Over the last five days, we’ve seen some teams punch their ticket to the postseason (say, the Houston Texans), and we’ve seen others get punched in the you-know-wheres (say, the Indianapolis Colts), so in one sense, it’s easy for us to delineate NFL Week 17’s winners and losers.
On the other hand, there were plenty of individual performances that stood out both in the real world, in FantasyLand, and in the annals of football history.
NFL Week 17 Winners and Losers
Let’s see who rocked the mic and who got their mic rocked during the penultimate week of the 2025 NFL season.
WINNER: Those of Us Who Watched Sunday Night Football
The Chicago Bears-San Francisco 49ers Sunday night battle at Levi’s Stadium was one for both our memory banks and the history books.
After all, how can you forget the only game in NFL history that was tied at 7, then 14, then 21, then 28, then 35.
You can’t.
The Niners’ 42-35 nailbiter has to count among the most memorable regular season games since 2018’s Rams-Chiefs Monday Night scoreboard-blower-upper in which the teams combined for 105 points in a 54-51 Rams win.
When that many points are scored, it would stand to reason that the quarterbacks would take center stage, and the Caleb Williams-Brock Purdy showdown was gripping.
Purdy — who, having accounted for 10 touchdowns over the last two games — continued his December heater, racking 303 yards on 23-of-34 passing, 28 yards on the ground, a 116.6 passer rating, and 37.9 fantasy points (QB1).
And Williams — who came thisclose to delivering his seventh last-drive win of the season — was nearly as studly, putting up a career high in passing yards for a single game (330), a couple of touchdown passes, and 23.0 fantasy points (QB7).
Both signal callers spread the wealth, as witnessed by the fact that San Fran RB Christian McCaffrey (24.1 points, RB4) and Bears rookie WR Luther Burden (19.8 points, WR1) were the only other players who delivered helpful fantasy performances.
But when a game is this gripping, fantasy goes out the window. Unless you’re one of those fantasy managers who won your league championship thanks to Mr. Purdy
Like me.
LOSER: Those of You Who Watched the Patriots Embarrass the Jets
During the SNF halftime highlights of Sunday’s NFL action, my TV-watching buddy and I had no choice but to endure clips from the Patriots cringey 42-10 demolition of the New York Jets.
But there were dozens, if not hundreds of fans who, of their own volition, sat through all 60 minutes of that mess, the diametrical opposite of Niners-Bears.
Save for RB Breece Hall’s solid outing (111 yards, 1 TD, 18.9 fantasy points, RB8), the Jets were, putting it succinctly, hot garbage on both sides of the ball, e.g., 307 total yards, 5-for-16 on third-downs, allowing Pats QBs to hit on 22-of-25 of their passes, and generally looking like the DGAF
After the highlights, my football-watching buddy turned to me and asked, “Why are the Jets still in the NFL?”
That’s a question that I doubt any of us could answer.
WINNER: Patriots QB Drake Maye
Meanwhile on the other sideline, the Patriots showed us why they’re tied for the league’s best record at 13-3. I know, it was the Jets, but when the best plays the worst, this is what they have to do. If they’d have won, say, 21-20, many would’ve considered it a loss.
And those many would be right.
Maye channeled his inner Tom Brady, hitting on 19 of his 21 pass attempts (holy s***) and racking up 256 yards, 5 tuddies (holy s*** again), 37.9 fantasy points (his second-consecutive 30+ fantasy performance)...and he did it in just three quarters, as Pats head coach showed a bit of mercy and let Maye take the fourth quarter off
And if for some reason, you have issues with me using Brady as a comp, Maye’s 157.0 passer rating was his 12th 100+ outing of the season, tying TB12’s franchise record.
I’m not saying that Maye will become the G.O.A.T. But I’m not not saying Maye will become the G.O.A.T.
Because, holy s***.
LOSER: Detroit RB Jahmyr Gibbs
Arguably the two most disappointing teams of the 2025 NFL season were the combatants in the 2024 NFC Conference Championship game, the Washington Commanders and the Detroit Lions.
Washington can fairly point to injuries as the biggest factor in their 4-12 record, with QB Jayden Daniels missing eight games and RB Austin Ekeler 15. The fact that their defense allowed the fourth-most yards and the sixth-most points per game didn’t help matters.
The Lions, however, have nobody to blame but themselves.
Their offense took a nosedive between 2024 and 2025, falling in points per game (-4.3), total yards per game (-41.3), rushing yards per game (-26.5), and passing yards per game (-13.7).
The biggest offender, if you will, was RB Jahmyr Gibbs, who’s finishing the season in ignominious fashion, averaging 38.4 rushing yards over his last five games. And this is a dude who wrapped up 2024 averaging 83.0.
On Christmas, the divisional rival Vikings held Gibbs to 41 yards on the ground and 23 yards in the air, the third week in a row in which he totaled fewer than 70 all-purpose yards.
Needless to say, fantasy managers weren’t super-psyched that their star RB averaged 7.6 fantasy points leading up to and during their league’s playoffs, landing him at RB34 over that stretch
Gibbs is just 23-years-old, but one has to wonder if he’s hit the running back cliff. He probably hasn’t. But one has to wonder.
WINNER: Ravens RB Derrick Henry
One gentleman who hasn’t fallen off the RB cliff is 31-year-old Derrick Henry, who looks like he’ll be nasty for the next decade.
Here in his tenth season — tenth, people, tenth — the ageless bruiser out of Alabama is as frightening as ever, averaging 5.1 yards per carry, the third-best of his Hall of Fame career and sixth-best in the league.
In the Ravens’ Saturday night 41-24 beatdown of the Packers, Henry dropped a historical performance of his own, racking up 216 rushing yards and 4 TDs on the ground, the first player since 2020 to deliver a 200+/4+ stat line. This was his seventh career 200+ yard game, the fourth-most in NFL history.
King Henry’s 45.6 fantasy points were perfectly fine. But his breathtaking reality performance was perfect.
LOSER: Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers
It gives this Bears fan great joy to drop Rodgers in the loser column, especially when he really, really deserves it.
In a game that likely would’ve given Pittsburgh the AFC North title, the former Packer pooped the bed, hitting on just 21 of his 39 passes for 168 yards, which led to a 64.9 passer rating, his second-worst PR of what will likely land as the lamest season of his career.
And if you started him in your fantasy playoffs — which you likely didn’t do, because you’re way too smart for that — his QB 26 finish (7.3 fantasy points) made you dislike him almost as much as I do.
WINNER: Cardinals TE Trey McBride
Come Week 17, it’s nice to see players from lousy teams giving the same effort as those from teams fighting for the postseason. Thus, it’s nice to watch Arizona’s star TE, Trey McBride.
Yesterday, in the penultimate game of a lost, injury-riddled season for the Cards — McBride had himself a game — he always has himself a game — accumulating 76 yards and a TD.
Best of all, his 10 catches gave him the most catches by a tight end in a single season, three ahead of Zach Ertz’s uber-productive 2018 season (115).
Next week, the 3-13 Cards mercifully wrap it up in L.A. against the Rams who sport a defense that allows the 18th-most fantasy points to opposing tight ends. So amping his already-amped-up total might well be a thing.
LOSER: Seahawks WR Jaxson Smith-Njigba
Like Jahmyr Gibbs, JSN isn’t finishing 2025 as well as he started it.
Don’t get me wrong — he’ll still wrap up the season as WR1 — but he hasn’t had a true JSN game since Week 14, when he dropped his eighth 15+ fantasy point performance of the season.
But much to the chagrin of fantasy managers who were depending on the former Buckeye to catapult them to a championship, since Week 13, he’s averaged an eminently average 11.0 fantasy points, ranking him WR9 over that stretch.
WR9 ain’t bad. But it ain’t WR1.
NFL Week 17 Winners and Losers on PrizePicks
Regardless of whether your Week 17 PrizePicks picks were good (Purdy), bad (Rodgers), or ugly (the Jets), you had a ton of fun making your selections, and will continue to do so as the NFL season progresses.
And if you enjoyed our NFL Week 17 winners and losers, stick with Playbook all season for advice, predictions, takes, winners, and losers.
