The Ringer NFL Show - Predicting the Week 16 NFL Headlines

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

Sheil and The Ringer’s own Diante Lee get together to analyze some of the biggest matchups from the Week 16 slate to determine what story lines will have the NFL media buzzing on Monday morning. (00:00) Predicting the Week 16 NFL headlines(1:13) Rams-Seahawks(10:33) Packers-Bears(18:50) Jaguars-Broncos(26:52) The Hurry Up: Steelers-Lions The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit ⁠www.rg-help.com⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Sheil KapadiaGuest: Diante LeeProducer: Chris SuttonSocial: Kiera Givens and Brian WatersProduction Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm Shield Capadia. Today we are predicting headlines for three week 16 matchups. We've got some big ones. Seahawks Rams on Thursday night, Bears Packers on Saturday night, and Jaguars Broncos on Sunday afternoon. Who would have guessed that Jaguars Broncos in week 16 would have such huge implications? Then at the end and to hurry up, I want to talk about Lion Steelers really quick as well. All right, my guest today is the ringer's Deontay Lee. We will predict what we think is going to happen in those games and break down the matchups. Let's take a break and come back with Deontay. This episode of The Ringer NFL show is presented by State Farm.

Having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm. It's like expecting the leadership of a team captain on the football field, but getting a C captain? Sure, they're both captains, but who is going to run your offense? You wouldn't settle for just anything for your team, so don't settle for just any insurance. When it comes to getting the help, you need State Farm is the real deal. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. All right, we are back here on the Ringer NFL show with Deontay Lee.

Deonti, let's start with, I think it's okay to call this the game of the year right now. Thursday night, Rams, Seahawks, which way is this one going to go? We know what's at stake. I'll give you kind of the percentages and stuff in a minute. but start us off. What is your headline for this game that we're going to be reading about next week? I think the headline is going to read,

not a fluke. Los Angeles stamps itself as the NFC's best. I think it's easy to look at their matchup from earlier in the season and say, oh, you know, Seattle for turnovers, they get these stops in the red zone, close to the goal line, they're able to kind of keep the game in range,

start to make a little bit of a comeback in the third quarter and just kind of run out of time, really, in the fourth. You know, Sam Browner doesn't able to close a deal. I think that that might be an incorrect reading of that game. I think that you should not bank on Los Angeles getting in the red zone the way that they did in that first matchup and not cashing it in with touchdowns, right? We have seen that against basically every other team they've played this year is that when they get the ball inside the 30s, it's automatic for Matthew Stafford right now.

And I think that since he's been helped recently with this kind of progression in the run game, I think that you're going to be seeing a different version of this Rams offense. you know, one that kind of got after Seattle in the first half in their run game in their first matchup, but I think now they're even better at it and have a few more leverage to pull. I do expect Los Angeles to kind of control the game. I don't think it's going to be a blowout. I don't think it's going to be a multi-possession game, but I do think that they'll be able to get up early and kind of keep Seattle at arm's length. All right.

We're on the same side of this. I took the low-hanging fruit, Deante, and mine is Darnold's mistakes cost Seahawks again in Lost to Rams. And I actually hope I'm wrong about this. because I think the more fun outcome for content is if Darnold plays really well. And I win this game and all of a sudden we're going into the last two weeks going, wait, who is the best team in the NFC? Who's going to get the one team? But I just, and I'm not trying to do the morning talk show segment here,

but I just don't know how you view this as anything other than sort of a referendum game for Darnold. Now, if he plays poorly here and then he plays great in the playoffs, fine. But if you're a Seahawks fan and you watch this game and Darnel doesn't play well, you're going to be like, man, this has been a roller coaster of a season. I love our defense, but I cannot trust this man in the playoffs to win three games and get us to the Super Bowl. And that's kind of what their expectations are now for the Seahawks with the way their season has gone. So we don't know if their left tackle is going to be available. Charles Cross, we know what happened the first time Darnold played this Rams defense.

And overall, it's been a hit. I mean, you look at all the passing statistics. I think he's top five and dropback success rate. So it's not just kind of the explosive plays. It's been more of their run game that has let them down. But I just wonder if he's going to make that one mistake. Because I think it's going to be a low. I'm with you.

Low scoring game, competitive game. But I think like everybody would say, hey, which quarterback do we trust more in this spot? And it's like the burden of proof is on Darnold to prove that, no, you're all wrong. I'm not that guy. 100%. And I think that what you're describing to me is kind of confirmation to how I feel, right, about how important trend lines are in this sport, right?

Because if you were just take, if it was just a random smattering, right, let's take all of like the EPA and success rate numbers on a game by game basis from Seattle. And you just shuffled them up and then I handed it back to you. And some of those early season performances are closer to what would be happening in December. We would probably feel differently, right? You would walk in saying, hey, he's hot. He's been able to push the ball downfield. you've got Jackson Smith and Jigba.

They should be able to go blow for blow with Los Angeles. I think that when you look at what it's been over the last month, and not all of this is on Donald. And I've reflected this in the power rankings, right? There have been weeks where he's made mistakes. But for the most part, I think that what's happening now is what happened at the end of last year with Minnesota, which is the run game abandoned you, the offensive line, the attrition just over the season. You see the offensive line kind of take a little bit of a half step back.

And now for a quarterback like Donald, it's hard for him to change. gears, right? The problem is rarely Sam Darnold not doing what he does best often enough. Because what he does best is always going to be there, pushing the ball downfield aggressively, taking what's there within the structure of the play, you know, being an asset in the play action game, all those things will be there no matter what. What he struggles with is when things change fast, right? When things change rapidly, when the first looks not there, when he's got to hold the ball for a bit. And he's just been in those positions more often over the last four, to five weeks, especially against top competition, right? You've seen it against the Vikings.

You've seen it against the Colts. You got to see it in their first matchup with the Rams, where it's just uneven, right? You get these uneven performances and it's against a team like Los Angeles. It's as balanced as it is. I'm right there with you. I can see him having a decent game, but maybe having the one or two key turnovers that end up turning this thing. Yeah, I think the Rams defense can be, I'm very curious to see the Seahawks offensive approach because if you just did it on paper and someone like me, I'd say their secondary can be had. I know their corners. They've overachieved.

I think the defense overall has overachieved. But we saw it even last week with Jared Gough and Amman Ross St. Brown. We've seen it in previous weeks that they're getable. Absolutely. But I think you look at the Seahawks and Mike McDonald's makeup and the way he's coached his team and the way the first matchup went, I just don't think they're going to come out and say, let's put the ball in Sam Darnold's hands against this Rams defense. And again, their run game just hasn't been there for most of the season.

I mean, you know, they're running the ball on early downs, but it's really been the explosive plays in the past game that have carried their offense. So I'm curious about that approach. And then the other side of the ball, man, these are just like two of the best schemers in the NFL, two of the best coaches in the NFL, Mike McDonald, against Sean McVeigh. And I don't know that people realize because the Rams, won that first game, how well the Seahawks defense played there. I was looking up the numbers today.

It was lights out. It was lights out. Yeah. I mean, that was the Rams' worst game by success rate in the last two years, which is wild. When you consider how well they've played this entire season, they just don't have games like that. Usually it was Matthew Stafford's worst game as a RAM in terms of EPA per pass play. I mean, that's a big sample. That's going back to 2021.

So now McVeasy is, all right, this is what they did on film. Let's do this. This time around, and then McDonald's good at adjusting. So that side of the ball is going to be fascinating as well. I'm with you 100% on that. It's funny, right? Like the flow of the game, early in the game, was not a real accurate representation of what we saw in the whole, right?

Because they get that opening drive touchdown. You get the turnover. I think they hold Seattle to a field goal, and then they drive right back downfield. So it's easy to kind of feel like, oh, I'm looking at a team that's down by a couple of scores. Maybe Los Angeles found something against that. defense. You go back and rewatch. And like I said, after they made those adjustments coming out of

the first quarter, Los Angeles really didn't have anything offensive with the rest of that game. And that's what the healthy Devante Adams and Pooka and Kua, right? And now you're coming into a week where you might not have your big red zone dominator the way that you do. You've had Pooka Nakuwa have to leave the game in spurts over the last couple of weeks. I'm really fascinated to see what the physicality of Seattle's defense can do to Los Angeles if they are able to hold this game in a neutral script, right? As long as you're not chasing the Rams early in this game, I do think that the chance is there for Seattle's defense to end up having a say and a major impact on what the ultimate result is. And then of course, you know I'm going to be watching

the decision-making, Deante, because McVeigh has been a different guy this year. He's been now part of it, I think, was he didn't, you know, he didn't trust special teams, but he's been going for it more. That has kind of been something he has not been aggressive in the past. Maybe he's like, man, this offense is lights out. We can continue to go for it. I think Shane was a great motivator, right? I think you can kind of trace it back to that Eagles game. And he probably walked away thinking, like, I was one aggressive decision away from beating the team that beat a Sydney

NFC division around. And was last year was the best team in the NFL last year. And I do think to your point that he has kind of learned that lesson into, you know, what you were just saying, he knows he has a shot, right? And I think that for a coach like McVeigh, he would be kicking himself for years if the 2025 Rams weren't contending and weren't the number one team in the NFC because he chose field goal. over going for touchdowns or chose to put instead of going for this quarterback in this offense.

Yeah. No. Absolutely. And then Mike McDonald, great job last week, you know, using the timeouts and giving themselves a chance. But we also know he knows what the strength of his football team is. And, you know, there have been times this season where he's like, no, we're not, you know, I understand what the numbers say.

I think he listens to him. But he also knows what the strength of his football team is. So that's going to be another interesting aspect to this game as well. All right. We're both on the same side. Let's see if we're right. let's see if we're wrong with Seahawks Rams on Thursday night. All right, next game here, Packers at Bears.

Saturday night, Deontay, Bears are home dogs here. What do you got? What's your headline? I think the headline is, oh, God, I don't know. It's hard to try to phrase this, right? I think it's no Michael Parsons, no Super Bowl, which I think was a headline I had for Green Bay coming out of last week in the power rankings, right?

I think we talked about it when they were playing the Broncos. You need a player like Michael Parsons to make an impact on a quarterback whose biggest strength is escaping the pocket, especially in key situations, being able to extend plays and then push the ball down field. And I think the groove that Caleb Williams is in, you would love to have a guy like Michael Parsons to say, hey, they're not going to be able to be in structure because our best edge rusher is just going to be tearing up the field. And now Caleb's got to be aware of this guy on a snap-by-snap basis. everything else for me right now, again, if we're just going by trend lines, and not that Green Bay has played poorly defensively. I think that, you know, last week against Denver was probably more of an outlier, you know, compared to some of the past weeks recently.

But I think that for Chicago, they have been tearing zone defense up. They have looked so good on early downs. They have really found a rhythm in terms of the play, action passing game and the run game off of that as well. So I just think that right now the grooves that Chicago's in, not having your best defensive guy, knowing that they're going to, be gaps in Green Bay secondary that you can go attack, I would not be surprised at all if this ends up being another big Caleb Williams performance. On the same side again, Deontay, I've got Bears inch closer to a first division title since 2018. And I was thinking about how big of a game this is for the Bears, for their fan base,

for Ben Johnson, for Caleb Williams. I mean, I think there's going to be one of the biggest wins in recent Bears' memory. They haven't won a playoff game since 2010. And I look at this matchup, and I just trust Ben Johnson against this Packers defense without Michael Parsons. I just do. I think he's going to have a game plan. I think they're going to be able to run the ball.

I think it's going to be a great crowd. I think it's going to be a party in Chicago Saturday night. I think that they're kind of already there where they're like, this is amazing. We've got, I really, but this is going to be the night where if Ben Johnson has a long career in Chicago, that Bears fans are going to go, you know what, that night in week 16, when we beat the Packers, that's when we knew we have a coach who can compete against the big boys. And this was finally going to be a different era of Bears football.

Because that's an exciting moment for a fan base. When you have the new coach and you're like, we like the new coach, we think we hit it with the new coach, but then there's like that win, you know, or that moment where you're like, oh, we might really have something here. And I'm not trying to go overboard here. I know it's only been one season and things can go off. track very quickly where I might look at this a year from now going, oh my gosh, I can't believe I was buying the Ben Johnson hype, but I am buying it. If we're taking a snapshot of this moment in time, I think he's got the goods. And I've been so impressed with just how they've

evolved over the season, how he's figured it out. The personnel isn't perfect. They made changes. He said he was going to come in and fix stuff like the run game. He said he was going to help Caleb Williams cut down on sacks. He said he was going to create explosive plays. And all those things, They've literally done all of those things in year one. This is only, you know, his 16th week coaching the Chicago Bears. So that's where I'm at. I just, I hate, I'm usually very bullish on the Packers. You know this.

We've talked a lot over the years. I'm always the guy saying, watch out for the Packers. I just feel like this is too much. I've said it all week. Parsons, Tucker Craft. It looks like Christian Watson's going to play here, but is he fully healthy? The offensive line is. It's just to me too much where I just don't.

think they're the same team they were a month ago. Well, and I think that this comes back to conversations that we've had over the last couple of years, right? I think that Green Bay has been searching for an infrastructure around Jordan Love that does not ask him to be a superhero, right? And it's not that he can't burn hot. We've seen that over the last like five or six weeks that at his best, he looked just as good as any other quarterback in the NFL, right?

He's had moments where he was playing as well as Drake May, as well as Josh Allen, right, as well as Matthew Stafford. And I think it's entirely possible, and I would say if there's a way for Green Bay to win this game and control this game, it would be that he has a performance this weekend like he did against Detroit, you know, on Thanksgiving week. That is within the realm of possibility. I'm just right there with you, right? I'm focused more on what Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen is done with this team. And I think that what we've seen is confirmation to just how hard it is and how rare it is that you actually get a coaching staff in that immediately raises the level of the roster that they're working with. I feel differently about this offensive line now that I did three months ago,

and it's almost entirely because of what Ben Johnson has done with the run game and the play action game. We all, as a football watching public, feel differently about Caleb Williams now than three months ago. And almost all of that is what Ben Johnson is built for him. So I think that if this is going to be a Bears win, it's going to be a Ben Johnson win. And I think if it's a Packers win, it's probably a Jordan Love type of game. where we look up and say, oh, my goodness, this guy had 295 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a couple key scrambles. I think that that might be what it takes, given the groove that the bears have been in offensively.

Yeah, I mean, it's a good point with love and even LaFleur because it's not like they can't do it, you know? It's just that their strength was we can win in a bunch of different ways. We can win with love. We can win with the run game. Our offensive play callers really good. But we can also win with Micah Parsons, just taking over a game and our defense forcing turnovers and now the identity is different.

You can win, but you're probably going to have to win with the offense. And to your point, you know, it's just, can Jordan Love go on a heater? Will Matt LaFleur put the ball in his hands and say, go on a heater? We need this. You know, how will he coach this team? Be playmakers, right? Will they be good enough? That's been a big storyline, you know?

And the bear secondary has been excellent at getting underneath passes and force and turnovers that happened to Jordan Love in the first quarter of their first matchup, right? So it's what version of the Bears? secondary shows up, what version of the Packers' Wide Receiver Court shows up, and whether or not Jordan Love can find a winning margin, you know, between whatever distance exists between those two units. It's going to be fascinating from that perspective, because I do think, like you were saying, when the Bears have the ball, I think we're going to see a masterclass from Ben Johnson in converting

on third downs and avoiding third and longs and using the run game to really manage game script. I think that we're going to look at this game, and this is going to be one of those zones where we walk away feeling like that was playoff football that we just watched. And we have something to look forward to once we get to the NFC playoffs. Yeah, I'm excited for this. When I listen, the Bears' defense is not great. So, you know, Packers have a chance to move the football efficiently and absolutely win this. Their favorites in this game.

I just, I can't believe I'm saying it. But at this point in time, I think I do trust the Bears more in week 16. So what's at stake here, Deontay? With a win, the Bears improved to 97% chance to make the playoffs. and an 83% chance to win the division. And if they lose, it's kind of like, all right, you got some hard games coming up here against the Niners and the Lions. You got to get some wins here just to get in the play.

Like, it's not guaranteed that they're in the playoffs. And Packers right now with a win would basically be in the playoffs, and they'd be 75% to win the division. With the loss, they're still looking good to make the playoffs, but the division chances go down significantly. And then I didn't mention it with the Rams. I think people know this, but just in case with the win, their 90% chance to get the one seed with the loss.

That drops to 18%. 90% or 18% based on one game there. And the Seahawks would improve to 53% chance for the one seed with a win, and they almost have no chance at it with a loss. So lots at stake in these divisional matchups. Those are all courtesy of the athletics playoff simulation. later. All right, let's take a break. We come back. One more game to get to. All right, we are back here on the Ringer NFL show. Deonté, if you would have to, first of all, I need to give you your props,

because I haven't done this officially on the Ringer NFL show a month or so or whatever. When we did the show and we said, all right, let's go over the AFC playoff field. And you said, the chiefs are out. Jaguars are going to be in. And I said, you're nuts, DeAnte. What are you talking about? You got the last laugh. And this isn't about the Mahomes injury. They probably weren't getting in anyway. So you called it before anyone I know. So I don't know if you want to take a bow. I don't know if you have a crown or any types of props nearby. But I feel like I needed to say that on the pod so you knew I wasn't like ducking you or something. Oh, man, you know how certain college programs get like the turnover chain. I need like a take chain. You know, when something

cashed in. We got to get a take chain, a take hat, something like that, you know, where I can just kind of sit in the chair and revel, you know, and being correct. But yeah, no, I mean, Jackson Bill started off hot, and I think that they've been able to ride this out. And I will give them a lot of credit, man. This seems like they've really started to find a rhythm offensively over the last couple weeks. Probably helps playing some bad defenses. That's a great way to work out the identity of your offense. And on the other end with Denver, man.

Like I jumped on them early to win the AFC. I've kind of cooled on that a bit because of Houston over the last couple of weeks. It has less to do with Denver and more to do with Houston and how they're trending. But yeah, this sets up for what I would not have expected, you know, two or three months ago. but this sets up for one of the premier matchups right now in the AFC regular season. Which imagine in August if it was like, hey, Jags at Broncos, you know,

on mid to late December, you're going to be talking about this as a huge game in the AFC. I would have been like settled down. Sean Payton's been spreading propaganda. That's not happening. I would have been making fun of the Jaguars GM for his speech at the draft.

Yeah, I wasn't there with these teams. I was wrong. I'll start with my headline here, Deonté. Broncos Titan grip. on one seed, smackdown Lawrence and Jaguar. So that's kind of where I'm at with this. Trevor Lawrence has played better. No doubt about it.

I haven't been the biggest Trevor Lawrence believer. I think he's playing his best football of his career right now. Last two, three weeks, he's looked great. Last week, he's ripping in breakers. They're using play action on early downs. He's scrambling decisively. He's making those 1% plays where you remember when he's coming out of the draft and we talked about the physical skill set.

it was like here are the things he can do. And there are times you've watched him in his career and gone, well, why isn't he doing those things that only like he and maybe five, six, seven other quarterbacks can do. And you saw that him do those things last week. You've seen him do that more. I don't know that the Jaguars are ready for this spot. And maybe I'll be looking stupid by the time we get to Sunday night.

But to go to Denver against Sean Payton, against a team that just doesn't give games away, doesn't turn the football over, doesn't have negative plays, a top five defense. I feel like the Broncos are going to show, no, we are in a different class than this Jaguars team here in this game. Where are you?

What's your headline on this game? My headline, I love that. I just want to say that I love that. You can tell that Sheal comes from a very conventional, like, he's done the reporting, been in the room. And I'm more just like, what's splashing, right? What can I put above the polls? It's just going to splash most when I scrap my headlines.

engagement. But mine is all roads to the AFC are a mile high, right? See, that's better than my team. I'm right there with you. I'm right there with you. I think that this is going to be another major statement opportunity for Denver, right? And I do love where Jacksonville is at, right? This is not me saying that there's a huge world of difference between these two teams.

And if Jacksonville were playing against New England or Buffalo or any of the other top teams in the AFC, I would say, coming into that matchup in the playoffs, I feel like Jacksonville can go, blow for bowl with any of these teams. can upset any of these teams because they can access those explosive plays. It seems like they're kind of striking something up in the play action game. But you detailed it the exact way I would have described it, man. Denver is so good at shrinking those margins that a team like Jacksonville likes to live in. Against play action passes, Denver is third in a success rate on defense against play action passes. And that's something that to me is going to make or break this game.

It's what's going to happen to Trevor Lawrence when he turns his back on the defense to give that ball fake. and he flips his head around and he's looking for that big, in-breaking route, and Patrick Sertan is on it, right? Or Riley Moss is on it. Or Talanoa who Funga is jumping underneath it, what's going to happen with him? Because what we've seen at his worst moments,

you see the, oh, well, screw it, I'm throwing it anyways. And then that turns into turnovers. Or I'm going to hold the ball. I'm not going to scramble, but I'm going to hold the ball and pat the ball in the pocket, and now I'm taking unnecessary sacks. To me, I think if you're Liam Cohen, you've got to go to Trevor Lawrence early in the week and say,

buddy, I want you to watch Josh Allen. I want you to watch Drake May. I want you to watch these premier athletes when they don't like the coverage picture and they just put their foot in the ground and go make something happen as an athlete. Go beat this team with your legs if the first look isn't there. I want to see that on Sunday if we're going to get a Jacksonville win.

I think if he's patting the ball in the pocket or trying to force it in the tight windows, that is a recipe for disaster against one of the NFL's best defenses. I love that. And you're going to see man coverage. So there should be opportunities to scraming. And yeah, he had some impressive scrambles last week. I know it was the Jets, but man, he was, you're like, this plays dead.

And all of a sudden he's running for an explosive play. We know he's capable of doing that. Does have to avoid the big hits when he, he's still an adventure, man. It's like even in that game, you know, I'm like, these are some, these are some unbelievable throws and plays. And then they have the one play where they got two guys going in motion. And then he just, he spikes the ball. And it's that's intentional grounding with the elite.

I'm like this team is hilarious. But on top of that, you have some just beautiful looking plays. And Jacoby Myers has been a difference maker for them. And Brian Thomas is playing well. And I thought the protection was good last week as well. So Jaguars are in a nice spot. I'm with you. I think it's just kind of like what class do you put them in in the AFC?

You know, they're in the playoffs. But if they, you know, there's 60% to win the division right now. If they win, that goes up to 81%. If they lose, to your point about Houston, it goes down. to 41% and they're still alive for the one seed. If they win this game, 26% chance to be the one seat. That's wild. That's wild.

That's wild. That's wild. Freaking Jaguars. Unbelievable. So yeah, a lot of stake for them. And the Broncos can almost put away the one seed with a win here. They would go all the way up to 92% with a victory. So Bo Nix, Trevor Lawrence, huge game, weird season.

I mean, what are the NFC playoff predictions? I feel like I just am going to predict chaos because I'm going to have no feel or no read on what's going to happen with these teams. I mean, because you're going to be picking, am I picking Bo Nix? Am I picking, you know, the Patriots in year one with Mike Vrable with a defense that's played above its level? But when you start looking at the component parts, you probably have reasons to be a bit concerned.

Am I picking a Buffalo team that's like legitimately one of the worst run defenses in the league? We have too many examples over the last few years of bad run defenses in one game sample sizes. So I'm right there with you. I don't know what we're going to do with the AFC playoffs. I think that's going to lead to probably some wild overreactions come January and February about where the state of the AFC is.

A Chargers team with no tackles and a quarterback with one hand, a Steelers team with a 42-year-old quarterback at a franchise that hasn't won a playoff game in nine years. Yeah, I don't know. I'm getting anxiety just thinking about it. I just close my eyes, you know, throw a couple darts and then see what happens. because it's going to be hard to figure out those. But it's going to be fun, too,

because of all the chaos that can potentially ensue there. All right, his name is Deontay. Lee Deontay. Thank you for joining me, my friend. Thank you for having me. All right. I'll be right back with the hurry up. All right, the hurry up is presented by State Farm.

Don't settle for just any insurance when they're State Farm. I wanted to touch on one more matchup that we didn't get to with Deontay, and that is Steelers Lions. I'm looking at this Lions team, there's a lot of indicators to suggest that they are really good, even though they're only 8 and 6, their third and overall DVOA.

And if you look at the betting markets, I was looking earlier, they would be favored against all but three teams on a neutral field right now, unless they played the Rams, the Bills, or the Seahawks. They would be favored against every other team on a neutral field right now.

But something has just been a little bit off and they'd be on the outside looking in if the playoffs started today. So this is truly must-win territory. If they win out, they're probably in, but are they good enough to string together three consecutive wins? And then you have a Steelers team that looked like it was falling apart two weeks ago. You have the chance for Mike Tomlin to be fired.

But Aaron Rogers has now played two of his best games of the season, wins over the Ravens and the Dolphins. It's just been kind of a roller coaster season for the Steelers. And I really feel like this is a narrative shaping spot. If they go on the road, they beat Detroit, now maybe they found something. Maybe they break that streak of not having that playoff win since 2016. But if they get blown out, now we're back to, hey, they are who we thought they were. Maybe the Ravens are winning that division.

So it's not the biggest matchup of week 16, but the stakes are really high. I feel like for both sides, the Lions and the Steelers in this game on Sunday. All right, the hurry up was presented by State Farm. you wouldn't settle for just anything for your team on the football field. Shouldn't it be the same for your insurance? So don't settle for just any insurance when there's State Farm. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. All right, thanks to everyone for listening.

Thank you to Deontay Lee. Thanks to Christopher Sutton for producing Kiera Givens on Social and Additional Production Supervision by Connor and Evans and Arjuna Ramgopal. I'll be back tomorrow. We will break down Rams Seahawks. Can't wait for that game. Talk to you then on the Ringer NFL. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming.

Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Hallp.com. Call 1-888-789-77-7-7 or visit cpg.gat-org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MDGamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helplinema.m.m.m.org or call 800-327-50-50 for 247. in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-8-8-N-Y or text Hope N-Y in New York.