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The good, bad and ugly from NFL Week 17
Washington fans saw their team fail to make the playoffs with a loss to the division-rival Giants Sunday. The Washington Post/Getty Images

The good, bad and ugly from NFL Week 17

The Los Angeles Rams closed out their first season back in Los Angeles with a 44-6 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals. The game itself saw Los Angeles tally nine first downs and 123 total yards while converting on two of 14 third-down opportunities. Heck, the Rams had 62 fewer penalty yards than total yards. Did we also mention that Rams quarterbacks went down a combined seven times in the game?

Los Angeles has been salivating at the idea of NFL football for the better part of the past two decades. Unfortunately, calling the Rams an NFL team at this point would be a loose definition of the term. They finish the season at 4-12 with 11 losses in their final 12 games while being outscored by 132 points in their final six contests.

And so begins the bad from NFL Week 17.

"We made too many wrong mistakes."

This quote from the great Yogi Berra pretty much sums up the Buffalo Bills right now.

* The Bills fired head coach Rex Ryan and benched quarterback Tyrod Taylor on the same day last week. They made the Taylor decision without consulting with interim head coach Anthony Lynn, a prime candidate for the full-time gig. A few days later, the EJ Manuel-led Bills dropped a stinker to the last-place New York Jets by the score of 30-10.

If you have any idea what's going on here, you might want to go ahead and let the Bills know. Simply put, it sure looks like GM Doug Whaley and Co. are winging this thing. No wonder Buffalo hasn't sniffed the playoffs since Bill Clinton was in the White House.

* Speaking of sniffing the playoffs, what in the world happened to the Washington Redskins on Sunday? With a win over the division-rival Giants, Jay Gruden's squad would have been in the postseason. Instead, Kirk Cousins and Co. absolutely choked when it mattered the most.

Tied at 10 with just over six minutes left, Washington proceeded to allow Eli Manning and the Giants' offense to drive down the field 58 yards on eight plays, setting up the go-ahead field goal. Despite this, Washington's defense held enough to give its offense the ball back just outside the two-minute warning in a three-point game.

That's when Cousins broke the heart of fans in D.C. After driving down to the Giants' 43-yard line and the Redskins finding themselves just a few yards from within Dustin Hopkins' range, Cousins threw up an ill-advised pass deep down the field to Pierre Garcon. It was intercepted by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, pretty much ending the Redskins' playoff hopes in the process.

Moments like these define a quarterback. The great ones find a way to come through. Facing one drive that would decide whether his Redskins would make the playoffs, Cousins came up small. It's now likely going to lead to questions about his long-term status in Washington with free agency looming in March. And in reality, you can't blame the Washington brass for having some serious reservations here.

* The Dallas Cowboys made the smart decision to rest Ezekiel Elliott while allowing fellow rookie Dak Prescott to play just a handful of snaps. After all, they had already wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the NFC prior to their game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

This doesn't mean that it was any less difficult watching Mark Sanchez attempt to play quarterback on an NFL field. Sanchez was absolutely atrocious, throwing two interceptions in the 27-13 loss to Philadelphia.

He also decided that running in the opposite direction made sense. No, really.

That's most definitely a "come on" moment.

And so begins the worst from NFL Week 17.

Prior to their season finale against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, reports came trickling out that the San Francisco 49ers were going to fire head coach Chip Kelly and GM Trent Baalke (more on that here).

Baalke himself confirmed that he was indeed let go prior to the game. Meanwhile, Kelly ultimately coached against Seattle before being fired himself a few hours later.

San Francisco's performance against Seattle might have been its best of the season. The downtrodden team dropped a close affair by the score of 25-23.

That's all fine and dandy, but this organization is an absolute mess from top to bottom. Following a 2-14 season that saw the team lose 13 consecutive games, San Francisco now searches for a fourth head coach in as many years. Just to put this into perspective, the Pittsburgh Steelers have had three head coaches over the past half decade.

"A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit."

Nothing is going to change until 49ers CEO Jed York puts down his silver spoon and gold-plated sippy cup and looks in the mirror. In the midst of the worst regression we have seen from an NFL team in the modern history of the league, York himself has been the one constant.

It started with the rift between York and then 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh in 2014. It continued with the team's decision to hire an unqualified Jim Tomsula to be its head coach the following season. And now, the 49ers have moved on from Chip Kelly after just one season. Way to give him a chance, Mr. York.

* It was just over a week ago that the Oakland Raiders were feeling good about their Super Bowl aspirations. Up by 19 in the fourth quarter against the Indianapolis Colts, the Raiders looked to be primed to capture the AFC West and a first-round bye in the playoffs.

That's when quarterback and MVP candidate Derek Carr went down with a broken fibula, ending his season. A loss of that magnitude is enough to ruin any team's season. For the Raiders, this was magnified even further. While they did hold on to win that game, career backup Matt McGloin was tasked with heading into Denver and taking on the Broncos' top-ranked pass defense. A win here, and the Raiders would have captured the AFC West title.

It didn't happen.

McGloin completed just 6-of-11 passes for 21 yards before exiting the game with a shoulder injury. He was then replaced in the lineup by rookie fourth-round pick Connor Cook. It now looks like McGloin is unlikely to go next week against the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round, a game the Raiders are forced to play on the road after losing to the Broncos 24-6 on Sunday.

The ugly reality of the situation here is that Oakland doesn't necessarily stand much of a chance of maintaining its playoff run beyond next week. Sadly, this comes after the team put up a surprising 12-win regular season and looked to be the Patriots' top competition for the AFC title.

Speaking of New England, Tom Brady and Co. handled their business big time Sunday against the playoff-bound Miami Dolphins. Brady completed 25-of-33 passes for 276 yards with three touchdowns and zero picks en route to leading the Pats to a 35-14 blowout win.

Finishing the season with a 14-2 record, New England is now the odds-on favorites to hoist the Lombardi Trophy in Houston next month. That's in no small part due to the otherworldly performance of Brady himself. After sitting the first four games due to suspension, Brady led his squad to an 11-1 mark while tallying 28 total touchdowns compared to two interceptions.

He also averaged nearly 300 passing yards per game while completing more than 67 percent of his passes.

It's in this that we look at the good from NFL Week 17.

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." 

* We have to give props where due. Playing out the string in what has been a lost season for the team, the Minnesota Vikings put up an awe-inspiring performance against the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Sam Bradford completed 25-of-33 passes for 250 yards and three scores en route to leading his Vikings to a blowout 38-10 win.

Bradford finished his first season in Minnesota boasting the single-season NFL record for completion percentage at 71.6. He also threw 20 touchdowns compared to just six interceptions. Not too shabby for someone who had to learn the playbook on the fly after being traded from Philadelphia one week before the start of the regular season. Definitely not too bad considering he was working with the NFL's worst rushing attack.

* The New York Giants may in fact be Dallas' biggest competition in the NFC heading into the playoffs. Following Sunday's 19-10 win over Washington, Ben McAdoo's squad finished up the regular season winning nine of its final 11 games.

Over the course of the team's final four games, it allowed less than 12 points per outing. Talk about a major progression from a defense that was absolutely disastrous last season. New York now takes on the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in the Wild Card round next weekend.

* Don't look now, but it surely does appear that Colin Kaepernick might be a legitimate starting option for many teams on the open market when March comes calling. Despite his 1-10 record as a starter and the divisive nature of his national anthem protest, Kaepernick put up the best performance we've seen from him since his first year as a starter back in 2012.

He capped it off with a solid outing against a Seahawks team he's struggled with throughout his career. Kap completed 17-of-22 passes for 215 yards with a touchdown and zero interceptions. He ends the regular season having compiled 19 total touchdowns compared to just four interceptions while boasting a 90.7 rating. It will definitely be interesting to see how this plays out should Kaepernick hit the free-agent market during the spring.

* Speaking of great quarterback play, Aaron Rodgers is on a completely different level right now. Rodgers threw four more touchdowns in Sunday's night's division-clinching win over the Detroit Lions.

Since declaring that his team could win out after losing four consecutive earlier in the season, Rodgers has been downright ridiculous. During the team's six-game winning streak to end the regular year, Rodgers threw 15 touchdowns compared to zero interceptions for an absurd 127.2 rating.

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