The one-year, $10 million contract he signed with the Minnesota Vikings last offseason will be pittance compared to what he'll fetch in the open market after yet another stellar game as Minnesota's super sub.
The former No. 3 overall pick shook off what looked to be a scary foot injury and led the Vikings on a game-winning field-goal drive in overtime to survive the Chicago Bears in Week 12.
On the day, Darnold completed 22 of 32 passes for 330 yards and two touchdowns. Darnold's weekly QB+ (83.4) ranked second among all NFL quarterbacks entering Monday night's game. On the season, his QB+ is 78.3 -- good for 14th in the league and certainly good enough for a shot to start for a team in 2025.
About the only thing to go wrong for Mayfield in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 23-point beatdown of Big Blue was the stinger he suffered on a botched handoff in the fourth quarter.
Beyond that, it was smooth sailing for Mayfield, who completed 80% of his passes, averaged 9.8 yards per attempt, and had one of Tampa Bay's four rushing touchdowns.
Mayfield had the NFL's No. 1 QB+ rating of the week through Sunday's games (89) and is 11th on the year (84.4). His high-level performance Sunday helped the Buccaneers snap a four-game losing streak and improve their playoff chances to 55.1%, per PFN's Playoff Predictor.
The prospect of a long-grueling recovery triggered "dark thoughts" that his career might be over, Chubb told The Players' Tribune earlier this season.
So the least we can do for Chubb after scoring the game-winning touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 12 (his second of two touchdowns on the day) is send a (virtual) game ball his way.
The Philadelphia Eagles RB went for a franchise-record 255 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the 37-20 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. Barkley had an absurd 302 yards from scrimmage and averaged 10 yards per touch. He and the Eagles' excellent offensive line is almost an unfair pairing.
Waddle had become the fourth option on a Miami Dolphins offense that was running through De'Von Achane and Jonnu Smith due in no small part to coverage choices made by the opposition.
Defensive coordinators have been determined to keep Waddle and Tyreek Hill in front of them, which has opened up massive chunks of intermediate real estate for Achane and Smith.
But Waddle is still plenty capable of having monster games like the one he had in Miami's beatdown of the New England Patriots. Waddle went for 144 yards (second-most in his career) and a touchdown on eight catches in Week 12.
Mahomes was Superman Sunday, up to and including his 33-yard scramble that set up Spencer Shrader's game-winning field goal as time expired in the Chiefs' 30-27 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
But we're going Noah Gray here. Why? It's got to be a pretty anonymous life being the guy who backs up the guy who's dating Taylor Swift.
But Gray took a backseat to no one, Travis Kelce included, in the Chiefs' latest escape act.
Gray caught two of Mahomes' three touchdown passes, had four receptions for a team-high 66 yards, and was on the field for 44 of 74 snaps Sunday.
Why throw the ball when defensive touchdowns were about the only way Green Bay could lose?
But that game plan only works if the offensive line has its act together. And on Sunday, Rasheed Walker, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Sean Rhyan, and Zach Tom certainly did.
The Packers rushed for 169 yards and three touchdowns and allowed just two sacks in a 38-10 beatdown of the rival 49ers.
A big part of the Titans' defensive performance? Linebacker Kenneth Murray, who had a team-high seven tackles (including two for loss), an interception, two passes defensed, and a quarterback hit.
One of Murray's two PBUs came on the Texans' final drive, on deep coverage of Nico Collins. The next two Houston snaps were sacks by Jeffery Simmons and Harold Landry. Landry dropped C.J. Stroud in the end zone for a game-sealing safety.
Murray, Simmons, and Landry were all big parts of the league's No. 3 defensive performance of the week entering Monday night, per DEF+ (83.0).
On Sunday, Franklin-Myers had a game-high six pressures in 36 pass-rush snaps (16.7%) and helped limit the Las Vegas Raiders to 69 rushing yards in a 29-19 Broncos victory.
Denver had the week's No. 5 defensive performance entering Monday's action per DEF+ (82.2) to remain first in the season-long rating (93.1).
For the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday's game changed completely when safety Coby Bryant picked off Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray and returned the ball 69 yards for a touchdown.
The pick-six came on 4th-and-1 from the Seattle 40 midway through the third quarter, with Arizona trailing 7-3. Murray airmailed a wide-open Michael Wilson by a good five yards, and Bryant took advantage.
The play was at least a nine-point swing (the Seahawks missed the extra point) in a game the Cardinals lost by 10.
Literally half the Lions' starting defense was hurt (including Carlton Davis, who left the game with a groin injury), and yet Glenn's unit still held the Colts to 268 yards, 11 first downs, 3 of 12 third-down conversions, and completions on just 39.3% of their pass attempts.
Certainly, Anthony Richardson has long had accuracy issues, but Glenn's scheme forced him to regress significantly after a strong game last week.
In all, the Lions had the second-best defensive performance of Week 12 through Sunday's games, per DEF+ (86.5). And they did so without a sack or a turnover and just one tackle for loss.
So it's entirely possible that Sunday's wild 34-26 victory over the Washington Commanders -- which featured 31 points scored in the final 3:02 -- will be the last marquee win of McCarthy's long career.
If so, we send a Week 12 Game Ball as a parting gift for a colorful NFL figure who, on Sunday, moved into sole possession of 14th place on the all-time list of wins by a head coach (171).
As was the case in their previous two meetings -- including Super Bowl 47 all those years ago -- Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh got the best of his little bro, beating Jim's Los Angeles Chargers 30-23 on Monday Night Football.
The Ravens got the bounce-back performance on offense they needed after a one-week hiccup against the Steelers.
Baltimore dismantled L.A.'s stout defense by scoring on five consecutive possessions, and Derrick Henry did the heavy lifting. The AFC's leading rusher went for 140 yards on 24 carries.