Sunday Rundown: Instant takeaways from Week 17's early games

Sunday Rundown recaps the most important developments from the day's action and examines their significance moving forward.

Early kickoffs

Of course the Steelers lost

A win over the last-place Browns was all the Steelers needed to lock up the AFC North this week. Light work, right? Evidently not. I don't know about you, but from the moment the Ravens beat the Packers on Saturday night, this letdown felt inevitable. Part of that is because it's been the story of this Steelers team for multiple years running. Doubters are made to look silly when they dare question a coaching staff that hasn't had a single losing season in 19 years, but it's never long before we're reminded of why those concerns cropped up in the first place. Plus, it's only right that the division nobody wanted to win comes down to a winner-take-all matchup between Baltimore and Pittsburgh in Week 18. An already-dreadful Steelers offense playing without the suspended DK Metcalf should probably make the Ravens the favorite heading in - especially if Lamar Jackson is back in the lineup after missing the win in Green Bay. And Baltimore is certainly the team more likely to spice up the AFC playoff picture. But in a year where each club has served up one disappointment after another, it's probably best to not have any sort of expectations heading in. Sit back and enjoy the chaos.

Never change, NFC South

Speaking of divisions that nobody wants to win, the NFC South is once again up to its old tricks. The Panthers' weekly up-and-down pattern continued with Sunday's loss to the Seahawks, meaning it doesn't even matter that the Bucs came up short against the Dolphins. The division will now be decided with a winner-take-all game between Carolina and Tampa Bay in Week 18. Similar to the Steelers-Ravens matchup for the AFC North, it's impossible to know what to expect with this one. The Bucs have a clear talent advantage, but we're long past the point where we can reasonably anticipate that impacting results. They've now lost seven of their last eight games, including a Week 16 matchup with the Carolina. The Panthers have had some impressive highs this year, including wins over the Packers and Rams, but they were also swept by the Saints. Rewarding division winners makes sense, so the NFL's current playoff format probably isn't going to change. Still, it just doesn't seem right that year's NFC South champion, which could very well be an 8-9 Bucs team, could end up hosting a 13-win No. 5 seed.

Polar opposites

I understand that this probably isn't the week to be getting carried away with Patriots hype. There wasn't much for New England to prove against a horrifically bad Jets team, but the 42-10 laugher does make for a pretty fascinating look at a pair of teams that couldn't possibly be further apart. Because remember, that wasn't nearly the case this time last year - the Patriots were every bit as bad as their AFC East rival in 2024. Both teams brought in new staffs to kickstart a rebuild, and only one has seen any sort of improvement. Maybe the Jets will find their version of Drake Maye in this year's draft, giving Aaron Glenn an opportunity to replicate the turnaround in New England. Based on what we've seen so far, though, with the head coach's defensive background doing nothing to help the product on the field, there's probably a case to be made that New York should already be entertaining another change. Mike Vrabel, meanwhile, has suddenly returned the Patriots to familiar territory among the NFL's elite. This team is a well-oiled machine in every phase of the game. There's no reason New England can't run all the way through the AFC in Year 1 of this new era. As always, bad organizations tend to stay bad. And while anyone can run into a few tough years, the good ones don't stay down long.

Is that it for Rivers?

Philip Rivers coming out of retirement for emergency duty in Indianapolis might be the coolest story of the entire season. Nobody could have been expecting much from a 44-year-old nearly five years removed from his last NFL action, but everyone was tuning in to see if he could still play. And guess what? He absolutely can. The physical limitations are exactly what you'd expect - the mobility is nonexistent, and the arm strength isn't much better. But Rivers was able to keep the Colts' offense running at a respectable level based almost entirely on his ability to execute mentally. It was incredible to watch. I say that in past tense, because one would have to think he's not going to see the field in next week's regular-season finale. As fun as it might be to get one more game of the grandpa quarterback doing his thing, the Colts would be wise to get a look at sixth-round rookie Riley Leonard heading into another offseason of quarterback uncertainty. It's also the least they can do for Rivers. After coming off the couch to give the Colts a bit of hope, there's simply no need to run him out there against a fierce Texans defense playing for an AFC South title.

Saturday notes

Willis making himself money

Malik Willis did not look like an NFL quarterback during his brief stint in Tennessee. The Titans clearly agreed, sending the former third-rounder to Green Bay for a seventh-round selection ahead of his third season in 2024. Two years later, we're adding yet another name to the long list of talented passers who were written off too soon. The quarterback we saw in Saturday night's game against the Ravens looked a lot like the ceiling case for Willis heading into the 2022 draft. The physical skills have always offered plenty of upside, but his newfound ability to produce from the pocket - likely the product of a patient development process with a team that actually knows what it's doing - suddenly makes him an intriguing starting option moving forward. And the apparent breakout couldn't be coming at a better time, as Willis is scheduled to hit free agency in March. With a number of teams in the market for a new quarterback, and a thin draft class potentially offering no more than two first-round signal-callers, there could several suitors that view the 26-year-old as a starter. The two-year, $40-million deal Justin Fields received in New York could be a logical starting point for a competitive Willis market.

Packers defense gets bullied

The Packers are officially locked into the No. 7 seed after falling to the Ravens on Saturday night. For a team that desperately needs a de facto bye week to get healthy, a meaningless Week 18 game might be more important than a home playoff game anyway. The Packers can score with anyone if Jordan Love and Josh Jacobs are healthy for the playoffs. That being said, Green Bay won't be going far if the defense looks anything like it did in a big spot against Baltimore. The Ravens playing without Lamar Jackson was always going to make this a Derrick Henry game. The Packers had to know this, yet there wasn't a thing they could do to slow him down. Henry took his career-high 36 carries for 216 yards and four touchdowns. They aren't the first defense to get embarrassed by Henry in the cold weather, but it's a concerning sign looking ahead to the playoffs. Surviving the loss of Micah Parsons, and finding other ways to hide a weakness at corner, will have to involve keeping opposing offenses off schedule. That's going to be nearly impossible if the front seven is getting pushed around by any of the capable rushing attacks in the NFC playoff field. A third matchup with the Chicago, which currently lines up to host Green Bay as the No. 2 seed, seems particularly unfavorable with that in mind.

Dan Wilkins is theScore's senior NFL writer.