Being that there are only three Sundays of NFL football remaining in the 2017 regular season, the intensity out on the field is really beginning to heat up. For Week 14, there were a bunch of major moments that many will likely be talking about on Monday, especially the injury to Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz.
But what were some of the lesser noticed moments from Sunday’s action around the league?
Bears easily run past the Bengals
For the first time since Week 7, the Chicago Bears finished a game with more points than their opponent as they breezed past the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday by a final score of 33-7.
After the Bengals took a 7-6 lead into the second quarter, the Bears responded by scoring 27 unanswered points. Pretty good for a Chicago team that had only scored more than 25 points in an entire game just once this season before Sunday’s matchup in Cincinnati.
The Bears were led to a win this week thanks to rushing for an impressive 232 yards, including 147 from running back Jordan Howard. Chicago quarterback Mitchell Trubisky had a nice day of his own, completing 25 of his 32 passes for 271 yards and one touchdown. The rookie signal caller also used his legs to get into the end zone on Sunday and scored his very first NFL rushing touchdown.
In other news, the Bears are (unsurprisingly) expected to fire head coach John Fox by the end of the season.
Chiefs keep playoff hopes alive with a much needed win over the Raiders
It is not something that has happened much recently (just once since Week 6, to be precise). But the Kansas City Chiefs put together a complete game on both sides of the ball on Sunday, resulting in a 26-15 win over the Oakland Raiders.
For the second-straight week since Chiefs head coach Andy Reid gave up his offensive play-calling duties, Kansas City’s offense ended its day with more than 400 total yards, including 165 on the ground. On the defensive side of the ball, the Chiefs brought down Raiders quarterback Derek Carr three times and picked off two of his passes while holding Oakland to just 268 yards of total offense.
With the victory, Kansas City’s record improves to 7-6 this season and they remain tied atop the AFC West with the Los Angeles Chargers, who they just so happen to be facing in a big matchup next Saturday night.
Broncos earn first shutout victory since 2005
As good as some of the Denver Broncos defenses have been recently, not once in the past decade have they prevented their opponent from putting any points up on the scoreboard. That was, until Sunday.
Thanks to an excellent day from their defense, the Broncos defeated the New York Jets, 23-0, and shut out their opponent for the first time since 2005. Oddly enough, the last team Denver shut out back in 2005 was the Jets.
The Broncos’ defense was reminiscent of some of the groups they have had in the recent past, not only preventing New York from scoring a single point but also forcing two turnovers, finishing with four sacks, and holding the Jets’ offense to just 100 total yards and six first downs.
This week’s win also snapped the Broncos’ eight-game losing streak. Before Sunday, the last time Denver won a game, Deshaun Watson, Odell Beckham Jr., and Aaron Rodgers were all healthy and Jimmy Garoppolo was still a member of the New England Patriots.
Chargers, Rivers make it look easy in win over Redskins
With another victory on Sunday, the Los Angeles Chargers’ maintained their winning ways that didn’t begin for this season’s team until Week 5. But since then, the Chargers are 7-2 and have won their last four games.
This week’s win came over the Washington Redskins and it did not take very long for anyone to figure out that Los Angeles was coming out of Sunday with a victory.
Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers threw for 319 yards and two touchdowns, while the Los Angeles defense held the Redskins to just 201 yards of total offense. By defeating Washington, the Chargers are still tied for first in the AFC West with just three weeks remaining in the season — something not many could have imagined after Los Angeles began the year by losing four straight games.
