It’s quite a 16-game slate for Week 16 with the playoffs rapidly approaching. There are battles for first in the NFC North, NFC South, and NFC West this week.
The week begins on Thursday night at Seattle and ends in Indianapolis on Monday night. There’s also a dandy matchup of AFC first-place teams when the Jaguars visit Denver on Sunday.
Once again, there are some intriguing numbers when it comes to this week’s contests. That includes a veteran head coach who could reach a major milestone on Sunday.
Take a look at 5 key numbers for Week 16
3
The reigning AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs are out. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Vikings and Washington Commanders have been eliminated. Those are three teams that all reached the postseason in 2024 and have already been knocked out of the playoffs before the 2024 postseason began. In fact, all three of those clubs are below 500 at the time at the moment. The Chiefs had reached the playoffs each of the previous 10 seasons from 2015-24, second-longest in NFL annals behind the Patriots (11 from 2009-19).
4
With a win on Saturday afternoon at Washington, the first-place Philadelphia Eagles will clinch their second straight NFC East title. While that might not be a huge cause for celebration, it’s actually something that hasn’t happened in more than two decades. In fact, it’s been easier to repeat as Super Bowl champion this century as it has to win this division in back-to-back years. The last NFC East team to repeat as division champion was Andy Reid’s Philadelphia Eagles with four straight titles from 2001-04.
102
That’s the number of yards per game rushing for the 5-12 Chicago Bears in 2024. That was good (or bad) enough to rank 25th in the NFL. Under current head coach Ben Johnson, it has been a far different season for this team, which has already doubled its victory total from a year ago. Only the Buffalo Bills (158.5) are averaging more yards per game on the ground this season than the leaders of the NFC North. The Bears are running for an impressive 152.2 yards per contest, gaining 200-plus yards in four of their 14 contests.
59
That’s the number of different starting quarterbacks for the 32 teams in 2024. This season’s figure is at 54 after 15 weeks of play, and that’s about to change. The Miami Dolphins have benched six-year pro Tua Tagovailoa in favor of rookie Quinn Ewers. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Chiefs will not have Patrick Mahomes for the remainder of 2025 after he suffered a knee injury last week. Andy Reid will give Gardner Minshew the ball this week against the Titans. And who knows what lies ahead for the remainder of ’25?
199
It’s a milestone that has only been achieved 10 times in NFL history. And the vast majority of those men are enshrined in Canton. Pittsburgh Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin (199) can become the 11th head coach to reach 200 career victories, a figure that includes the playoffs. The leader remains Don Shula (347), followed by Bill Belichick (333), George Halas (324), Andy Reid (307), Tom Landry (270), “Curly” Lambeau (229), Paul Brown (222), Chuck Noll (209), Marty Schottenheimer (205), and Dan Reeves (201).