Chargers, Bengals and Rams score big wins

The penultimate week of the NFL regular season featured a tripleheader on Saturday that pitted the Los Angeles Chargers against the New England Patriots, the Denver Broncos against the Cincinnati Bengals, and the finale ending with the Arizona Cardinals against the Los Angeles Rams.

Jim Harbaugh, Justin Herbert and the Chargers secured a spot in the playoffs with a win. The Bengals kept their playoff hopes alive by defeating the Broncos in overtime. And the Rams are on the verge of winning the NFC West title after winning in front of their home fans at SoFi Stadium.

USA TODAY Sports ranks the winners and losers of Saturday’s three NFL games:

WINNER

Justin Herbert

Herbert threw for 281 yards and a season-high three touchdowns in a 40-7 win over the Patriots.

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During the contest, Herbert surpassed Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning to become the NFL player with the most passing yards in five seasons. The Chargers quarterback has accumulated 20,747 passing yards in his five-year career.

Saturday’s win gave Herbert his second career playoff appearance (he is 0-1).

Jim Harbaugh

Harbaugh has turned programs around at all of his coaching stops. The head coach led Stanford out of college football purgatory and transformed the Cardinal into a Pac-10 power. He led the 49ers to a 44-19-1 record in four regular seasons and made one Super Bowl appearance. Then he turned around Michigan’s football program and helped the Wolverines win the 2023 national championship. Now he has led the Chargers to a playoff appearance in his first year at the helm.

Harbaugh’s Chargers punished the Patriots by advancing to the postseason for the fourth time since 2010. Fans at Gillette Stadium booed the Patriots as time expired.

It’s Harbaugh’s fourth time in the NFL playoffs. As head coach of the 49ers, he made the playoffs three times and reached the NFC title game each time.

T-shirt Higgins

Higgins, a soon-to-be free agent playing for the franchise, has proven he’s worth the money of a top wide receiver.

The Bengals wide receiver asserted himself in the Broncos’ secondary and dismantled them on various intermediate routes. He scored a career-best three touchdowns and did most of his damage on helpless Broncos cornerback Riley Moss.

Higgins hauled in a 31-yard reception on a go route in overtime to get the Bengals to the Denver 3-yard line. On the following play, Higgins caught the game-winning touchdown on an out route.

He had 11 catches, 131 yards and a hat trick of touchdowns in the overtime win. He was the player of the Saturday.

Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase and Mike Gesicki combined for 30 catches and 319 of Joe Burrow’s 412 passing yards.

The Bengals’ playoff hopes

A four-game winning streak kept the Bengals’ slim playoff hopes alive. Cincinnati needs the Indianapolis Colts and Miami Dolphins to lose; They have to beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh next week; and I need the Broncos to fall to the Kansas City Chiefs next week.

The Bengals are currently the most dangerous team outside of the playoffs…yet they need the most help to get in.

Ahkello Witherspoon

The Rams cornerback caught the game-winning interception with less than 45 seconds left.

Kyler Murray’s pass was deflected in the end zone by tight end Trey McBride. The ball hung in the air seemingly forever, and Witherspoon dove and caught it.

Witherspoon also added six tackles and two pass deflections.

LOSER

Patriots trick play

Midway through the second quarter, the Patriots tried to play nice and executed a toss reverse sweep. The timing of the piece was terrible. Drake Maye’s throw hit the ground and was caught by Chargers safety Derwin James.

The Los Angeles offense scored a touchdown off the turnover.

New England entered Week 17 with a turnover differential of minus-9, ranking 27th in the NFL. The Patriots lost the turnover battle 0-1 to the Chargers.

The Patriots were also 0-3 on fourth downs.

Riley Moss

Moss had a game-high 14 tackles against the Bengals, but that’s because Cincinnati attacked him the entire game.

The Broncos cornerback couldn’t cover Higgins at all. According to Next Gen Stats, Moss allowed seven catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns in 25 coverage snaps against Higgins, including the game-winning touchdown.

Broncos overtime offense

Bo Nix and Marvin Mims Jr. secured overtime with a spectacular touchdown. However, Denver’s overtime performance was the opposite of spectacular.

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Chargers, Bengals and Rams score big wins

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