The good, bad, and ugly from NFL Week 14

Nothing dirty about it. That means little, as it now appears Tannehill is lost for the season with a torn ACL.

Now at 8-5 on the season and in a tie for the final wild card spot in the AFC, the Dolphins will be forced to go with veteran Matt Moore under center for the final three games of the season.

That's a less-than-ideal situation fort he suddenly surging Dolphins. That also starts us off with the bad from NFL Week 14.

"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet." 

* That's pretty much the question Philip Rivers has to be asking himself following a five-turnover performance against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Rivers has now turned the ball over 13 times in the past four games. It's not a coincidence that the Chargers have lost three of the games and are now pretty much out of the AFC Playoff race heading into Week 15.

It's an ironic twist that Rivers' turnover-prone stretch could be the final nail in the coffin of Mike McCoy's tenure in San Diego. Along with the likes of Rex Ryan in Buffalo and Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley, it wouldn't be a surprise to start seeing coaches get fired here soon.

* The Cleveland Browns turned to Robert Griffin III in an attempt to get their first win of the season. The embattled former Heisman winner, making his first start since Week 1, failed to act the part of a savior here. He completed just 12-of-28 passes for 104 yards with zero touchdowns and one interception.

Thus far this season, Browns quarterbacks (all six of them) have thrown 13 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in as many games. Talk about being consistently horrible. And in reality, the team's lack of success seems to be wearing off on its mascot. Sad days, indeed.

* Speaking of sad days, Russell Wilson threw a career-high five interceptions in a 38-10 blowout loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday. Five interceptions. Wilson has now compiled a grand total of 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on the season. That doesn't compare favorably to a less popular quarterback in his very same division.

While we're not going to sit here and compare Wilson to Kaepernick, it does tell us a story of a Seahawks quarterback that's struggling big time in his first season with Marshawn Lynch carrying the team's offense. Overall, Wilson has thrown one touchdown and seven interceptions in his past two road starts.

With Seattle no longer looking to be a lock to earn the second seed, the team's inability to do much on the road could come into play big time here. More than that, there has to be some real concern that Wilson can't lead a top-end offensive attack. That's evident in his inconsistent play thus far on the season.

* They played overtime football in Levi's Sunday in a game that pitted the three-win New York Jets against the one-win San Francisco 49ers. Yeah, the football gods are laughing at us all right now.

But it didn't need to be this way. A day that started with 49ers fans throwing tremendous shade the way of their front office continued with the home team building a 14-0 lead. For the few fans that were on hand in Santa Clara, it sure looked like San Francisco would earn its first win since Week 1.

This didn't happen. In large part due to conservative play-calling of Chip Kelly and an inability of the 49ers' defense to tackle anyone, New York came back and won the game 23-17 in overtime. This, despite the 200 total yards that Carlos Hyde put up. And now, heading into Week 15, San Francisco is riding a 12-game losing streak. Woof.

And so begins the ugly from NFL Week 14.

"I don't want to be a quarterback that has all these stats but didn't win a lot of games." 

* Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota completed 6-of-20 passes for 88 yards without a touchdown against a dominant Denver Broncos pass defense on Sunday. In fact, Tennessee tallied 73 net passing yards.

It mattered little, as the Titans earned a hard-fought 13-10 win over the defending champs. How ugly was Denver's offensive performance in this one? It gained a total of 18 yards on nine attempts as recent acquisition Justin Forsett combined with rookie Devontae Booker to do absolutely nothing on the ground.

This forced Trevor Siemian to throw the ball 51 times. That's most definitely not Gary Kubiak offensive football. It also has the Broncos currently tied with Miami for the sixth and final playoff seed in the AFC.

* Remaining in Nashville, there was definitely an ugly scene between these two playoff contenders. Titans wide receiver Harry Douglas committed one of the most ridiculous penalties we have seen around the NFL this season when he attempted to take out Chris Harris' knee.

It was a blatantly dirty play that luckily didn't result in an injury to Harris. And while many have concluded that Denver got a piece of its own medicine here, there's no room in the NFL for this.

* New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was picked off a total of three times by a swarming Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense on Thursday. It's the second consecutive game that Brees has failed to throw a touchdown while being picked up three times. Needless to say, the Saints have lost both of these past two games.

Now at 5-8 on the season and three games back in the NFC South, it sure looks like the Saints will miss the playoffs for the third consecutive season. Unfortunately, this recent two-game losing streak that's done New Orleans in can pretty much be placed on Brees. This comes after he put up 30 touchdowns and eight picks in his first 11 starts of the season. Ouch!

* Speaking of ouch, the Indianapolis Colts now find themselves one game back in the AFC South with three left. More to the point, their 22-17 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday means the Colts have lost the tiebreaker there.

In the most-recent sign that this team is going absolutely nowhere, star quarterback Andrew Luck threw two interceptions and turned the ball over a grand total of three times on Sunday. In fact, one could say that he was outplayed by the enigma that is Brock Osweiler. Talk about ugly.

* Ugly can also be used to sum up the Arizona Cardinals' performance against the aforementioned Dolphins on Sunday. Carson Palmer and Co. turned the ball over a whopping three times times in the first quarter on Sunday. In fact, four of the Cardinals' first six drives on Sunday ended in turnovers. Their seventh drive resulted in a missed field goal.

Despite this, Arizona was able to tie the game up at 23 with just over three minutes left. This is when the team's defense enabled Dolphins backup quarterback Matt Moore to lead a six-play, 44-yard drive that resulted in an Andrew Franks field goal to give Miami the win.

This pretty much ends the Cardinals' playoff hopes. At 5-7-1 on the season, Bruce Arians' squad is three games back in the win column in the NFC Wild Card race. What a disastrous situation to be in after starting the season with Super Bowl aspirations.

* Speaking of disaster, that's the one term we can use to describe the Los Angeles Rams. Jeff Fisher's squad fell down 41-0 at home to the Atlanta Falcons before scoring two meaningless fourth quarter touchdowns.

Showing himself to be nothing more than a wide-eyed rookie that simply shouldn't be taking meaningful snaps, Rams quarterback Jared Goff threw two interceptions (both returned for touchdowns) and turned the ball over three times in the loss.

All said, the Rams' first 10 possessions on Sunday were about as bad as it can get. They turned the ball over four times, three of which resulted in defensive touchdowns for the Falcons. Of the other six possessions, all culminated in punts.

To put this into perspective, the 21 points Atlanta scored on defense is more than the Rams have put up in 10 of their 13 games this season. How bad does that Jeff Fisher two-year Extension look now? Yuck.

* Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell outgained the Buffalo Bills by himself on Sunday, 298-275. Bell ran the ball 38 times for 236 yards and three touchdowns. He also added four receptions for 62 yards through the air. 

Thus far in 10 games this season, Bell has recorded over 1,600 total yards. He's also averaging nearly 30 touches per game. Just imagine if he wasn't suspended for the first three games of the year. 

Bell's performance on Sunday helped pick up the slack with Ben Roethlisberger throwing three interceptions in a game that hopefully saw him play with a fully inflated football. As it is, Pittsburgh's 27-20 win over Buffalo on Sunday has the team in the midst of a four-game winning streak. Needless to say, it looks like Bell is the Steelers' MVP this season. 

And so begins the good from NFL Week 14.

"In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud: Under the bludgeoning of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed." 

* Speaking of MVPs, the league-wide race promises to be darn interesting. Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr absolutely stunk it up in Thursday's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. And while Ezekiel Elliott did put up 107 rushing yards, it came in a 10-7 loss to the New York Giants. 

This brings us to Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who after throwing an ugly pick-six, led his eighth fourth quarter comeback of the season. It wasn't a pretty overall performance from Stafford and his first-place Lions against the hapless Chicago Bears. But it was just enough for Detroit to win its fourth consecutive and seven out of its past eight. 

Now at 9-4 on the season, an argument can clearly be made that Stafford is the NFL MVP. That's absolutely absurd to think about considering just how poorly he performed in the couple seasons prior to 2016. 

* Did we mention that both Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston have their teams in playoff contention heading into Week 15. Neither played tremendous football, but they were able to do just enough to keep their teams afloat. 

Sure Mariota threw for less than 100 yards in Tennessee's win over Denver. He also didn't turn the ball over in a 13-10 win over the defending champs. That's big in a close game in December. 

In taking out his division rival on Sunday, Winston also went without a turnover in a hard fought 16-11 win over the Saints. It's that type of mistake-free football that has Tampa Bay at 8-5 on the season and currently holding on to a playoff spot. 

Combined, Winston and Mariota have won 15 games this season. It's a shocking turn of events for the Titans and Buccaneers, two teams that won a combined four games the year prior to the arrival of their franchise quarterbacks. 

The progression here is also pretty darn amazing. Since both teams dropped Week 4 outings, Mariota and Winston have combined to put up 39 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. It's not a coincidence that their teams are 13-5 during that span. 

* Progression is also something to look at in Green Bay. Now winners of three consecutive following their 38-10 blowout victory over Seattle on Sunday, the Packers might be a team no one wants to face in the NFC. 

Aaron Rodgers has now thrown 22 touchdowns compared to three interceptions in his past eight starts. Meanwhile, Green Bay' defense has yielded a grand total of 36 points over the past three games. To put that into perspective, this unit gave up 30-plus points in each of the previous four games. That's pretty absurd progression right there. 

Now at 7-6 on the season, Green Bay finds itself just one game back in the NFC Wild Card race. That seemed like an unrealistic expectation just a few short weeks ago.