NFL Today: KC’s Playoff Streak On Life Support

This week, the Indianapolis Colts were dealt a huge blow after losing QB Daniel Jones (to a season-ending Achillles’ tear), who helped drive its turnaround; Keisean Nixon’s end zone pick helped seal the win as Green Bay took over the NFC lead; and Patrick Mahomes had the lowest completion rate of his career as KC suffered a crucial loss that has virtually doomed its playoff chances (boo hoo). Other Fantasy football news items we’re following include…

The Chiefs Lose Their Top DB

Heading into the season, we had little doubt that the Kansas City Chiefs would punch their playoff ticket yet again, but thanks to four losses in the past five games, their 10-year run of postseason appearances is very much at risk.

At 6-7, KC now has three teams to pass to get to the AFC’s final playoff slot, and while it’s a joyous time for those that are over their decade long domination, it’s still a puzzling development.

After all, the offense is better (as high as third heading into Week 14 according to some) and the defense is only marginally worse than it was in 2024.

Okay, so the offensive line was pretty beat up this week, but the Chiefs’ offense was virtually negated by Houston’s NFL-best defense. The last time KC had a worse record through 13 games? You’ve got to go back to 2012.

So what’s gone wrong this season? Well, there have been the injuries; there’s been underperforming players; and there have been plenty of errors made along the way.

The injury bug bit again on Sunday as OT Wanya Morris and CB Trent McDuffie got knocked out in the first half. The loss of McDuffie was particularly damaging; he’s enjoying a strong comeback season, having already matched his 2024 total of solo tackles while adding one sack.

KC’s 2022 first round pick hurt his knee on the second defensive series of the game while trying to defend Houston’s stud WR Nico Collins. McDuffie was diagnosed with a hyperextension which leaves him questionable for Week 15.

Considering last year he graded 83.1 among cornerbacks (the third best mark in the league as per Pro Football Focus), this is a major loss for the Chiefs as they desperately try to squeak back into the playoffs.

For Fantasy purposes, McDuffie ranked among the top 25 DBs for Week 14 and since being drafted out of the University of Washington, he’s lived up to his billing as a Year One starter thanks to his immensely competitive nature.

Too Little, Too Late for Miami

Heading into the season, we expected the Miami Dolphins to once again rely on their defense. However, not only has the defense regressed, but the offense – bad to meh last year – is now just downright bad.

Regardless, Miami has turned things around after a horrific 1-6 start, winning five of six since, to somewhat salvage its season. Okay, so the Dolphins’ playoff chances are slim at best (+4000 as per FanDuel), but it’s still an impressive rebound, buoying hopes that they may return to the postseason in 2026 and perhaps enjoy similar results to what they did in 2023 (11-6 and the last time they were in the playoffs).

With its win in New York over the Jets on Sunday, it has now won four straight, but perhaps the most important aspect of this game was the fact that QB Tua Tagovailoa finally earned a victory in cold weather.

Coming into this game, he had gone 0-7 in his career when the weather was 46 F or colder. That has to take some of the sting out of what’s been a very tough season for Tagovailoa.

Just two years ago, we wrote about how impressive his ascension into the top tier of QBs had been, but he’s been rather inconsistent since.

Tagovailoa wasn’t quite as sharp down the stretch in 2023, and while he bounced back last year, he wound up missing six games with a concussion and then a hip woe.

This year, he’s been healthy, but it’s been a slog as he’s already matched his career high in interceptions with six games to go. Tagovailoa is posting a career-worst 11.1 Fantasy points per game, compared to 16.5 last year and nearly 18 in his breakout 2022 season. Yuck.

The worst part of Miami’s second-half surge is that the team is no longer in position to land a top five pick, so if it had designs on drafting a potential QB replacement, things just got tougher in that regard.

For week 15, Tagovailoa is a streaming option at best.

RotoRob Tune of the Day

Norman Quentin Cook is better known to the world as Fatboy Slim, the English musician and DJ. In 2004, he released his fourth album, Palookaville, and the second single was “Wonderful Night,” which was a top 15 hit on the UK Dance charts. Here’s the radio edit.

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