the Bucs needing a win and a Falcons loss to the Saints to get into the playoffs. But there is no real winner from this mess of a division race, and a 3-way tie at 8-9 between Tampa Bay, Carolina and Atlanta seems like a fitting end.

Winner (loser?): The Giants dominate the tank bowl

Yes, the Raiders really are that bad. In a battle of teams that came into the game at 2-13, the Giants smoked the Raiders 34-10 on Sunday to put Las Vegas in pole position for the No. 1 pick.

Jaxson Dart showed promise, albeit against one of the most dysfunctional defenses in football. On the other side, Geno Smith was terrible (again) and the Raiders looked like a team that is looking ahead to their January vacations.

A Week 18 loss to Chris Oladokun and the Kansas City Chiefs would secure the No. 1 pick for the Raiders, an asset that would almost certainly turn into either Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza or Oregon’s Dante Moore as the team’s next franchise quarterback. The Giants, meanwhile, can still pick No. 1 if the Raiders can beat Kansas City on Sunday.

With how this Raiders season has gone, the worst possible outcome is always on the table. Look for them to play some of their best football in Week 18 as a result.

Loser: The NFL Christmas slate flops miserably

When the NFL Christmas slate was made, it seemed that the league was headed for three blockbuster matchups with playoff implications.

The Cowboys were expected to be a frisky playoff contender and the Commanders were coming off of an NFC Championship Game appearance in 2024. The Lions had become an NFC powerhouse, and the Vikings were expected to be in the playoff picture. And the Broncos and the Chiefs were both playoff teams a year ago, with the latter being the NFL’s current dynasty.

Instead, here’s what we got: four teams eliminated from playoff contention coming into the week, with a fifth (Detroit) sinking its own fate with a mess of a performance on Christmas Day. A third-string quarterback started in each game, as Jayden Daniels, JJ McCarthy and Patrick Mahomes all were sidelined with injuries.

Cowboys-Commanders turned into a fun contest, in large part thanks to two terrible defenses. The Lions turned the ball over six times in an ugly loss to a Minnesota team that rolled out Max Brosmer at quarterback. Brosmer only went above zero net passing yards on Minnesota’s final drive with a garbage-time completion. Broncos-Chiefs was a mess, which has become somewhat of a theme whenever Denver goes up against an overmatched, inferior opponent.

The Christmas slate did not deliver, which left us with an empty Thursday slate and a shallow Sunday slate with less games in action. It was a real dud on a holiday which has been fruitful for the NFL in recent years.

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