What we learned in NFL Week 12: Saquon Barkley makes MVP case as Giants hit new low

Ka’imi Fairbairn wants one back. Austin Seibert wants two back. The Chicago Bears want the last month back.

After a flurry of wild finishes Sunday, the NFL playoff picture is starting to take shape. The cream of the crop is starting to separate — Kansas City and Detroit are the league’s first 10-win teams — and some franchises, including Chicago and San Francisco, are fading fast. Kickers are costing their teams. Saquon Barkley keeps strengthening his case for MVP. And there also might be a new frontrunner for next spring’s No. 1 pick.

The story from the early slate of games Sunday was the frenetic finishes. For a moment, it looked like Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders were about to pull off another last-second stunner — this time at home against the Cowboys — after the rookie quarterback found wideout Terry McLaurin for an 86-yard score with 21 seconds left that cut Dallas’ lead to one. Then Seibert, who missed an extra point earlier in the game, missed another. Juanyeh Thomas returned the ensuing onside kickoff for a touchdown to seal the Cowboys’ first win since Oct. 6.

“I don’t plan on tanking,” edge rusher Micah Parsons said after the Cowboys’ 34-26 victory improved them to 4-7. “If the higher-ups are looking for a draft pick, I hope that’s ruined, because we got a lot of football left to play. As long as I’m a part of this team, we’re always going to fight.”

Washington, once 7-2, has dropped three straight and is now 7-5, currently hanging on to the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC.

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The Bears, the team the Commanders stunned earlier this year on a Hail Mary, nearly pulled off their own wild comeback versus the Vikings at home, scoring 11 points in the final 22 seconds of regulation — successful onside kick included — to send the game into overtime. But Minnesota escaped after John Parker Romo drilled a 31-yard field goal in the extra session, clinching the Vikings’ fourth win in a row and continuing Chicago’s misery. Once a single play away from a 5-2 start, the Bears have dropped five straight and are 4-7 on the season.

In Houston, Fairbairn connected on his 12th made field goal from 50 yards or more this season, an NFL record, then missed a 28-yard field goal — shorter than an extra point — with under two minutes left that would’ve knotted Texans–Titans. Instead, Tennessee pulled the upset, 32-27. Houston (7-5) has lost four of six but remains in front in a lousy AFC South.

The Colts, the only division rival with a chance of catching the Texans, dropped their fourth game in five weeks after getting overpowered by the Lions, 24-6. In his second game back after a midseason benching, Anthony Richardson didn’t get much help from a banged-up offensive line or running back Jonathan Taylor, who managed just 35 yards on 11 carries. Houston’s lead in the division is essentially three games after sweeping the season series with Indianapolis (5-7).

How well are the Lions playing? In a four-game sweep of the AFC South this season, Detroit outscored those teams by a combined 105 points. The Lions have won nine straight for the first time since 1934. On Sunday, Jahmyr Gibbs ran for two touchdowns and David Montgomery added another; they’re the first pair of running backs in NFL history to each have 10 rushing touchdowns in consecutive seasons.

In Charlotte, Bryce Young showed more progress, leading the Panthers on a game-tying drive in the fourth quarter against the two-time defending champion Chiefs. Problem was — as plenty around the league have already found out — he left Patrick Mahomes too much time. Seven plays, 57 yards and 1:46 later, Kansas City had a 30-27 victory courtesy of a 31-yard Spencer Shrader field goal.

In Miami, the Dolphins stayed hot, winning their third straight after routing the Patriots, 34-15 Suddenly, a team that was all but out of the AFC playoff race a few weeks ago — the Dolphins were 2-6 — is back in the conversation, with a big showdown looming Thanksgiving night in Green Bay. As for the chatter that the warm-weather Dolphins can’t win in the cold, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa didn’t shy away from the challenge ahead.

“I’m excited to kill narratives,” he said. “Let’s go. Bring it on.”

In Las Vegas, the Broncos won a second straight to stay in the final spot in the AFC playoff picture. In Seattle, the Seahawks jumped back in front in the NFC West after beating the Cardinals, 16-6, with the top team and the bottom team in the league’s most crowded division separated by just a game.

Here’s what we learned across Week 12 in the NFL:

Saquon for MVP

Is it time to give what’s become a quarterback-only award to someone else? Because Saquon Barkley deserves a seat at the table. Quite possibly, the head seat.

The Eagles running back has been that good this season, and his performance in Sunday night’s 37-20 victory over the Rams was the latest testament: Barkley finished with a ridiculous 255 rushing yards — the ninth-most in a single game in NFL history — and 302 all-purpose yards, including a pair of 70-plus-yard scores. He’s been all but unstoppable since September.

It’s been 12 years since Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson won the MVP, in 2012 — the last time a non-QB won the award. Barkley has a strong case to stop the streak, and it’s getting stronger by the week. He’s the best player on one of the league’s top teams, central in every way to the Eagles’ 9-2 start.

Who has meant more to their team? Six times already this season Barkley’s gone for over 150 all-purpose yards, and all six have been Philadelphia wins. His 255 rushing yards Sunday were also the most by any player in the Eagles’ 92-year history.

Barkley’s biggest competition for the award this season is Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson — twice an MVP — Detroit’s Jared Goff and Buffalo’s Josh Allen, who’s led the Bills to a 9-2 start.

From Super Bowl to last place

Maybe it’s all catching up to the San Francisco 49ers: three straight runs to the NFC Championship Game, a gutting Super Bowl loss last February — their second in five years — and an injury list that is devastating their depth chart. Christian McCaffrey missed the first eight games of the season. Brandon Aiyuk is out for the rest of the year. Brock Purdy, Trent Williams and Nick Bosa were sidelined Sunday.

Something about the 49ers this season just hasn’t looked right. And here’s where they sit a few days before Thanksgiving: a game below .500 and in last place in the NFC West.

Sunday’s 38-10 loss to the Packers dropped the 49ers to 5-6, their worst start since 2020. Missing the postseason is becoming more and more likely with each passing week. The injuries are mounting, and this team just hasn’t come close to playing as consistently, week-to-week, as it has in the past.

“I’m really not concerned right now with how many guys we missed today,” coach Kyle Shanahan said of his injured starters. “We really didn’t play good enough.”

Next up for San Francisco: a trip to Buffalo to face the red-hot Bills, who’ve won six straight and will be well-rested coming off their bye.

For the Packers, that’s six wins in seven games. Jordan Love — who’s struggled with turnovers this season — finished with two touchdown passes and no interceptions. Josh Jacobs found the end zone three times. And new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley continued to shine: his unit has now gone back to back games without allowing 20 points. While Detroit and Minnesota have rightly earned plenty of recognition atop the NFC North, Matt LeFleur and Green Bay have quietly put together an impressive season, weathering Love’s early-season injury to remain a potent NFC contender.

Same as last winter, this team could be a very tough out come the playoffs.

New frontrunner for No. 1 pick?

If the Giants were looking for the spark Tommy DeVito provided them last fall, they have to wait another week. Or perhaps even longer. Or maybe turn to Drew Lock. Because the disaster that has been New York’s 2024 season continued Sunday with a new low in the 30-7 drubbing at home by the Buccaneers.

“I know I’m tired of losing,” rookie wideout Malik Nabers vented postgame, and he might as well have been speaking for the entire organization. The problem is, what’s been bad is likely getting worse.

In the Giants’ first game after demoting former franchise quarterback Daniel Jones, then releasing him a few days later at his own request, the offense managed just 169 passing yards and didn’t score a point until the fourth quarter, when the game was well out of hand.

Tommy DeVito was unable to provide a spark for Brian Daboll’s Giants offense on Sunday. (Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)

Consider: the Bucs had given up 125 points across their last four games, all losses, before surrendering just one touchdown Sunday. (DeVito went 21 of 31 for 189 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.) The Giants’ first five possessions ended with three punts, a turnover on downs and a lost fumble. The offense is averaging just 12.3 points a game across its last six.

That’s six losses and counting. Is the tank on? New York’s 2-9 record is tied with Jacksonville and Las Vegas for the worst in the league. Brian Daboll very well could be coaching for his job over the next six games.

The way this team’s playing, it’s not that hard to imagine it stumbling to the finish with only two or three wins and earning the top pick for next spring’s draft. New York likely will be underdogs in every game the rest of the way. The Giants haven’t picked first since 1965.

Crowded Coach of the Year race

The Coach of the Year conversation should start with Dan Campbell. The Lions are the most complete team in the league, a byproduct of their fearless coach’s take-no-prisoners mantra. But there are a number of candidates emerging as we inch closer to December.

Kevin O’Connell has the Vikings primed for a playoff spot with Sam Darnold under center. Sean Payton’s Broncos — now 7-5 — are far exceeding expectations and seem to be getting better as the season rolls on. Jim Harbaugh has remade the Chargers (7-3) in a matter of months. Mike Tomlin has pushed most of the right buttons for the Steelers (8-3) in a season that started with so much uncertainty. For the criticism he takes in Philadelphia, Nick Sirianni has the Eagles at 9-2 and still in contention for the franchise’s second No. 1 seed in three seasons.

Finally, there’s Andy Reid, whose greatness is taken for granted. That’s now 10 straight seasons with double-digit wins for him, the second-longest streak in NFL history (trailing only Bill Belichick’s 17 straight in New England from 2003-19). Reid’s only won the award once, way back in 2002 with the Eagles.

(Photo of Saquon Barkley: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)