LOS ANGELES — It almost feels like we’re coming back and saying the same exact thing every single Monday morning. For about four-straight weeks now, it’s just been carnage in the NFL with top teams consistently going down in upset fashion.
In Week 11, we saw the top NFC team and the top AFC both go down as the Packers lost to the Vikings and the Titans lost to the Texans.
That gives us a new team at the top of the NFC with the Arizona Cardinals leading the NFC again after an impressive win over the Seahawks with Colt McCoy behind center. The Titans remain at the top of the AFC, but will more than likely be topped by the Patriots and maybe even the Chiefs as well in the AFC power rankings this week.
Check out some of the other top storylines from Sunday’s NFL action.
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NFC, AFC top seeds fall
The teams at the top just continue to lose. We’ve seen it in recent weeks with surprising losses from the Bills, Bucs, Rams, Ravens, Cowboys and now we have another couple of teams to add.
The Tennessee Titans were embarrassed on their home turf by the last place Houston Texans on Sunday 22-13. The Titans committed five turnovers to Houston’s zero as Ryan Tannehill threw four interceptions.
The Texans had just 190 total yards to Tennessee’s 420, but that’s all they needed to get the upset victory.
The Titans are now 8-3 on the year after they came into Sunday’s game riding a six-game win streak.
Meanwhile over the NFC, the Green Bay Packers fell in a tight game to the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings have been one of those weird inconsistent teams this year but they’ve now taken down the Chargers and Packers in back-to-back weeks.
It was an impressive show from both QBs as Aaron Rodgers finished with 385 yards and four touchdowns while Kirk Cousins had 341 yards and three touchdowns.
The Vikings pulled off the 34-31 win on a last second field goal after the Packers scored a game-tying 75-yard touchdown on the first play of their drive with just over two minutes to play.
Rodgers was reportedly in “a lot of pain” after aggravating a toe injury during the game. Rodgers said the injury happened in the first half after getting stepped on and he described it as “worse” than turf toe.
Green Bay is now 8-3 and 2.5 games ahead of the Vikings in the NFC North still, but they’ve now lost two of their last three and will have a big game next Sunday in Green Bay against the Rams, who are coming off a bye.
Taylor runs wild in Colts rout of Bills
Did Jonathan Taylor just put himself in the MVP conversation?
The 22-year-old second-year running back was fantastic on Sunday for the Colts, going for 185 yards on the ground and four rushing touchdowns with another touchdown through the air as the Colts routed the Bills in Buffalo 41-15.
Taylor became the first Colts player to ever score five TDs in one game and he became the fifth player with 200+ scrimmage yards and 5+ scrimmage touchdowns in a single game in the Super Bowl era, joining Jamaal Charles, Clinton Portis, Shaun Alexander and Jerry Rice.
“The offensive line and I prepared tremendously throughout this week,” Taylor said in his postgame interview. “We knew it was going to be a tough challenge … We had to accept that challenge. That’s what we had to do coming into this game and that was half the battle.”
Taylor will enter Week 12 leading the NFL in rushing yards and touchdowns.
In 11 games, Taylor has 1,122 rushing yards and 13 TDs on the ground with 32 catches for 322 yards and two receiving touchdowns.
The Colts are now 6-5 and just outside the AFC Wild Card as there is a jam of four-loss teams just ahead of them as it stands. The Colts have won three-straight and five of their last six. They have another good one next week as they take on the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Chiefs defense the story as they top Cowboys
How ’bout that Chiefs defense? Not sure how many people expected to be saying that on Sunday following the Chiefs-Cowboys matchup but here we are.
The Chiefs defeated the Cowboys 19-9 in a game where they only allowed three field goals from Dallas.
Dak Prescott threw for just 216 yards and tossed two interceptions. There wasn’t much run game either as the Cowboys were held under 300 total yards.
The Cowboys defense was solid themselves, only allowing 19 points for the Chiefs, who went for over 40 last week against the Raiders. Patrick Mahomes completed just 62% of his passes for 260 yards and no passing touchdowns, but he found his reliable receivers Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce continuously to wear down Dallas.
That’s now four-straight impressive games for the Chiefs defense, which has held their last four opponents (Giants, Packers, Raiders, Cowboys) to fewer than 12 points per game and under 300 total yards per game.
It was a rocky start for KC, but now they’re 7-4 on a four-game win streak as they go into their Week 12 bye.
Justin Herbert redeems himself as Chargers win wild SNF affair