Key takeaways and analysis from Week 9 in the NFL

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

Fields giving Bears hope

If you had the Bears pegged as a surefire basement dweller heading into this season, you weren't alone. A new coaching staff overseeing one of the worst rosters in the NFL, and a raw young quarterback with next to no playmakers around him, seemed like a recipe for disaster.

Chicago's final record may still end up in the range of what most of us were expecting, but the short-term results are secondary to the promise we've seen from this team of late. And it all starts with Justin Fields.

The Bears went shot-for-shot against a juggernaut Dolphins offense Sunday, with Fields throwing for 123 yards and three touchdowns while running for an incredible 178 yards that included a 61-yard score. That monster performance on the ground broke Michael Vick's single-game regular-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback.

Chicago came up just short in the end, falling 35-32 after a late fourth-down drop, but how can you not see the overall effort as something of a moral victory?

After hesitating to feature his athleticism for much of a frustrating rookie year and in the early stages of this season, the Bears have finally begun to unlock their first-round quarterback's potential by letting him do what he does best. And the results speak for themselves.

Fields is one of the best athletes in the game today. Among quarterbacks, he may be the most dynamic ball carrier not named Lamar Jackson. His game isn't yet on that level from a passing perspective, but asking defenses to account for his rare abilities as a runner is both opening up more plays in the pass game and giving Fields the confidence he needed to shine.

With the rest of the 2021 quarterback class struggling to live up to expectations, it's beginning to seem like there's a real chance the Bears landed the best of the bunch. And while the current state of the roster will put a ceiling on the passing-game production they can expect this year, that won't be the case for long.

Chicago is tracking to have over $110 million in cap space next season, nearly double the spending room of any other team. Fields beginning to show signs of elite upside should give the front office all the motivation it needs to go on a major spending spree and build up the roster around him.

The Bears could be back far sooner than any of us expected.

Mahomes is inevitable

For three-and-a-half quarters on Sunday night at Arrowhead, the Chiefs weren't the best team on the field. The Titans were dominating the line of scrimmage and keeping an explosive offense almost completely under wraps. They did just about everything right, and it still wasn't enough.

That's just the reality of going up against the best quarterback on the planet. Patrick Mahomes decided late in the fourth quarter that the Chiefs weren't going to lose, so they didn't.

With the game on the line and Tennessee so effectively limiting his ability to move the ball efficiently through the air, Mahomes began to improvise. Faced with a third-and-17 at his own 31-yard line late in the fourth, he scrambled for 20 yards. On third-and-9 at the Titans' 14-yard line, he broke the pocket and found the end zone. After penalties necessitated multiple two-point tries, he scrambled left to punch in the game-tying conversion.

In overtime, it was his ability to extend plays under pressure that led to two key chunk gains downfield, putting the Chiefs in position for what would prove to be the game-winning field goal. Mahomes running around off-script and keeping plays alive the way he does is tough enough to defend as is. When a defense has been on the field for 91 plays, as the Titans were in this game, it's impossible to stop.

All told, Mahomes finished the night 43-of-68 for 446 yards with one touchdown and one interception while also leading the team in rushing with 63 yards on six carries.

No matter what you do, he'll almost always find a way to beat you in the end. So while we can spend all year picking trendy new MVP candidates after big performances here and there, there's one guy who probably should have been atop everyone's list this whole time.

New low for Packers

We sure are spending a lot of time talking about the demise of the Packers. But whose fault is that?

Green Bay's disaster season hit rock bottom Sunday when a loss to the lowly Lions sent the now-former Super Bowl contenders to 3-6 on the year. This wasn't just any loss, though. This was the Packers' most pathetic result yet.

If ever there was a game where the offense should have been able to get on track, this was it. Detroit's defense entered Week 9 ranked 32nd in average yards and points allowed - the latter of which was a distant last place. And yet, it still didn't matter.

The Packers' offense remained anemic despite the best matchup it'll see all year. Aaron Rodgers had thrown three interceptions by the time Green Bay finally put points on the board late in the third quarter, all the while giving cameras some particularly animated displays of frustration.

A talented defense kept the Packers in it to the end, getting the ball back down 15-9 with two minutes to play. In the past, even as recently as last year, giving Rodgers a chance to win it late was a death sentence for opponents - game-winning drives felt like a near certainty. But late-game Rodgers is no longer so scary.

The Packers just don't have the weapons for this passing game to operate anywhere near the level we've come to expect over the last decade. Rodgers still has some of that old magic in his game, but receivers getting no separation and the offensive line getting whipped up front doesn't exactly give him many opportunities.

Green Bay is in complete free-fall mode with no signs that it's going to stop any time soon. And a major decision about Rodgers' future once again lies ahead this offseason. Fortunately for the Packers, they just may be drafting high enough to target his replacement.

Jets soaring on defense

Just when it seemed like their offensive struggles could be their undoing, the Jets go out and knock off a Bills team that has been almost unbeatable for the better part of the last calendar year. How's that for a statement?

Robert Saleh's defense terrorized Josh Allen throughout the day, holding the MVP front-runner to just 205 passing yards while coming away with two interceptions and five sacks - the most Allen has taken since November 2020. The 17-point output is also Buffalo's lowest since Week 13 of last season.

The Jets were always bound to improve on defense after injuries decimated that unit in Saleh's first season on the job, but the additions made this past offseason have substantially accelerated the process.

Sauce Gardner continued his spectacular play against the Bills, shaking off a big catch from Stefon Diggs to do his part in shutting down a high-powered passing attack. The first-round rookie expertly baited Allen into a key interception early in the second half, putting the Jets in position for a go-ahead touchdown, and later broke up a fourth-down pass to seal the win.

Having a rookie cornerback immediately emerge as an All-Pro caliber player is just one of many reasons that New York's defense is quickly becoming one of the NFL's best. With a healthy Carl Lawson returning to join the likes of Quinnen Williams and John Franklin-Myers, the pass rush is a handful, too.

With playmakers in place on the other side of the ball and a strong offensive line providing a foundation up front, the only thing standing in the way of this Jets team going deep into the playoffs is steady quarterback play. Zach Wilson's game is just too much of a roller coaster to count on that right now, but give him credit - he did well to take care of the ball against an outstanding Bills defense.

If Wilson can continue to simply manage the game and avoid the dangerous plays that risk giving it away, the Jets can make the AFC playoff picture a little more interesting.

Vintage Brady

It certainly wasn't pretty, but a win is a win. And with a last-minute victory over the Rams, the Buccaneers are (somehow) back on top of the NFC South at 4-5.

When L.A. was unable to run out the clock while leading by four and forced to punt it back to Tampa Bay with less than a minute to play, you just knew Tom Brady was going to find a way to pull this one out. Sixty yards to go with 44 seconds on the clock? No problem.

These Bucs are extremely flawed - that we know. But Brady orchestrating one of his patented game-winning drives was a small reminder that we probably shouldn't be too quick to count them out. We've been down this road with this particular quarterback too many times before.

Brady, like Rodgers, is still every bit the player he's been the last few years. The Bucs, unlike the Packers, though, have all the weapons a quarterback could possibly want. The solution for this offense lies not in unsolvable personnel issues but more so in correctable aspects of the scheme.

Might the glimpses of brilliance late in the game, when Tampa Bay had no option but to air it out, be the unintended catalyst for ditching a useless running game? At this point, with the Bucs ranked last place in average yards per carry, each handoff serves to merely waste a play and put the offense in difficult late-down situations.

Put the ball in Brady's hands as much as you possibly can and see if the offense can't throw its way out of the early issues. You may be surprised by the results. Or, considering it's Brady we're talking about here, you may not.

Quick slants

Mixon's monster day

Joe Mixon can now be enshrined in the Fantasy Football Hall of Fame alongside the likes of Alvin Kamara and Jamaal Charles. The Bengals running back was a scoring machine in a win over the Panthers, tallying a ridiculous five touchdowns to come up just one short of Kamara's single-game record. We can't draw too many conclusions from a blowout against Carolina, but Cincinnati's run game has quietly been trending in the right direction after an awful start. Getting Mixon going would be huge for a Bengals offense that will be without Ja'Marr Chase for at least a few weeks.

Herbert getting no help

How long are the Chargers going to insist on Justin Herbert dragging them to every win they get? It's bad enough for Joe Lombardi's system to be limiting one of the league's most talented passers. But even when players are schemed open in space, drives are killed by back-breaking drops. Los Angeles was a popular Super Bowl pick this year after going all-in with the rare opportunity presented by a stud quarterback on a rookie contract, but this team still has to do better around him. The Chargers should be at the front of the line for Odell Beckham Jr. if they aren't already.

Raiders going off the rails

It's officially time to start talking about whether Josh McDaniels is even going to make it to Year 2 of his second-chance head coaching opportunity. The Raiders have been a colossal disappointment to this point, and Sunday's game against the Jaguars, of all teams, marks the third time this season that Las Vegas has blown a 17-point lead en route to a loss. The defense is one of the league's worst against the pass, so you can expect some scapegoats there. But the disappearing acts from McDaniels' offense are just as much to blame, if not more, for these collapses. Giving the new regime a chance to build the organization their way feels like the right move, but this much regression after finally getting back to the playoffs last year has to have Mark Davis running low on patience already.

Judon quietly dominates

Matthew Judon has proven that the career-high 12.5 sacks in his first season with the Patriots were no fluke, taking his game to even greater heights in Year 2. Judon got to Sam Ehlinger for another three sacks in Sunday's blowout win over the Colts, giving him a league-high 11.5 through nine games. On first look, his four-year, $54.5-million deal to join New England seemed like one of several overpays in a busy 2021 offseason. Now, it looks much more like a steal. Judon has become one of the most under-appreciated stars in the game.

Hockenson's instant impact

The Vikings wasted no time working T.J. Hockenson into the offense this week, giving their new tight end a major role just five days after acquiring him from the division-rival Lions at the trade deadline. Hockenson hauled in all nine of his targets for 70 yards, operating as Minnesota's second-leading pass-catcher behind only Justin Jefferson. If his integration is that seamless after three days of practice time, there's no telling how much of an impact he'll have given a few weeks to settle in. The Vikings seem poised to run away with the NFC North at 7-1, and Hockenson could help them make some noise in January.

Willis not ready to play

The Titans likely would have come away with a stunning win over the Chiefs at Arrowhead were they able to get any sort of production out of the passing game. But with Malik Willis starting for an injured Ryan Tannehill, that just wasn't a realistic means of moving the ball. Willis finished the night 5-of-16 for just 80 yards, 50 of which came on a screen pass on the first play of the game. That they even had a chance to knock off Kansas City with such little trust in the quarterback position is a testament to a wildly underrated Titans defense and, more broadly, what continues to be a supremely coached team. Tennesse is once again going to be a pesky out in the playoffs.

Stat of the week