Asked & Answered, Week 17: Did the Falcons do the right thing drafting Michael Penix Jr. after all?

Every week in the NFL season brings a host of new questions … and answers some old ones, too. Let’s run down what we learned in Week 17 … and what we’ll be wondering about in Week 18 and the postseason.

ASKED: Did Atlanta make the right move after all?

When Atlanta drafted Michael Penix Jr. just weeks after signing Kirk Cousins to a massive franchise-cornerstone deal, the disbelief and derision rained down from all corners of the NFL world — fans, media, other teams. Why draft a foundational QB when you already have a foundational QB? The Falcons, as it turned out, had a succession plan in mind — and on Sunday night, the NFL world got to see that succession plan in action, albeit a whole lot sooner than Atlanta intended.

After Cousins flamed out in midseason, Atlanta made the switch to Penix, and the results through two games have been everything the Falcons could have hoped for at this point from the QB position. Yes, Atlanta lost Sunday night, putting the Falcons on the outside of the playoff bubble, but that was more the result of poor clock management and inexplicable coaching than any failure on Penix’s part.

After an ugly first-drive interception, Penix looked confident and in control in the pocket in a way that Cousins hadn’t been in months. Penix also has an arm that Cousins can’t match, opening up entire new swaths of the Falcons playbook. The fourth-down, all-or-nothing touchdown to Kyle Pitts with just over a minute remaining was a thing of beauty; too bad for Penix that the Falcons botched the clock soon afterward.

It was enough to make you wonder what might have happened had the Falcons gone to Penix a game or two earlier. But he’s here now, and that gives Atlanta fans something to look forward to in 2025, regardless of how this season ends out.

ANSWERED: Jayden Daniels is no longer a rookie QB

This isn’t exactly breaking news here, but Jayden Daniels is everything the Commanders hoped he could be, and so much more. He guided the team back from down 17-7 at halftime to Atlanta on Sunday night, then smoothly captained a game-winning drive in overtime. What was impressive about Daniels was how smooth he was even in the game’s biggest moments. He simply moved the sticks in overtime, a short pass here, a scramble for a first down there, and just like that marched Washington right into the playoffs.

The Commanders have a ways to go before they join the NFC’s elite — dumb penalties, for one, let Atlanta back into the game time and again — but with Daniels under center, they’ve locked down their most crucial position for the foreseeable future. The fans responded, with a stadium as loud as it’s been since the days of Joe Gibbs and Mark Rypien. Good days are ahead in Washington, and when’s the last time you could say that?

ASKED: Cincinnati isn’t really going to do this, are they?

You couldn’t really pick a more appropriate metaphor for the entire Bengals season than the Broncos game this week. Joe Burrow leads Cincinnati to a go-ahead touchdown with 91 seconds remaining … and the defense surrenders a game-tying touchdown to force overtime. Burrow leads the Bengals in overtime to set up a 33-yard game-winning field goal … and the ball doinks off the upright. Finally, with just 90 seconds remaining in overtime, Burrow makes a third attempt at a game-winner, and this one sticks.

Somehow, Cincinnati is only just now reaching .500 on the season, and somehow, the Bengals — who started 0-3 — are still in the playoff mix. Cincinnati has ; they have to hope that both the Chiefs backups and the Jets pull off wins this week, which is the very definition of faint hope. But the fact that Burrow is in the MVP conversation, behind just Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Saquon Barkley, is nothing short of amazing. Surround this guy with more defensive talent, Cincinnati, and he’ll take you back to the promised land.

ANSWERED: Tampa Bay could be a sneaky-tough playoff out

You may have seen this photo circulating around social media of late, Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield in Carolina Panthers uniforms:

The not-so-subtle implication is that Darnold and Mayfield thrived once they found the proper situations, and the Panthers continue to rot because of institutional incompetence. (The not-so-subtle implication is not wrong.) The more immediate issue is that these are two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL right now, and depending on how Week 18 shakes out, they might just end up facing each other in the opening round of the playoffs. (In which case you’ll see this photo roughly a billion times.)

What Sunday showed us was that Mayfield and Tampa Bay, even though they’ll need all 18 weeks to (potentially) clinch a playoff berth, would not be an easy out at the #4 seed. Mayfield has the skills, the receivers, the gameplan and the backfield protection to run with just about any team in the NFL. That’s not to say the Bucs are Super Bowl-level contenders, just that they can make life miserable for the teams that are. Be wary of teams that play their best games in the most crucial moments, like Tampa Bay did this past weekend … they’re dangerous, especially if you’re overlooking them.

ASKED: What do the Bears do?

This is a deep dive for the offseason, but seriously, what in the world do the Chicago Bears do now? Thursday night’s 6-3 loss to the Seahawks was easily the most depressing game of the year, a slog that was no fun for anyone at all and actively burned three hours of the precious time we all have on this earth.

The game ended, appropriately enough, with Caleb Williams getting leveled and the fans chanting “Sell the team!” But is that the right option? Should Chicago burn it all to the ground and start fresh? Should GM Ryan Poles get the chance to right the ship? Should the McCaskey family just divest itself of this anchor? It’s going to be a tense offseason around Halas Hall, one way or another.

ANSWERED: Is Aaron Rodgers really that bad this year?

The conventional wisdom on Aaron Rodgers is that he’s cashed, nothing more to give on a team with nothing to play for. But how true is that? Consider his stats: Completion percentage of 63%, 3,623 yards passing, 24 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and a passer rating of 89.1.

Now, consider the stats of another notable quarterback, this one playoff-bound: Completion percentage of 67.5%, 3,928 yards passing, 26 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and a passer rating of 93.5. Not all that different, right? Rodgers is about one beyond-the-sticks pass a game from being identical to that other quarterback … who happens to be Patrick Mahomes.

The difference, of course, is in the teams’ record: Mahomes’ Chiefs are 15-1, while the Jets are 4-12. The difference is also in personnel, playcalling, and late-game execution. Mahomes, for instance, has led Kansas City on seven game-winning drives (fourth quarter or overtime that put the winning team ahead for the final time), while Rodgers only has three.

None of this is to say that Rodgers is still an MVP-level quarterback. Indeed, it’s probably more an indictment of Mahomes than praise of Rodgers. But it’s also true that the margin between genius and stupid is impossibly thin in the NFL, and a few plays here or there can mean the difference between a first-round bye and irrelevance.