The stretch run is coming, one week at a time.
And to cap every remaining week, we’ll have out some awards.
You know the routine by now. Five winners. Plenty of other deserving finalists.
Here we go.
Offensive player of the week: Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
Superman has Kryptonite, and Patrick Mahomes has Joe Burrow.
The Bengals quarterback now has beaten the best player in the game three times in 2022. The latest extended Kansas City’s losing streak in Cincinnati to seven, dating all the way back to 1984.
Burrow did exactly what he’s been doing since entering the league in 2020. He made big throws in big spots. He took big hits without flinching. And he took down, once again, the biggest, baddest team on the AFC block.
The Chiefs have now lost to both the Bills and the Bengals. On January 2, the Bills and the Bengals get together on the last Monday night of the season. It’s a game that will have a major impact on the all-important No. 1 seed in the AFC.
Thanks to Burrow, the Bengals now must be taken seriously as a team that can steal that distinction from the Bills and the Chiefs.
Other finalists: Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith, Eagles receiver A.J. Brown, Raiders receiver Davonte Adams, Lions quarterback Jared Goff, Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.
Defensive player of the week: Rams linebacker Bobby Wagner.
Usually, these awards go only to victors. The Rams once again were not. But Wagner, in his first year with the Rams after a decade with the Seahawks, showed his former team what it is missing.
He had five tackles, two assists, two sacks, three tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, one interception, and one pass defended, playing all 67 defensive snaps and five special-teams snaps for good measure.
The Seahawks are contenders without Wagner this year. Think of how much better they’d be if they’d just kept him around.
Other finalists: 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa, Raiders pass rusher Chandler Jones, Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith, Cowboys defensive back Malik Hooker.
Rookies of the week: 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.
Backup quarterbacks have to be ready to play at the drop of a hat. Purdy, a rookie who had a few cameo appearances in garbage time this season, had to take over early, after Jimmy Garoppolo exited with a foot injury.
Purdy completed 25 of 37 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns (also on interception) for an offense that didn’t miss a beat -- and that (coupled with a stout defense) thumped the red-hot Miami Dolphins, 33-17.
Purdy will get a chance to win this award again, and again. He’ll be the starter at least through the rest of the regular season, and likely (but now not definitely) beyond.
Other finalists: Jets receiver Garrett Wilson, Packers receiver Christian Watson, Broncos tight end Greg Dulcich, Commanders receiver Jahan Dotson, Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland.
Coach of the week: Lions coach Dan Campbell.
After the Lions started 1-6, it once again looked as if ownership would be pulling the plug on the latest reboot of the franchise. They were scoring plenty of points, but they weren’t winning games.
Then came a tough, hard-fought, 15-9 win over the Packers. Then came a high-scoring, back-and-forth, rollercoaster 31-30 win at Chicago. Then came the signature win, a road victory by 13 over the Giants, at a time when the Giants were as hot as the Lions are now.
Undeterred by a late lost to the Bills on Thanksgiving, the Lions made themselves into a true contender in the NFC by destroying the Jaguars, 40-14.
Jacksonville was actually favored to win, after beating the Ravens. And then the Lions made the Jaguars look like the team they’ve pretty much been ever since losing the AFC Championship five years ago.
Now, the Lions host a team that is truly surging for the first time since losing the NFC Championship five years ago. And Detroit can’t play the “no one believes in us” card; the Lions are favored by 2.5 points over the 10-2 Vikings.
Other finalists: 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, Bengals coach Zac Taylor, Ravens coach John Harbaugh.
Play of the week: Tom Brady’s game-winning touchdown pass to Rachaad White.
Sure, the officials looked the other way on holding (on nearly every play) by tackle Donovan Smith, if only to give the Bucs a chance to make things interesting when they were down 16-3 with five minutes left. But Brady still had to make the throws and move the ball and ultimately win the game with a touchdown pass with less than 10 seconds remaining.
He capped the dramatic comeback with a six-yard touchdown pass to running back Rachaad White -- after a more impressive through to receiver Chris Godwin was wiped out by one of the rare instances in which the officials called holding on Smith.
Other finalists: Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’s touchdown run, the game-clinching interception by Vikings cornerback Cam Bynum, a 45-yard flea-flicker touchdown pass from Raiders quarterback Derek Carr to receiver Davante Adams, Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf’s game-winning touchdown catch, Titans receiver Treylon Burks’s 25-yard touchdown catch, Packers receiver Christian Watson’s 46-yard touchdown run, Dolphins receiver Trent Sherfield’s 75-yard catch and run for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, Bears quarterback Justin Fields’s 55-yard touchdown run,
