NFL Week 13 Recap: Ownership

It's December 2022. The Green Bay Packers are having a terrible season. The team's playoff chances are hanging by a thread. There is turmoil all over; from the front office to the team, to even the fanbase. It is not your typical season for the Green Bay Packers and the faithful fans, such as myself, and it leaves us wondering about the following year and beyond. Despite all of this, there's still one thing that remains very true:

Aaron Rodgers still owns the Chicago Bears.

It did not look good for the Packers in the road meeting against the Bears. The Packers were down 16-3, and it had this fan thinking, "Well...this is payback for the "I still own you" thing last year." It looked like the Bears would get their pound of flesh, even with a late 19-10 lead. However, that's when the Packers bounced back; a pair of touchdowns from AJ Dillon and Christian Watson (the latter being on a massive roll for weeks), and it resulted in a 28-19 win for the Packers, who improved to 5-8 and hung on to their faint playoff hopes.

That's not all. The win did two things: one, it eliminated the Bears from playoff contention, and two, the Packers became the winningest team in NFL history. I'm going to be serious, in my 30 years as a Packers fan, I never thought that would happen. I remember watching Packers/Bears games for years and seeing the all-time series largely in Chicago's favor, yet the Packers managed to over take them. Even if this season will end on a bad note for the Packers, at least there are those achievements to look back on.

While not as strong of a hold as Rodgers has on the Bears, it does seem like Joe Burrow does seem to own the Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs. In the first meeting between the clubs since last year's AFC Championship, the Chiefs sputtered for the most part, but managed to get back in it late, with Mahomes' rushing touchdown giving the Chiefs a 24-17 lead. However, an Evan MacPherson field goal was followed by Burrow leading a touchdown drive with over three minutes left in regulation. Down 27-24, KC got to field goal range, but Harrison Butker's game-tying FG attempt was missed, sealing Cincy's victory.

For the Burrow Bengals, this was their third straight victory over the Chiefs, which includes the aforementioned AFC Championship in Kansas City. It definitely looks like Burrow has KC's number, which is pretty big, winning three straight over the team who has dominated the AFC for the last four years. Even Josh Allen's Bills can't seem to figure out the Chiefs, though they did a good job handling the Patriots on Thursday Night Football to kick off Week 13.

Two teams could clinch playoff spots entering Week 13, with one of them being the NFC-leading Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles, coming off a high-scoring meeting with the Packers, remained at home to face the Tennessee Titans, and this one wasn't close. The Eagles blasted the Titans, 35-10, behind explosive performances from Jalen Hurts, Devonta Smith, and AJ Brown, while the defense held Derrick Henry to only 30 yards rushing. Wow. So the Eagles did their part, and their NFC East rivals, the Washington Commanders and the New York Giants, also helped the Eagles' scenario by actually playing to a 20-20 tie.

I have to mention the tie. I'm one of the few NFL fans who actually likes ties. They are the monkey wrench in the standings that we need. Now, I get that fans want ties gone, because after all, we hardly see them. The Commanders/Giants tie is only the 29th tie game in the NFL since 1974 (the year that the overtime period was introduced into the league), but it's the second one this season following the Colts and Texans playing to that same score (20-20) in Week 1. In addition, teams hardly know how to react to ties; we all remember Donovan McNabb's famous statement that he didn't know games could end tied after the Eagles and Bengals played to a 13-13 tie in 2008. But even so, I do like ties, because we don't see them so much, plus they can make a difference in the standings.

The Washington tie meant that the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers both needed to lose, and neither did. The Hawks took down the Los Angeles Rams on the road, and the Niners defeated the Miami Dolphins, but they lost quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo for the season due to a broken foot.

The Minnesota Vikings entered Week 13 with a chance to lock up the NFC North, needing a win and a Detroit Lions loss to do so. The Vikings hosted the New York Jets, who had Mike White starting for them for the second straight week, though the Jets struggled at first before making some semblance of a comeback. The Vikings managed to hold off the Jets comeback and win 27-22, but a victory was all they could celebrate. The Detroit Lions blasted the Jacksonville Jaguars, 40-14, at home, but next week, the Vikings and Lions will face each other, meaning that Minnesota can take the North with a win.

Week 13 also saw defenses really take over games. The Niners defense had a good outing against Miami, and the same went for the Dallas Cowboys, who picked up all sorts of turnovers and touchdowns as part of a 54-19 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday Night Football. However, the big story was the Cleveland Browns' defense, and thank goodness that they became the team's big story over a certain someone. The Browns won 27-14 over the Houston Texans (who became the first team to be eliminated from playoff contention), but the defense scored all of their touchdowns. Let's go to the fantasy numbers.

Fantasy scoring for team defenses goes like this: sacks are one point each, interceptions, fumble recoveries, and safeties are two points each, and touchdowns are six points each. Regarding scoring defenses, a shutout is ten points, giving up 1-6 points is seven points, giving up 7-13 points is four points, giving up 14-20 points is one point, giving up 21-27 points gets nothing, giving up 28-34 points is a one point deduction, and giving up at least 35 points is a four point deduction. The Browns defense scored three touchdowns (18 points) had two fumble recoveries (4 points), two interceptions (4 points), and gave up 12 points on offense (4 points), totalling 30 points--the highest scoring offense on fantasy this week.

The lowly NFC South took center stage on Monday Night Football, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosted the New Orleans Saints. The Atlanta Falcons lost at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Carolina Panthers were off this week. The Bucs would not lose their first place status thanks to the Atlanta loss; however, it was very, very shaky for the Bucs at first, as they couldn't do a thing during the first three quarters. The Saints led 16-3, and it looked like the mediocre division would become quite tight and close. Tom Brady had something to say about that, leading back-to-back touchdown drives, with the second score coming with three seconds left in regulation. The Bucs won, 17-16, to improve to 6-6 and increase their lead over the Falcons, who dropped to 5-8. The Panthers remain at 4-8, and the Saints dropped to 4-9.

Week 14 starts with Thursday Night Football at SoFi Stadium, as the Los Angeles Rams will host the Las Vegas Raiders (who are coming off a victory over the Los Angeles Chargers--Vegas' third straight win after starting 2-7). That same stadium will host Sunday Night Football, as the aforementioned Chargers will host the Miami Dolphins, and on Monday Night Football, the New England Patriots will face off against the Arizona Cardinals. The final byes of the season will go to the Falcons, Packers, Colts, Bears, Commanders, and Saints.

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