To paraphrase Comic Book Guy: “Weirdest. Game. Ever.”
The game in question would be Sunday's Chicago Bears-Cincinnati Bengals epic 47-42 freak show, in which the lead changed hands 42 times in the last 0:36 of the game. (Okay, I exaggerate. But not by much.)
As a Bears nerd, I could happily wax poetic about this spectacle for the 1,600 words of our NFL Week 9 winners and losers column, but not everybody is a Bears nerd, so I’ll mix it up. A little.
NFL Week 9 Winners and Losers
Which NFL skill player left Week 9 with a smile, and who was crying?
WINNER: Bears QB Caleb Williams
When every NFL television analyst everywhere covers Williams, they mention his shortcomings, i.e., his accuracy issues, his lack of ability to read defenses, the speed of his decision-making, blah blah blah. And for the most part, they’re not wrong.
But when they are wrong, they’re very wrong. If the former Heisman Trophy winner has time in the pocket — even a teeny, tiny bit of time — he looks elite; just look at the game-winning touchdown toss to rookie TE Colston Loveland.
Some afternoons, the USC product gets it done with his legs, like yesterday, when he racked up 53 rushing yards on 5 carries. And thanks to Chicago’s diabolical head coach/play caller, Williams caught himself a TD on a trick play reminiscent of the Philly Special.
This all-over-the-field statistical barrage added up to 36.7 fantasy points (QB1), his third 24+ fantasy point performance of 2025.
Next week, he and his Midway Monsters host the Giants, who have allowed the fifth-most passing yards in the league, making another QB1 finish a distinct possibility.
LOSER: Bears WR Rome Odunze
Did I mention the aforementioned former No. 1 pick’s accuracy issues, lack of ability to consistently read defenses, his problems making quick decisions, blah blah blah? I did? Welp, it merits repeating.
Fantasy-wise, this wasn’t a problem for him so much as it was for his receiving corps, especially WR Rome Odunze.
The Washington product has been one of the league’s most mercurial fantasy WRs, posting four 11+ fantasy point games — highlighted by his 24.8 point explosion in Week 2 — as well as a pair of sub-5-point stinkers.
Yesterday was literally as stinky as it could possibly get, as he couldn’t haul in one of his three targets, leading to nada fantasy points, tying him for Week 9’s WR88. (Not a typo.)
Piling on, over his last four outings, Odunze has averaged a measly 4.4 fantasy points, and it could be argued that he’s two or three similar performances away from waiver wire semi-consideration.
WINNER: Bengals QB Joe Flacco
In his 63-year career, Flacco has never passed for 400+ yards. Except for yesterday, when he chucked for 470 yards, approximately the 60th-highest single-game total in NFL history. (FWIW, since Flacco can barely walk up a flight of stairs let alone run away from a defender, he finished exactly 4 fantasy behind Caleb.)
If Cincy had any kind of defense, Joe Cool 2.0 (Joe Montana is 1.0, while Joe Burrow is 3.0), would’ve walked away with an improbable W, but the ever-classy Flacco refused to throw his defense under the bus, saying, "It's one team," Flacco said. "You need to focus on yourself and do your job. I get it, it can be emotional. I go to those guys and have good conversations about going to work and taking pride in what you do. If you do that, you don't have time to get mad at people you shouldn't get mad at. You can't be worried about anyone else.”
See? Classy.
LOSER: Bengals RB Chase Brown
On the other end of the classiness spectrum, we have one of this year’s biggest fantasy disappointments, former University of Illinois Fighting Illini, Chase Brown.
He didn’t have a tragic outing on Sunday, finishing at RB15 (11.2 fantasy points), just the fourth time this season he racked up 11+ fantasy points. For the season, he sits at RB25, not a great look for a dude whose preseason average draft position [ADP] was RB11.
Mediocre fantasy performance aside, Brown did throw Cincy’s D under the bus, whining, “'We put the ball in the end zone and go up a point at the end, finish the f***ing game. Just end it. That's it. That's what we need to do. Just end the f***ing game.”
It’s worth taking the time to enjoy his full rant. It won’t make any difference in his fantasy value, but his reality value has to take a hit — especially in the Bengals’ locker room. (Note: The rant is laced with profanity.)
WINNER: Bears RB Kyle Monangai
This is the final mention of the Bears-Bengals game, I promise. But it was such a fantasy freak-show that multiple multiple multiple mentions were merited.
Over the last 18 months, I’ve written a novella’s worth of smack talk about Bears RB D’Andre Swift.
Yes, Swift had back-to-back 100-plus-yard games in Weeks 6 and 7 — 108 vs. Washington and 124 vs. New Orleans, respectively — but for an undisputed RB1, that shouldn’t be notable. (Bills RB James Cook has done it twice this season, and it’s only Week 9.) Swift should be hitting the consecutive century marks at least once a month, rather than once a season.
Enter rookie seventh-round draftee Kyle Monangai.
Swift was sidelined yesterday with a jacked-up groin muscle, so the Rutgers product was thrown into the starting lineup, where he went off, dropping 176 rushing yards (19.8 fantasy points, RB3) on an admittedly garbage Bengals defense.
Swift has never run for 176 yards in a single game in his career. He ran for 175 in Week 2 of the 2025 season, but that was his fourth year in the league. This was Monangai’s first game as a starter.
Taking those 176 yards into account, it’s fair to say that Swift’s averageness is a byproduct not of a blah offensive line or blah play calling. No, Swift is just a blah running back.
Hopefully moving forward, head coach Ben Johnson will forget who has the bigger contract and give the rock to the guy with bigger upside.
Moving on from Bears-Bengals. Finally.
LOSER: Falcons RB Bijan Robinson
Show of hands: Did you make Robinson your No. 1 pick in your fantasy draft? (I just raised my hand.)
Show of hands: Did you make Robinson your No. 1 pick in two fantasy drafts? (I just raised my hand again.)
Over his last two games, the do-it-all-until-he-doesn’t-do-it-all RB has totaled — totaled — 12.4 fantasy points. For context, this weekend, six RBs topped that, one of whom was Washington’s RB2, Chris Rodriguez.
As I write this, the Falcons are decamped in Germany, where they’ll face a Colts team that’s probably super-annoyed about Sunday’s 27-20 loss to Pittsburgh. Between jet lag and a pissed-off opponent, a third-consecutive fantasy dud might be a thing.
WINNER: Raiders QB Geno Smith
It stands to reason that if your team’s tight end goes off, your QB will benefit, and that’s exactly what happened in Vegas, where the Raiders lost a 30-29 OT heartbreaker to the Jaguars.
If you were a DFS fantasy who rostered Smith — and let’s be honest, here, you probably weren’t — you had yourself a day, as the league leader in interceptions tossed just 1 pick to go with 4 tuddies, giving him a season-best 27.3 fantasy points (QB6).
If Smith can keep throwing the ball to the right team, he might be a legit fantasy option, Or at least semi-legit.
(Note: This is strictly a fantasy win. Reality, not so much.)
LOSER: Vikings WR Justin Jefferson
Heading into your 2025 fantasy draft, Jefferson was a guaranteed first-round pick, with an ADP of WR2, and the overall fifth selection.
After Week 9, Jefferson sits at WR15, one spot behind, of all people, Rome Odunze.
This can be blamed on the Vikes’ messy QB situation — they’ve bopped between inexperienced J.J. McCarthy and over-experienced Carson Wentz — but Jefferson hasmanaged 8 or fewer fantasy points in four of his eight games, and hasn’t topped 12.6 fantasy points this season.
You might regret trading him before your deadline…but you also might regret keeping him.
WINNER: Raiders TE Brock Bowers
One of my fantasy leagues allows you to start two tight ends, and taking that into consideration, I drafted Bowers and San Fran’s George Kittle in rounds three and four, a strategy that seemed brilliant until both went on the IR.
Yesterday, it worked brilliantly (he says modestly), with the two combining for 50+ fantasy points, leading me to a 216-163 beatdown. (We have a ton of hilarious bonus points in our league, thus the over-the-top score.)
The second-year man was TE1 by a wide margin — 8+ points ahead of Loveland — but next week could be problematic, as Vegas visits Denver, where they’ll stare down a Broncos team that allows the NFL’s eighth-fewest fantasy points to opposing tight ends. The following week, however, they host Dallas and their Swiss cheese D, so that’ll be fun. For me.
LOSER: Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes
It was an ugly day all around for the future Hall of Famer. Not only did his Chiefs lose a key game in Buffalo 28-21, but Mahomes posted a legitimately lousy stat line to the tune of 250 yards on 15-of-34 passing — 44.1%, the worst single game of his NFL career — to go with 3 sacks and a pick.
Mahomes’ fantasy managers had to be more-than-a-little annoyed, as he managed just 11.5 fantasy points, his worst performance of the season.
We’ll wrap this up with a bit of fantasy football comedy: The two-time MVP wrapped up his fantasy day just 1.3 fantasy points ahead of the Saints’ zero-time MVP, Tyler Shough. Yikes.
Regardless of whether your Week 9 PrizePicks picks were good, bad, or ugly, 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 9 winners and losers, stick with Playbook all season for advice, predictions, takes, winners, and losers.
