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Sunday’s slate of Week 9 games came to a close in Chicago, where the red-hot Bears took down the Buccaneers 27–24 to notch their fourth consecutive win—this time in spite of their quarterback, which we’ll get to in a minute.
Elsewhere, Tom Brady returned to Gillette Stadium to call the Patriots’ 45–27 drubbing at the hands of the Packers, the Cowboys pulled off a last-minute win over the struggling Colts and Joe Burrow shined once again in the Bengals’ dominant victory over the Falcons in Madrid.
The week will finish in Minnesota on Monday night, as the Vikings welcome the Bills to U.S. Bank Stadium for an 8:15 p.m. ET kickoff.
Before we get there, though, here are our winners and losers for Week 9 so far.
After playing mostly flawless football since his return from a hamstring injury last month, Caleb Williams was a net-negative in the Bears’ win over the Buccaneers on Sunday night.
While leading Chicago’s offense to just 20 points, the 24-year-old threw four interceptions—the most he has thrown in a game in his young career—while notching his second-lowest passer rating (61.5) and completion percentage (59.5%) of the season. Still, when push came to shove, Williams orchestrated an eight-play, 49-yard drive that ended in a Cairo Santos field goal that gave the Bears the 27–24 win.
THE BEARS WIN IT
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) November 9, 2026
(via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/mNzIoqTaJL
“I’ve been through it [before],” Williams acknowledged postgame when asked about his four-interception performance. “I know to stay steady. I’m happy I’ve had those moments before … being able to learn from them. So that’s what we’re going to do.”
Now 6–2 on the year, the Bears are headed into their bye week before welcoming the Saints to Soldier Field in Week 11, giving Williams an opportunity to reset after his turnover-happy showing in Week 9. —Mike Kadlick
In the days leading up to their matchup against the Falcons in Madrid, Joe Burrow said the Bengals were going to put on a show. That they did. Burrow was exceptional in the 34–17 win, completing 24 of 29 passes for 271 yards, three passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown. His top target, Ja’Marr Chase, torched the Falcons’ secondary to the tune of 10 receptions for 155 yards and a touchdown, while Tee Higgins added 32 yards and a pair of touchdown catches.
This marked Burrow’s first career international game. He previously expressed wanting to play in an international game—including posting that he hoped the rumors the Bengals were playing in the 2025 Madrid game were true. They were not, as the Commanders and Dolphins ended up playing in that matchup. One year later, Burrow finally got the chance to take part in the Madrid game and put together a four-touchdown showing and performing soccer star Neymar’s signature celebration.
Beyond just the international game, Burrow is on fire. He has scored four or more touchdowns in each of his past four games, including 16 touchdowns during that span, firmly cementing himself as an MVP candidate midway through the season. —Eva Geitheim
After struggling to convert in short-yardage situations, the Chiefs have faced increasing pressure to run the quarterback sneak. The Chiefs have typically avoided the quarterback sneak since Mahomes sustained a dislocated kneecap running the play in 2019, but were encouraged to run it with Justin Fields, their backup who is good at running the ball. The quarterback sneak is one of the most successful plays a team can run in short-yardage situations, and the Chiefs’ inability to run it has cost them points this season.
Kansas City finally tried to run the quarterback sneak with Fields on a third-and-1. Not only did Fields not get the yard, he fumbled the snap and the Jets recovered it. They later had another such situation at the 1-yard-line, but opted to do an inside handoff to Travis Kelce, who scored on a one-yard rushing touchdown.
“You guys asked for it. We gave it to you. It didn't work. How do you feel?” coach Andy Reid said of the failed sneak after the game. “Quarterbacks, it's hard to practice unless you do it in a game. And so we’ve just got to get those two on the same page on it and make sure we get the ball up first and in the quarterback's hands, and we can roll from there.
“Those are hard to practice. We've got to make sure we get the snap down.” —E.G.
Both the Lions and Dolphins brought out some trickery on special teams in their matchup on Sunday when they successfully ran fake punts. The Lions pulled off the first fake punt attempt on fourth-and-7 early in the second quarter as punter Jake Fox connected with Davontavean Martin on an 11-yard gain. While Fox’s fake gave the Lions new life, Detroit was unable to keep moving the ball downfield and two months later, Fox came back out to punt for real.
What a throw, @MrJackFox pic.twitter.com/n3m4I5phod
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) November 8, 2026
Two quarters later, the Dolphins had a fake punt of their own. Facing fourth-and-3 from their own 36-yard-line, punter Bradley Pinion completed a pass to Kaytron Allen, who was wide open and turned upfield for a 46-yard gain. The Dolphins later scored a field goal on the drive to cut the Lions’ lead to 16–9. Detroit nailed a field goal on their ensuing drive to pull away and ensure a 19–9 win. —E.G.
Another successful fake punt in Miami. This time by Miami pic.twitter.com/jJz7csImqm
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) November 8, 2026
Entering Sunday’s matchup against the Eagles, the Giants ranked last in the league in sacks with nine. They almost equaled that number in their win over Philadelphia by sacking Eagles quarterback Joe Milton seven times. The Giants had the benefit of facing a banged-up Eagles offensive line and a young quarterback making his first start, but they also capitalized and got to the quarterback consistently. Rookie linebacker Arvell Reese continues to make his Defensive Rookie of the Year case after he tallied three sacks. Micah McFadden, Darius Alexander, D.J. Reader and Dawuane Smoot also recorded a sack each. The loss of Brian Burns for the season has certainly hurt the Giants’ pass rush, but they put together a nice showing against the Eagles to improve to 5-2-1 on the season.
The Eagles’ pass rush, a unit that has also struggled this season, had a nice day as well by recording six sacks—including the first from offseason trade acquisition Jonathan Greenard. That, however, was not enough to get the win for Philadelphia. —E.G.
The Raiders gave up 38 points in their loss to the 49ers on Sunday. The offense played a role in this by committing five turnovers—including a pick-six—but the Raiders’ defense has now given up 30 or more points in six consecutive games. Even with the offense’s turnovers, the Raiders’ defense had few answers for the 49ers’ offense other than a fourth-down stop and an interception of Brock Purdy.
The 49ers were without several of their top receivers, including Mike Evans, yet had their way with the Raiders’ defense from the start. They did not punt and racked up a season-high 190 rushing yards while carrying the ball 40 times. The Raiders’ defense has simply not been good this year, ranking 30th or 31st in yards, rushing yards and points allowed this season. —E.G.
The Cowboys-Colts game was a sloppy affair between two floundering teams. They combined for four interceptions, 23 penalties for 220 yards and a bizarre play that just about summed up each team’s season.
The game did, however, mark a battle between the two Downs brothers: Colts receiver Josh Downs and Cowboys rookie safety Caleb Downs. Caleb not only got the win over his brother, he also recorded his first career interception, picking off Colts quarterback Daniel Jones in the final minute of the game to seal a 27–23 victory.
Caleb Downs comes up big for the Cowboys!
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) November 8, 2026
(via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/RHmeQS2Fw2
“It was a surreal feeling going out there and lining up in front of him, just me and him the whole game,” Caleb said of facing his brother. “I was just thankful for the situation. He definitely got me on some of the plays that they missed him on. … I’m just thankful my family could be here.” —E.G.
After a year-plus of seemingly distancing himself from the Patriots’ organization, Tom Brady returned to Gillette Stadium this weekend for both Rob Gronkowski’s Patriots Hall of Fame induction as well as the team’s game vs. the Packers—which he called for Fox alongside Kevin Burkhardt.
He nailed it. No qualifiers necessary.
It would have been easy for Brady to mail in both his appearance in Foxborough on Saturday and his feelings of being back in the building he built countless memories in. Instead, he embraced it, giving Patriots fans a glimpse at the quarterback they fell in love with over two decades ago.
“Oh man, nostalgic,” Brady told Burkhardt just after halftime when asked what the weekend had been like for him. “And to see my old teammates yesterday, and to honor Gronk. I know Mr. [Robert] Kraft’s at home, I just want to say hi to RKK. I know he’s watching. … I just can’t thank everyone enough for the love, the support over 20 years here. I feel like I’m the luckiest man alive to play for this unbelievable community. … I had the most amazing teammates and coaches every step of the way and we tried to take the field and do things the right way. A lot of humility, a lot of self-awareness, a lot of great, clutch performances by my teammates. That’s why they hang those banners. They can never be defended. They’re gonna hang up there forever.” —M.K.
The Patriots were on the wrong end of a dominant Jordan Love performance on Sunday afternoon, as the Packers quarterback went a remarkable 23-for-29 passing for 372 yards and three touchdowns in Green Bay’s 45–27 win over New England. Wide receivers Christian Watson and Matthew Golden accounted for 335 of those yards, with 113 of them coming against Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez in coverage.
Christian Gonzalez allowed 7 receptions for 105 yards to Matthew Golden and 3 receptions for 82 yards to Christian Watson.
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 9, 2026
Gonzalez is the only defender since at least 2018 to allow more than 80 receiving yards to two different players in the same game.
Powered by @awscloud pic.twitter.com/2voC02QTd3
Gonzalez signed a four-year, $135 million contract extension with the Patriots this offseason that made him the highest-paid cornerback in football. So far, he hasn’t lived up to the billing—with Sunday’s performance serving as rock bottom.
“I mean, they did a good job. He came out and ran good routes,” Gonzalez said of his matchup against Golden, specifically. “Ran the routes they had in the game plan, and Jordan Love was able to get him the ball. I just gotta be able to finish and make those plays. I’m right there, I just gotta make those plays. I mean, it’s not the end of the world. I had a bad game. I’m not shaken up by it, I’m not too worried about it. I’ll move on and be ready for next week.”
Next week’s task may prove to be even tougher for Gonzalez, as the Patriots will head to Germany to take on the Lions—and star pass catcher Amon-Ra St. Brown—in Munich. —M.K.
The Packers made the decision this offseason to move on from Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks, making their receiver room less crowded. The decision was a risk, especially given the concerning injury history of Christian Watson and Jayden Reed (who is currently injured) and the fact that Matthew Golden recorded just 361 receiving yards as a rookie.
It paid off.
Even with Reed on injured reserve because of a neck injury, Watson and Golden have been dominating. They put on perhaps their best performance of the year in a dominant win over the Patriots, combining for 17 receptions, 335 yards and two touchdowns and shredding Christian Gonzalez, one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. Both Watson (171) and Golden (164) surpassed 150 receiving yards, and Watson now has 879 yards this season while Golden has 783 yards on the year, marks that both rank top-10 among NFL receivers. It’s safe to say, outside of Cincinnati, few teams have a better receiving duo than the Packers. —E.G.
Another week, another questionable game management decision by the Commanders. This time, the Commanders made a puzzling choice at the end of their 20–13 loss to the Rams. Trailing by a touchdown, the Commanders got the ball back with 52 seconds remaining and no timeouts. They moved the ball to the Rams’ 31-yard-line with eight seconds remaining, leaving them time for two plays. On the first of those plays, Jayden Daniels threw a vertical route toward Stefon Diggs, but the pass was incomplete. On the final play, which came with three seconds remaining, the Commanders made the puzzling decision to throw short instead of to the end zone. Daniels threw to tight end Chig Okonkwo about five yards downfield, meaning that Okonkwo would have had to run about 27 yards to get into the end zone for a touchdown. He did a good job breaking away from the first tackler to get a first down and reach the Rams’ 12-yard line, but had to try lateraling the ball to a teammate because he was still well short of the end zone.
“In those moments, last play of the game … they want to get the ball out of the quarterback’s hands as fast as possible,” Jayden Daniels said after the game. “That was the play that was called, and we gotta execute it.” —E.G.
Jayden Daniels on the final play: https://t.co/4SXLtcgJx3 pic.twitter.com/MN7kHYzA1U
— Ben Standig (@BenStandig) November 9, 2026
Halfway through the season, it appears C.J. Stroud has earned himself a massive payday. Stroud and the Texans did not agree to a contract extension this past offseason, making the 2026 campaign a “prove it” year for the fourth-year quarterback.
He has proved it so far. Stroud has been stellar this season, and had one of his best games of the season, throwing for 384 yards, five touchdowns and one pick in the Texans’ 44–22 win over the Chargers. While the Chargers are winless, their defense has been solid for much of the season, ranking seventh in pass yards allowed per game (198.4) entering Sunday. Even so, Stroud diced them up.
The highlight of his performance was a 63-yard touchdown throw to Tank Dell. The play helped the Texans separate themselves from the Chargers in the game, and also marked Dell’s first touchdown since his return from a serious leg injury. The Texans’ season has been disappointing overall, but Dell’s return has been a major bright spot. —E.G.
C.J. Stroud to Tank Dell for the TD 🗣️
— NFL (@NFL) November 8, 2026
HOUvsLAC on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/r0q9mBmr5d
During halftime of the Broncos-Panthers game on Sunday, there was a corgi race at Bank of America Stadium and one of the corgis broke loose. Good luck catching the corgi, who is named Lennox and eluded multiple handlers while racing across the Panthers’ home field. One of the handlers eventually secured the loose corgi, but not until after Lennox broke enough tackles to warrant a graphic and narration on the NFL Red Zone broadcast. —E.G.
Corgi loose on the pitch in Carolina! 🐾
— NFL UK & Ireland (@NFLUKIRE) November 8, 2026
Best Red Alert of the year? 😅 pic.twitter.com/UIb3G0kyJC
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