Big-game results didn't reveal much that wasn't obvious over the first 10 weeks of the NFL season

A loaded NFL schedule produced results that didn’t reveal much that wasn’t already known.

These are not the same Kansas City Chiefs who’ve owned the AFC West for nine seasons. Their struggles over the first nine games showed up again in a 22-19 loss at Denver.

The Buffalo Bills will go as far as Josh Allen takes them — as usual. His six touchdowns made up for two picks in a 44-32 win over Tampa Bay.

The Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks are even teams with two of the best defenses in the NFL. The Rams took a one-game lead over Seattle in the NFC West after holding on for a 21-19 victory when Jason Myers missed a 61-yard field goal try as time expired.

The reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles are still the team to beat in the NFC, even if their offense is underachieving. Vic Fangio’s defense has been dominant against dynamic offenses, including a 16-9 victory over the Lions.

Detroit is going to live and die with coach Dan Campbell’s aggressive play-calling. When it works, the Lions are unstoppable. When it doesn’t, they have a tough time.

Kansas City’s reign of dominance in the division is over. The Chiefs (5-5) will have to battle just to make the playoffs and they have a tough matchup next week against the Indianapolis Colts (8-2). A poor offensive line isn’t helping Patrick Mahomes, who threw one costly interception in field-goal range after a pick-6 was negated by a penalty. The offense isn’t making enough plays to win one-score games, going 0-5 this season. Still, the Chiefs will be considered a dangerous team in the playoffs, if they get in. They won twice on the road on their way to a second consecutive Super Bowl title two years ago.

Meanwhile, the Broncos (9-2) have won eight straight games but still look beatable. Six of those wins have been by four points or fewer, including five fourth-quarter comebacks. Denver’s last three wins have come by a three-point margin. The Broncos beat the Giants by one and the Jets by two. Bo Nix is making big plays in the fourth quarter and a dominant defense keeps the team in games. But it’s going to be hard to sustain success with an inconsistent offense that has to rally each week.

The Bills (7-3) are chasing the New England Patriots (9-2) in the AFC East. But they can beat anyone when Allen plays the way he did against Tampa Bay. The reigning NFL MVP overcame a poor interception on the first drive to finish with 317 yards passing with three TDs in the air and three TDs rushing. Buffalo has a tougher schedule than New England with upcoming road games against Houston (5-5) on Thursday night and Pittsburgh (6-4) on Nov. 30. But like the Chiefs, the Bills are a team nobody wants to face in January.

The Buccaneers (6-4) still look like a team that’s good enough to win a weak NFC South but won’t go anywhere in the playoffs. Their defense has been a problem against top teams since 2021.

Sam Darnold struggled in another big game, throwing four interceptions. His fantastic turnaround season in Minnesota last year ended with clunkers in back-to-back important games.

However, Seattle’s defense kept the team in the game and Darnold drove the Seahawks (7-3) into position for what would’ve been a remarkable comeback victory if Myers could’ve hit the long field goal. He has to play better start to finish in playoff-type games.

The Rams (8-2) couldn’t do anything on offense in this battle between two of the league’s best defenses. The defense baffled Darnold and two of the four picks turned into touchdowns on drives of 3 yards and 25 yards.

The teams will meet again on Thursday night in Week 16 in a matchup that will likely determine the division winner.

Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and A.J. Brown still can’t get going but the Eagles relied on an elite defense to fluster Jared Goff and the Lions. After surrendering just one score to Green Bay in a 10-7 win on Monday night, they held Detroit to three field goals.

The Eagles (8-2) are the NFC’s No. 1 seed and keep finding ways to win games. They’ll need more production from the offense to have a chance to repeat but the defense has been getting better each week since shutting down Mahomes and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.

Detroit was 0-for-5 on fourth down, including a fake punt. The Lions (6-4) fell one game behind the surging Chicago Bears in the NFC North. But the Lions are more talented. The two teams meet in Chicago in Week 18.

Eleven weeks into the season, it's a wide-open race in both conferences.

On Football analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL from week to week. For more On Football analysis, head here.

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Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jaelan Phillips celebrates after an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix celebrates following an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) reacts after being sacked during the second half an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

NEW YORK (AP) — Maine just sent a blunt message to the Democratic Party's national leaders.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills was forced to abandon her U.S. Senate campaign on Thursday, unable to generate sufficient fundraising or enthusiasm to compete against Graham Platner, an oyster farmer who has never served in elected office. The announcement marked a stinging defeat for Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who recruited Mills to lead the party's decades-long quest to defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

The swift defenestration of a two-term governor by a political neophyte highlighted a stark reality that has begun to take hold at a pivotal moment — Democratic voters are rejecting their party’s establishment and embracing new risks, even as their confidence grows that a blue wave is coming in November's midterm elections.

Sometimes Democrats seem almost as angry at their own party's aging and entrenched leadership as they are at President Donald Trump.

“Rank-and-file Democrats don’t want the Democratic Party as we know it,” said Ezra Levin, co-founder of the Democratic resistance group Indivisible. “Rank-and-file Democrats want fighters.”

Local Indivisible chapters, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who's an independent but caucuses with Democrats, and other leaders from the party's progressive wing had already lined up behind Platner, who is now almost certain to be the Democratic nominee in one of the party’s best Senate pickup opportunities in the nation.

Platner on Friday insisted he would continue to speak out against his party's leadership, including Schumer, although he acknowledged that the two spoke privately the night before.

“The fact that we’ve been able to do all of this without the help of the establishment, it puts us in such an amazing position,” Platner said on MS NOW's “Morning Joe.” “My criticisms of the party leadership, my criticisms of the party, they have not changed, and I’ve been very vocal about that since the beginning. But we will absolutely take the help that we can get.”

Republicans, meanwhile, are giddy — and some moderate Democratic strategists are worried — that the anti-establishment shift may undermine the party’s effort to claw back control of Congress in November.

“Chuck Schumer has officially lost the first battle in his proxy war with Bernie Sanders,” said Bernadette Breslin, spokesperson for the Senate Republicans' campaign arm. “As Sanders hits the campaign trail to prop up progressives in messy Democrat primaries in Michigan and Minnesota, Schumer’s chances of getting his preferred candidates through look grim.”

Maine is far from alone.

Prominent anti-establishment clashes are playing out in high-profile Senate races across Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa, along with House races in several states.

Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, continues to promote Platner and other critics of the Democratic Party's national leadership. The Vermont senator will campaign this weekend in Detroit with Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who is running in a three-way Senate primary against Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow.

“There’s a desire to turn the page on the old guard,” Sanders' political adviser Faiz Shakir said. “It’s not even just the Democratic electorate. There’s a populist mood in this country. You’d have to be blind not to see it.”

Indeed, McMorrow is actively working to remind voters that she would not support Schumer as Democrats’ Senate leader if given the chance.

“Frankly, I was the first person in this country to say no,” McMorrow said in a video she posted Thursday on social media. “It is a different moment. This is no longer a Republican Party we’re dealing with, it is a MAGA party that has been taken over by Trump loyalists. ... You need to respond in a very different way.”

Veteran Democratic strategists like Lis Smith, who works with candidates across the country, tied the anti-establishment shift to the party's painful losses in 2024, when President Joe Biden was forced to abandon his reelection bid and Vice President Kamala Harris went on to lose to Trump.

“After 2024, voters are sick of the gerontocracy, sick of the status quo, and Chuck Schumer has completely misread that,” Smith said.

Privately, Schumer's allies downplay the impact of the anti-establishment backlash.

The Senate Democratic leader's preferred picks in North Carolina, Ohio and Alaska haven't faced the same challenges as Mills did in Maine. The four states represent the party's most likely path to a majority in the chamber, which has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the Democrats.

Mills is the oldest of the candidates and, at 78, would have been the oldest freshman senator in history. She promised to serve one term if elected. Platner is only 41.

Schumer's team is unwilling to make any apologies for backing Mills over Platner.

“Leader Schumer’s North Star is taking back the Senate," Schumer spokesperson Allison Biasotti said. "When no one thought a Senate majority was possible just a year ago, he made it a reality by recruiting great candidates across the country and laying out an agenda for lower costs and better lives for Americans.”

Some in the Democratic Party’s moderate wing are worried.

Matt Bennett, co-founder of the center-left group Third Way, said that Platner’s emergence in Maine “without a doubt” will make it harder for Democrats to defeat Collins in November. He warns that it could be the same elsewhere if Democratic primary voters rally behind anti-establishment candidates.

“Our message is if you would like to beat Donald Trump’s Republicans, you better nominate people who can win,” Bennett said.

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, May 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, listens to questions from the media during the Michigan Democratic Party State Endorsement Convention, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., goes over his notes before speaking to reporters following a closed-door party meeting, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, greets lawmakers prior to delivering her State of the State address, Jan. 30, 2024, at the State House in Augusta, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, FIle)

Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, takes a question at a news conference Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)