NFL Week 17 Christmas Weekend Recap: Out of the Picture

The 17th and penultimate week of the 2025 NFL season kicked off with the second annual Christmas Day doubleheader on Netflix, though the first game was a meaningless battle that saw the already eliminated Dallas Cowboys finish off the already eliminated Washington Commanders, to move one win away from a .500 season. The real game, at least for me, was the NFC North battle between the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings, which saw the former needing to fight for their lives.

What happened was a cacophony of errors on Detroit's side. The Minnesota Vikings weren't playing that well, but they were flawless compared to the Lions. Turnovers left and right; six of them, to be exact. Five of them were committed by Jared Goff--two interceptions, three lost fumbles. On fantasy, that's eight points lost! Let's add up the rest, shall we? 197 passing yards (7.88 points), a touchdown (4 points), and a pair of rushing yards (0.2 points). That's 4.08 fantasy points. I pity anyone who started him on fantasy this week, especially since it's championship week! Even crazier, that's still higher than Max Brosmer's total (3.64 points), yet guess who won?

The Vikings won, 23-10, and with that, the Lions' season came to an embarrassing and sputtering end. As I said before, I knew the Lions would descend a bit from last year, but I didn't think this would happen. I didn't see this team eliminated with one game left to play. And even crazier, with the loss, the Lions are in last place via tiebreaker. Yikes! Some Lions fans are blaming Goff, which makes no damn sense. Head coach Dan Campbell's getting blame, but I only think he's part of the problem. The rest was just the Lions being victims of circumstances.

So if the Lions lost, that means:

Merry Christmas!!! It wasn't pretty, but it was done. The Lions lost to one division rival and let another one in. The Green Bay Packers are playoff bound for the third straight season with Jordan Love as quarterback. The last few weeks have been a pain, but at least we'll be part of the dance, that's always a good thing. So there's now one spot left in the NFC, and that's the NFC South crown that neither the Panthers nor Bucs seem to want. That will be settled as early as Sunday, or possibly during the final week.

You know, I was really excited that the Denver Broncos/Kansas City Chiefs game featured a Broncos team on the rise, and the Chiefs being where they should be: out. Yet all I heard was talking heads talking about Travis Kelce and acting like he's retiring all of a sudden. This was his last home game of the season, yet he was being portrayed as riding off into the sunset with Taylor Swift or something. Seriously? I've heard no stories about Kelce retiring, yet the entire game was about him. Never mind the fact that the Broncos won and moved closer to their first division title in a decade and possibly the #1 seed. Let's talk about Kelce. Good God.

On to the Saturday games, with the first one seeing the Houston Texans in Inglewood against the Los Angeles Chargers. This was a key game in the AFC playoff picture. Both teams looked to keep their respective division hopes alive, and they were also jockeying for position. The Texans got off to a quick start; two drives, ending with two long TD bombs from CJ Stroud. They stymied the Bolts in the first half, but the game ended up close the rest of the way. Despite that, the Texans held on and won 20-16.

As a result:

This year's Houston Texans became the fifth team since 1990 (the year that the NFL increased the number of playoff teams to 12) to reach the playoffs after starting 0-3. The Texans also became the first team in this span to do it twice. Not only did they start 0-3, but they were 3-5 after their first 8 games, and were missing Stroud. Since then, eight straight wins, and they still have a shot at winning the AFC South.

So if the Texans won, that means:

This team was 7-1. Even then, I said they were frauds. They hadn't beaten anyone with substance. I'm tired of being right. 7-1 did become 8-2, but they are still stuck on eight wins. An absolute collapse. This team is still paying the price for how they and their fans treated Andrew Luck. They got so damn desperate that they dragged 44-year-old Philip Rivers out of retirement, just as he was closing in on becoming part of the 2026 Hall of Fame class. Indy was four games ahead of Houston in the standings. Now, Houston will finish ahead of them. Oh, and as a result of Houston's win over the Chargers, the Broncos are now champions of the AFC West for the first time since 2015.

Last up for this five game weekend was the Green Bay Packers hosting the Baltimore Ravens, and it went about as well as expected. John Harbaugh chose now to suddenly remember that he has Derrick Henry on his team. Less than a week after the Ravens lost because Henry wasn't used for the rest of the game, it became the King Henry show. 36 carries, 216 yards, four touchdowns! Yikes. Other than our defense being garbage, Malik Willis, who had an amazing game, left due to injury, so we had to put our third-string QB out there late in the game. Oh boy. A 41-24 victory for the Ravens in Lambeau, and Baltimore lives for another day. They will have to pull for the Browns on Sunday, because the Steelers have to lose for the Ravens to have any chance. A Steelers loss means that Ravens @ Steelers on the final week will be for the AFC North.

As for the NFC North:

Well, at least it's not the Vikings? Oh boy. At least the Packers made it again, and now we are cemented in that magical #7 seed. Yet strangely, I see this as a good omen. Why, you ask? Think about it. The last time the Bears won our division and the Packers had the lowest seed in the same season? 2010. We all know how that year ended. And if the Bears end up at #2, we will get Packers/Bears Part III. Oh boy!

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Week 17 continues with 10 games on Sunday, followed by Monday Night Football between the Rams and Falcons. Most importantly, after the Bears/Niners Sunday Night Football contest ends, we will know the official schedule for Week 18, which will feature the final 16 games of the regular season. Week 18, for the fifth straight season, will begin with a pair of Saturday games, followed by 13 games during Sunday's regional coverage (with doubleheaders on CBS and Fox), and then, it's the Sunday Night Football finale, which will serve as the 272nd and final game of the regular season schedule. But that's Week 18. For now, we still have some Week 17 action to look forward to, as the entire playoff field could be completed on Sunday.