Every few NFL seasons, you get a tragic run of quarterback injuries. The 2025 season has been one of the worst as we’ve lost Patrick Mahomes, Jayden Daniels, Daniel Jones, Kyler Murray, Michael Penix, and yet somehow gained a 44-year-old Philip Rivers in December.
Joe Burrow might wish his turf toe ended his 2025, because he just suffered the first shutout loss of his NFL career, leading to him missing the playoffs for the third year in a row. But the playoffs won’t have Mahomes’ Chiefs either for the first time since he entered the league, and things aren’t looking the greatest for Lamar Jackson and the Ravens with three weeks left.
It’s been that kind of season, but we still have some big games coming up after an eventful, timeline-altering Week 15 where the Chiefs lost Mahomes, the Patriots missed their first opportunity to win the AFC East over Buffalo, and yes, Grandpa Rivers is back and almost pulled off an all-time upset.
Each week at 365Scores, we are going to rank all 32 NFL quarterbacks from top to bottom. The methodology is to start with our preseason quarterback rankings from July, which were based on a mixture of career value and recent play. Then each week, we will adjust the rankings to account for the latest game to get a sense of which quarterbacks are performing the best in the 2025 season.
Table of Contents
1. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Week 15 rank: 1 (0)
There is a long, long offseason ahead to talk about what went wrong for Mahomes and the Chiefs in 2025 (hint: a lot), where they go from here, how quarterbacks fare after an ACL tear, and there’s no point in covering all of that here today.
I said after Week 1 that it’s not sustainable for Mahomes to outrush his teammates as he did in Brazil against the Chargers. When he did it again versus the Eagles in Week 2, I said this can’t continue. When he did it again last week against Houston, it felt like he was reaching a breaking point as the Chiefs (6-7) had no margin for error left.
Then on Sunday in Week 15 against the Chargers, Mahomes’ body finally broke down after appearing on the injury report for a knee issue the last couple of weeks. This is why he usually saved the extra rushing for the playoffs with the season on the line.
But it was on the line Sunday too.
Trailing 16-13 with 2:00 left at the Los Angeles 46, he was trying to lead a game-winning or game-tying drive to keep the team’s playoff hopes alive. He came into the game with three backup linemen, and after right tackle Jaylon Moore was injured before halftime, Mahomes spent the last half of the game with a third-string right tackle in his NFL debut (Chukwuebuka Godrick) to match his third-string left tackle who made his NFL debut last week (Esa Pole), an unfathomable situation no team can really prepare for.
On maybe the most fateful snap of his career to this point, Mahomes scrambled to his right, threw the ball away, and went down in a heap of pain.
And just like that, on a fairly innocuous snap, his season is over and we’ll see about next season. He tore his ACL, and despite initial reports that it was just the ACL, he’s apparently torn his LCL too, complicating matters. He’s already had surgery on Monday, and the timetable is nine months, but that’s not a hard rule and everyone is different. Maybe he’s back for Week 1, maybe he’s back by October, and maybe it’s 2027 the next time we get a meaningful snap from Mahomes.
Maybe it’s fitting that Godrick, who didn’t necessarily do anything wrong on the play in regard to Mahomes scrambling, was flagged for holding to make it 1st-and-20. Adding insult to injury after a year of huge penalties on the Chiefs that should squash that stupid controversy that “they get all the calls” from refs.
But just like that, the future of the Chiefs is up in the air.
It was this week a year ago when we noted that Mahomes had a high-ankle sprain in his 128th start, and Tom Brady tore his ACL (against the Chiefs in 2008) in his 128th start to begin his ninth season.
Now, Mahomes tore his ACL to end his ninth season, so that’s some eerie tracking going on there. Brady returned for Week 1 of 2009, but he didn’t get back to the Super Bowl until 2011 and didn’t win another until 2014. We’ll see what Mahomes does, but it’s clear this particular era of Kansas City football is done as the Chiefs (6-8) are eliminated from the playoffs.
It’s also clear that when Mahomes returns to action, the Chiefs have to approach offense differently. Once ahead of the pack, they’ve fallen behind the curve with how teams are using play-action, more tight ends, putting the quarterback under center, and using the running game and the backs in the passing game – many things that Andy Reid, who will be 68 next season, has been stubborn to do for Mahomes, who will likely be limited mobility wise in 2026.
They did change their ways a bit in 2022 after trading Tyreek Hill and it worked perfectly with the No. 1 offense and another MVP and Super Bowl MVP for Mahomes. But over the last three years, they’ve watched the shotgun-heavy scheme grow stale, Travis Kelce got older and understandably distracted, some signings and draft picks haven’t panned out, and they’ve been bit by the injury bug and other randomness like Rashee Rice’s suspension or rookie tackle Justin Simmons just disappearing for a month.
Even in this last game, it’s fitting that the Chiefs’ only touchdown came on a 12-yard scramble by Mahomes, who improvised more than ever this season. The “regular” running game produced 19 carries for 34 yards, otherwise known as nothing, against the Chargers.
It’s actually a minor miracle that, against the toughest schedule of his career, Mahomes finishes fifth in QBR (69.1) and second in total EPA while leading the most broken offense of his career to a ranking of No. 4 in yards per drive and No. 9 in points per drive. Numbers that were even better before last Sunday forced them to play deep backups on the offensive line against strong fronts like the Texans and Chargers.
But we have many months to write about this, so as the final Mahomes entry in the 2025 quarterback rankings, let’s just say that the Chiefs will have severely messed up his future if 2025 doesn’t go down as by far the most disappointing season of his career.
2. Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
Week 15 rank: 2 (0)
There was an early scare for Matthew Stafford and the Rams against Detroit after Aidan Hutchinson got his mitts on an early interception, and the Rams allowed 24 points by halftime. But the Rams scored 41 points over their next nine drives with Stafford throwing for 368 yards even after losing Davante Adams to a hamstring injury.
In the end, the Rams got the 41-34 win despite the defense not getting any takeaways for the second time in three weeks. I found something Stafford has done twice as much as any quarterback in NFL history: Win a game after your team allowed 34+ points and had no takeaways. He did it twice in Detroit and now twice with the Rams, including that win over Buffalo last year.
With Drake Maye’s stumble against the Bills, Stafford has strong MVP odds going into Thursday’s big showdown at Seattle for the lead in the NFC West and possibly the No. 1 seed. It’s a huge game against a top defense that held Stafford in check last time out. The Rams really won that game because of Sam Darnold throwing four picks and still needed a missed field goal at the end.
Throw in the hamstring injury for Adams, and Stafford could be looking at an elite defense that should find a way to limit Puka Nacua best they can. It’s a tough spot, and it could make or break Stafford’s MVP case. It’s not necessarily fair that one Week 16 game in prime time as part of what’s been a tough schedule can do that, but that’s the NFL world we live in now.
If Stafford plays well, his first MVP should be safe, but this is the biggest test yet this season for him. We’ll see if I can rank him No. 1 next week or not.
3. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
Week 15 rank: 3 (0)
The Patriots led 21-0 in the second quarter while Josh Allen had a play success rate of 2-for-9 as the Bills punted on their first three possessions. This led to seemingly every annoying New England-based account on social media posting a video about how great the Patriots are, and how finished the Bills are in the AFC East.
Well, not so fast. There was a time when the Bills may have folded here, but something’s been different about this team going back to the comeback in Week 1 against Baltimore. After a big kick return and facemask penalty, the Bills got to start a drive at the New England 42, and that seemed to calm everyone down, including Allen, who engineered five straight touchdown drives to take a 35-31 lead.
The running backs and tight ends came up big again for Allen. I’m not 100% sure that Khalil Shakir made that 37-yard catch on fourth down in the fourth quarter that some argued was a pick, but it was definitely pass interference on the Patriots, so that’s a Buffalo first down either way.
It’s kind of funny that embattled wideout Keon Coleman made his biggest contribution by drawing another pass interference penalty on a 3rd-and-4 incompletion on the game-winning drive. Interestingly enough, Buffalo’s final eight plays from scrimmage (excluding kneeldowns) were runs that didn’t involve Allen, who finished with 193 passing yards, 3 touchdown passes, and 48 rushing yards in a 21-point comeback.
I said before the season that ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky is the ringleader for mucking up the MVP race like he did last year in leading the charge to somehow deem Lamar Jackson the best quarterback and Josh Allen the most valuable. Orlovsky is at it again this week with claiming Allen is neck-and-neck for MVP with Matthew Stafford.
Go figure, Stafford has a tough game coming up on Thursday night too that could make or break his case even though he’s only had one truly bad game (Carolina) this year. Allen’s had several bad games (Falcons, Dolphins, Texans) and was a marginal factor in several wins (Jets, Panthers, Steelers).
We’ll see how it plays out, but this has not been an MVP-caliber season, and the Bills should be focusing more on how they can channel this team’s ability to come back, to run the ball, and to stop the pass to turn into a Super Bowl run in an AFC that doesn’t have a team with more experience than they have in big games.
4. Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
Week 15 rank: 4 (0)
The Cowboys’ season is essentially over after losing 34-26 as a home favorite to the lowly Vikings. The Dallas defense had a rough night, but Dak Prescott’s offense was just 2-of-12 on third down, and they again settled for six field goal attempts despite getting inside the Minnesota 40 on nine different drives. That’s a problem when you know you need touchdowns to offset your defense your owner stuck you with before Week 1 with the Micah Parsons trade.
It was also another game where George Pickens was a non-factor with 3 catches for 33 yards, showing once again that paying outrageous money to a WR2 like that is not going to help the Cowboys win more games in 2026 and beyond.
5. Drake Maye, New England Patriots
Week 15 rank: 5 (0)
Drake Maye’s MVP campaign may have imploded on Sunday against Buffalo after he threw for 155 yards, his first game under 200 yards this year, against a good pass defense. His running back, TreVeyon Henderson, hit two more home runs for touchdowns like he did against Tampa Bay, but similar to Tampa, Maye didn’t close the job in the second half after leading 24-7 at halftime.
Maye’s third-quarter interception came on a 3rd-and-25 deep ball that pinned the Bills at their 9, so that’s an arm punt. No big deal there. But it’s the drives after that where he couldn’t get a first down twice in a 35-31 game when he had to lead the first fourth-quarter comeback win of his career.
Maye is now 0-7 in those chances in his career, including 0-3 this year. That’s why I said you can’t start writing this team in to rule the AFC East and AFC for the next decade-plus. They’ve had an incredibly easy schedule, they built their reputation on Maye having one great half in Buffalo earlier this season, and games like this where they could win the AFC East are the true litmus test.
Maye failed the test on Sunday. He gets another big spot against the Ravens this Sunday night, and the Patriots are still in a solid position to win the AFC East. But the MVP, the No. 1 seed, the winning streak? That all might be gone this year after Sunday.
6. Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks
Week 15 rank: 6 (0)
The Seahawks were a 14-point favorite because of the Philip Rivers angle, but the offense was limited to six field goals on 10 drives. At least the kicker made them all, but it’s another case where Sam Darnold could have did a little better job of running clock and getting the team closer. Jason Myers had to hit from 56 to win the game and did.
But here we go again with Darnold. The Seahawks haven’t lost in the last four games since the loss to the Rams, and he has to get over that hurdle on Thursday night in a battle for first place and maybe even the No. 1 seed. Darnold threw four picks last time and is 0-3 against the Rams going back to last year. That’s the game he’s going to be measured on this year.
Not barely getting by Grandpa Rivers.
7. Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
Week 15 rank: 7 (0)
Jordan Love’s having a good year, but I’m not sure when he fell in love with those fadeaway throws like he’s shooting a 3 in basketball. He’s gotten away with plenty this year for big plays, but I think it’s going to bite him in the playoffs, which just got tougher (assuming they get there) after Micah Parsons tore his ACL.
But Love already got into trouble in Denver when he threw two interceptions and failed to get more than a field goal on four drives in the fourth quarter of a one-score game. The constant injuries for Christian Watson don’t help either on top of already losing tight end Tucker Kraft to a torn ACL.
Now Love has to complete a sweep of the Bears on Saturday night or risks being relegated to wild card status at best again.
8. Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
Week 15 rank: 8 (0)
Jared Goff wasn’t the issue at all in Detroit’s latest loss to the Rams that has their playoff hopes in doubt at 8-6. The Lions had 24 points at halftime but gave up the lead after the Rams kept scoring while the Lions were stacking punts before falling behind by 10 points.
Goff finished with 338 yards and 3 touchdown passes, and the Lions had no giveaways. This makes Detroit only the 24th team in NFL history to score at least 34 points with no turnovers and still lose the game.
9. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
Week 15 rank: 9 (0)
Such weird games for the Bengals and Ravens this season. They couldn’t stop turning it over at home on Thanksgiving, but on Sunday, the Baltimore offense just sat back and watched the Bengals hog the ball for nearly 40 minutes without scoring.
The Baltimore offense only had to put up 17 points, and Lamar Jackson was just 8-of-12 passing with 4 sacks taken. It’s the first full game in his career where he didn’t attempt at least 15 passes, but he had a few big completions to Zay Flowers and two touchdown passes.
10. Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers
Week 15 rank: 11 (+1)
Justin Herbert probably never thought there’d be a day where he could grind out a 16-13 win in Kansas City. But that happened Sunday as the Chargers completed the sweep and eliminated the Chiefs from the playoffs. Herbert was solid with 210 yards in the cold (15 degrees), including a key touchdown drive in the final 33 seconds of the half to cut the deficit to a field goal.
Herbert did take four sacks against a weak pass rush, and that’s going to continue to be the problem for this offense going forward.
11. Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears
Week 15 rank: 14 (+3)
Caleb Williams may not be your cup of tea at quarterback, but he’s intriguing enough that I’m investing some stock into his future. Just look at this insane touchdown throw to D.J. Moore against the Browns on Sunday, part of a 31-3 rout he led against a tough defense.
Most quarterbacks aren’t even trying that throw, and probably for good reason since it’s usually going to get picked. Yet, Williams rarely ever throws interceptions. Well, except for the game-ending pick in Green Bay last week, but he gets his shot to make up for that in the rematch in Chicago this Saturday night against a defense that won’t have Micah Parsons anymore this season.
12. Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
Week 15 rank: 15 (+3)
The 49ers are 10-4, Brock Purdy’s been back a month, he might end up leading the league in QBR in a real down year at the position, and yet it feels like no one is talking about this team. Maybe that’s what happens when you beat up on the Cardinals, Panthers, Browns, and Titans. Soon, we’ll see Purdy have to face the Seahawks and Bears.
But against the Titans, Purdy was very efficient on third down against the worst team in football in a 37-24 win. Similar to Sam Darnold, he’ll be judged by what he does in the big games coming up.
13. Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
Week 15 rank: 16 (+3)
Bo Nix is just a second-year quarterback who threw for 302 yards and 4 touchdowns against a good Green Bay team in a 34-26 win. Maybe he hasn’t made huge strides from his rookie year, but if he can play like that against another Super Bowl contender after already showing he’s game to beat the Chiefs and Eagles this year, then the Broncos just might be able to pull this off in the playoffs as the No. 1 seed.
Denver is a tough place to play, and Nix has been at his best in closing time this season. He has that 2007 Eli Manning potential, and there’s not going to be an 18-0 team in the playoffs to take down this year either. Hell, the Broncos are the closest thing to an undefeated team this year, never trailing until the final snap in their two losses in September.
14. Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 15 rank: 17 (+3)
In case you forgot, Aaron Rodgers spent two decades in Green Bay and is more than equipped to deal with the cold weather like the 17-degree kickoff temperature in Pittsburgh on Monday night. He used his dink-and-dunk passing approach with a few bullets to create a lot of YAC and first downs against the Dolphins on the way to building a 28-3 lead before some prevent defense made it a little closer.
But the Steelers have scored at least 27 points in 4-of-5 games, and Rodgers has put together arguably his best pair of games this season in the last two weeks. The Steelers (8-6) are favored to win the AFC North, but a potential rematch with Buffalo, who forced Rodgers into his worst game in the cold this year, looms on wild card weekend.
15. C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
Week 15 rank: 18 (+3)
The Texans might be the most dangerous team in the NFL. Combine the best defense with C.J. Stroud throwing for 260 yards and 3 touchdowns, looking more like the 2023 rookie version, and Houston might just keep winning the rest of the year.
Arizona isn’t a great litmus test, but we’ve seen the Texans beat the Bills and Chiefs, and they held the Rams to 14 points earlier this season. Interesting team for the Super Bowl odds.
16. Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 15 rank: 12 (-4)
If Baker Mayfield isn’t playing through an injury, then I guess the simplest example is he had some lucky comebacks early in the season, and now the close games are backfiring on him as something he usually wasn’t that great at in his career. Regression to the mean strikes again.
But even with getting Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan back to give him close to a full arsenal against Atlanta, Mayfield had huge mistakes in the fourth-quarter collapse, including a pick and he missed the game-sealing throw on a 2nd-and-14, leading to the Falcons getting a walk-off field goal when they never should have touched the ball again.
The Bucs (7-7) caught a break when Carolina lost on Sunday in New Orleans, but this slide may slide the Bucs right out of the playoffs if they don’t pick it up.
17. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals
Week 15 rank: 13 (-4)
Joe Burrow turned 29 this week, and if you listened to his presser, you might think he’s either going to follow an Andrew Luck (early retirement) or Carson Palmer (force his way out of Cincinnati) path as another No. 1 overall pick who is feeling a bit disgruntled about the organization he plays for.
But on Sunday, Burrow had one of his worst games ever as he’ll let you know in a 24-0 shutout loss to the Ravens, his first NFL shutout.
It’s a historic game too because the Bengals possessed the ball for just under 40 minutes, the most in NFL history in a game where a team produced no points. Burrow had a couple of picks under pressure, including a pick-six in the fourth quarter from the red zone when it looked like he might break the scoring drought.
Did that pick-six in Buffalo break him? He was much better than this before that mistake. Burrow really does sound like he’s feeling defeated, missing the playoffs for the third year in a row now.
18. Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles
Week 15 rank: 19 (+1)
If things are going poorly, try playing the 2025 Raiders. They helped the Eagles look like a competent offense again in a 31-0 blowout where Jalen Hurts threw for 175 yards and 3 touchdowns, and it could have been more with the easy throws they continue to design for Dallas Goedert in the red zone.
The Eagles ended their 3-game losing streak, and maybe we can set aside the “bench Hurts” talks for the time being. It was always ridiculous, but the Eagles were slumping hard there. See if this gets them on the right track.
19. Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
Week 15 rank: 22 (+3)
The 2025 Jets have an atrocious defense, but there have been plenty of bad defenses in the NFL over the decades. No one has ever allowed a quarterback to produce the stat line Trevor Lawrence had in Sunday’s 48-20 blowout win:
- 20-of-32 passing for 330 yards
- 5 touchdown passes
- 0 interceptions
- 51 rushing yards (led team)
- 1 rushing touchdown
It’s the first time in NFL history a quarterback threw for 300 yards, rushed for 50 yards, and had 5 touchdown passes and a touchdown run. Just filling up the stat sheet and dominating the Jets with the receivers you didn’t expect to be a big part of the 2025 Jaguars’ offense. Even running back Travis Etienne caught three of the touchdowns.
I don’t know if this says anything about how Lawrence will play in a road playoff game against a team like Denver or New England this year, but he was making history on Sunday for what’s been one of the hottest offenses since the midpoint.
20. Jacoby Brissett, Arizona Cardinals
Week 15 rank: 20 (0)
It looks like Jacoby Brissett can put up passing volume no matter who the opposing defense is this season. He was facing the No. 1 Texans, and while he finished with 249 yards and 3 touchdown passes, there were enough stops to make it not look as good as the numbers suggest. He also didn’t have positive passing yards by the time it was 17-0 Houston so quick into the game. They also held him to 6.2 yards per attempt.
So, it was another 20-point blowout loss for the Cardinals where Brissett kept chucking it out of necessity.
21. Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers
Week 15 rank: 21 (0)
If the Panthers fail to win the NFC South, it’ll come back to getting swept by the lowly Saints this year. Bryce Young threw for 287 yards in the two games combined, and the Panthers only scored 24 total points against New Orleans. They blew a fourth-quarter lead in this one too, going scoreless on their final three drives before the lead was blown.
22. Jaxson Dart, New York Giants
Week 15 rank: 23 (-1)
It was one of the more disappointing Jaxson Dart games this year as the Washington defense should have been ripe for the picking and a big day offensively. Instead, Dart was down big, and he only got back into it late thanks to a few fumbles and a short field for a touchdown.
Then when he got the ball back in a 29-21 game, he didn’t come close to the touchdown. He did however have yet another trip to the blue tent to be checked for a concussion during the game before finishing it.
23. Tyler Shough, New Orleans Saints
Week 15 rank: 25 (+2)
If Tyler Shough keeps playing like this, the Saints are going to be the dark horse favorites to win the NFC South in 2026. Maybe not even a dark horse. He led his second game-winning drive in as many weeks against the Panthers, and it’s his first fourth-quarter comeback win in the NFL. He got one before Drake Maye has in two seasons.
Granted, Kellen Moore got crazy again and called a quarterback draw while the team was out of timeouts, shades of the 2021 Dallas playoff loss against San Francisco. Carolina helped Shough out with a foul for a hit on the slide, leading to the game-winning field goal.
But that aside, Shough completed 75% of his passes and threw for 272 yards. If you look around the NFL this season, that’s not happening very frequently anymore. Even better, he did it while only possessing the ball seven times. So, good look for the rookie.
24. Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons
Week 15 rank: 27 (+3)
If Kirk Cousins got to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers every week, he’d break all the quarterback records and win MVP. It’s insane how great he’s been against them in all three matchups since 2024, and how underwhelming he’s been in his other 16 starts for Atlanta.
Cousins owned the Bucs again on Thursday night, throwing for 373 yards without Drake London, throwing 3 touchdowns to Kyle Pitts, and leading an improbable 14-point comeback in the fourth quarter.
Just wish he’d do this more often against other teams and he’d still have his starting job over Michael Penix.
25. Marcus Mariota, Washington Commanders
Week 15 rank: N/A (Jayden Daniels was No. 26)
The Commanders got their first win since Week 5, 29-21 over the Giants, with Marcus Mariota nearly blowing it with a late strip-sack that made things interesting with the Giants down 15 points.
But the Commanders are finally doing the sensible thing and shutting down Jayden Daniels for the rest of 2025. Just too many injuries this year for him, closing one of the most disappointing sophomore seasons we’ve ever seen for a quarterback who had the best rookie season ever.
26. Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
Week 15 rank: 24 (-2)
Tua Tagovailoa’s stat line in freezing Pittsburgh on Monday night is exactly why you need to consult multiple stats combined with reviewing the game script. On the surface, he threw for 253 yards, 2 touchdowns, and he had a 113.2 passer rating and ranked 17th among Week 15 quarterbacks in EPA. That makes it sound like a decent performance.
Then you review the actual game, and you see he threw a bad pick early in the game, he took god-awful sacks to kill drives, and he had just 65 yards passing through three quarters and didn’t start putting up stats until it was 28-3 and the Steelers were playing prevent defense.
Total fraud of a stat line after yet another poor game from Tua on the road against a team that isn’t a total scrub. It’s also a good argument for why QBR has value as a stat from ESPN. Tua’s 12.2 QBR was the third-lowest QBR this week, and his weighted EPA (-0.9) was also the third-lowest number this week as they downgrade a player for doing things in garbage time the way he did.
27. J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings
Week 15 rank: 31 (+4)
For the first time in his brief career, J.J. McCarthy has stacked good performances and wins. He threw for a career-high 250 yards in Dallas, his third game this season that was a road win where he accounted for three total touchdowns and the team allowed at least 24 points.
There just may be something hopeful bubbling under the surface here after all. Even crazier, his numbers were way better when he was throwing to everyone not named Justin Jefferson, who caught 2-of-8 targets and dropped a touchdown.
28. Philip Rivers, Indianapolis Colts
Week 15 rank: N/A (Daniel Jones was No. 10)
Want to see the most out-of-shape snap by a quarterback in NFL history?
That play happened, and even with it, the Colts were leading in the final minute against Seattle, an elite defense and the team with the best scoring differential in the NFL this season. Rivers led a go-ahead field goal drive, he had a touchdown pass earlier in the game, and he had only taken one sack and had yet to turn the ball over.
If his defense steps up, he wins that game as a 14-point underdog, five days after his 44th birthday, five days after signing with the team after five years away from the game. It would have been one of the biggest upsets in NFL history and probably the final seal of approval for his future Hall of Fame induction, which he pushed back at least five years by coming back to play this game when he was on the semifinalists list for the 2026 class.
It’s a crazy story, and unfortunately, the Colts’ playoff chances are all but waxed after this loss and more tough games to come. But Rivers is a madman for even trying this, and he certainly was better than Minnesota rookie Max Brosmer was in Seattle. There’s something to be said about knowledge of the offense and where to go with the ball.
Rivers finished 18-of-27 for 120 yards, the first time in 106 games he didn’t throw for at least 150 yards. He couldn’t really get the ball down the field, and when he had to out of desperation on the final drive, that’s when he added to his game-ending interception stat, something we haven’t seen in five years.
But I give him a lot of credit for trying, and we’ll probably see him again on Monday night against the 49ers. Who would ever think we’d see more Rivers to end the 2025 season and no more Patrick Mahomes? Craziest season ever.
29. Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans
Week 15 rank: 32 (+3)
This might be the highest Cam Ward has ranked all season. I’m going to give him credit for having his first game all season where he didn’t take any sacks, he led the offense to 24 points (27 if the kicker didn’t miss the 50-yard field goal before halftime), and it was a respectable game against a highly-favored opponent that lit up the scoreboard.
30. Shedeur Sanders, Cleveland Browns
Week 15 rank: 28 (-2)
The Shedeur Sanders saga continued with a 31-3 thrashing at the hands of the Bears, the No. 1 defense in takeaways this year. They got three interceptions from Sanders, but Jerry Jeudy did cost him a touchdown on the one that saw the ball ripped away from the receiver in the end zone.
Still, it’s clear that the criticisms of Sanders taking deep sacks and struggling to sustain offense by always looking for big plays were fair. His passing success rate is 33.8% this season, the worst in the NFL.
31. Brady Cook, New York Jets
Week 15 rank: N/A (Tyrod Taylor was No. 30)
Let Brady Cook? And he plays in the AFC East? Oh brother. But Cook faced something in his first NFL start that Tom Brady never did in 381 starts: His team allowed 48 points. You’re going to throw some picks on the road when you’re up against that type of onslaught.
To Cook’s credit, he rushed for 39 yards, completed 22 passes for 176 yards, and led four scoring drives to get to 20 points, and given the low bar for the 2025 Jets on offense, that’s not that bad actually for a first start.
32. Kenny Pickett, Las Vegas Raiders
Week 15 rank: N/A (Geno Smith was No. 29)
Couldn’t even get Kenny “OneDrive” Pickett to lead a single scoring drive.
Sunday was a harsh reminder that Kenny Pickett has the lowest touchdown pass rate (2.0%) in NFL history for anyone with at least 750 pass attempts. His first start of 2025 and his first with the Raiders went worse than expected as he was blanked 31-0 on the scoreboard and completed 15-of-25 passes for 64 yards and a pick while also losing 35 yards on four sacks.
Pickett made some bad history too. His 64 passing yards are the fewest in NFL history in any game with exactly 15 completions, beating out the 77 yards Tim Boyle had in 2021 at Cleveland. For that matter, Pickett’s 64 passing yards are the fewest in any game in NFL history where a quarterback completed at least 15 passes.
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- 2025 NFL Quarterback Rankings Week 9: Jordan Love Steals the Shine from Aaron Rodgers’ Night in Pittsburgh
- 2025 NFL Quarterback Rankings Week 8: Patrick Mahomes Breaks PFF’s Grading System and Daniel Jones Joins Elite Company
- 2025 NFL Quarterback Rankings Week 7: We Need to Talk About Josh Allen and the Disappointing Buffalo Bills
- 2025 NFL Quarterback Rankings Week 6: The Mayfield-Darnold Passing Clinic and Every Great AFC Quarterback’s Team Takes a Loss
- 2025 NFL Award Races Through the First Quarter: Are We Headed Towards Josh Allen vs. Patrick Mahomes for MVP?
- 2025 NFL Quarterback Rankings Week 5: Patrick Mahomes Outduels Lamar Jackson Again and the Wild Start to the Jaxson Dart Era
- 2025 NFL Quarterback Rankings Week 4: Lamar Jackson Sacked, Baker Mayfield’s Wild Run, and Is This the End for Russell Wilson?
- Patrick Mahomes Turns 30: The Best There Is, the Best There Was, the Best There Ever Will Be?
- 2025 NFL Quarterback Rankings Week 3: Injuries Are Sadly Piling Up Quickly to Joe Burrow, Jayden Daniels, J.J. McCarthy
- 2025 NFL Quarterback Rankings Week 2: If Your QB Isn’t a Demon, You’re Not Winning the AFC
- 2025 NFL Predictions: Who Makes It to Super Bowl LX?
- 2025 NFL Award Nominees and Best Bets: Can We Get a Good and Logical MVP Race?
- Philadelphia Eagles 2025 NFL Season Preview and Picks: Did Philly Crush One Great Dynasty to Start Its Own?
- 2025 NFL Quarterback Rankings: This Is Still Patrick Mahomes’ League
