NFL Week 10 winners and losers: Chiefs go 9-0, Eagles crush Cowboys

The second half of the 2024 NFL regular season is underway.

With Week 10 officially underway, the battle for postseason positioning is heating up. The early window of games on Sunday were an indication of the elevated intensity, with six of the seven games decided by five points or less.

The latter window featured just three games, but none of them were close.

Here are the winners and losers from Sunday's Week 10 action:

WINNER: Chiefs always find a way

The Kansas City Chiefs are finding new ways to win every single week.

Sunday was perhaps their most improbable victory of the season, with a blocked 35-yard field goal at the buzzer preserving a 16-14 win over the Denver Broncos. Now 9-0, the Chiefs have seven wins by seven points or fewer. While some might consider that luck, there's something to be said about how well the two-time defending Super Bowl champions execute in the clutch week after week.

Patrick Mahomes was underwhelming again by his standards, with 266 passing yards and one touchdown. Broncos rookie QB Bo Nix had one of his best games of the season (215 yards, two touchdowns, no turnovers). The Chiefs had to settle for three chip-shot field goals. And, of course, none of it ended up mattering in the end for Kansas City.

LOSER: Commanders penalty proves costly

The Washington Commanders didn't give themselves a chance to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the final minutes.

With Pittsburgh leading 28-27 and just over a minute to play, Russell Wilson lined his offense up to go for it on fourth and 2. Washington, which had no timeouts remaining, just had to stay on its side of the ball and wait for the Steelers to call a timeout and punt it away. But rookie Johnny Newton jumped offsides for a neutral zone infraction, which gave the Steelers a first down and the win.

The game itself was a thriller up until that point with both teams vying for a signature win. Wilson had three touchdowns, including the game winner to newly acquired wideout Mike Williams with 2:22 to play. Jayden Daniels had an up-and-down game against a great defense, completing just 50% of his passes for 202 yards. Pittsburgh is now 7-2, while Washington fell to 7-3.

WINNER: Drake Maye bests Caleb Williams

In a battle of rookie quarterbacks that became a defensive fight, the New England Patriots defeated the Chicago Bears 19-3 at Soldier Field.

Caleb Williams and the Bears offense couldn't get anything going, while Drake Maye and the Patriots did enough to cruise to victory. The No. 1 overall pick finished 16 of 30 for 120 yards in the loss, as the Bears have just one touchdown in the last three games following their bye week.

On the other side, the No. 3 overall pick went 15 of 25 for 184 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The Patriots have slowly turned their season around since giving Maye the keys to the offense, with two wins and an overtime loss in the last three weeks. Still just 3-7, the Patriots can at least start to take some positives out of this season as Maye continues to develop nicely.

LOSER: Jaguars' discipline

The Jacksonville Jaguars' defense was stellar against the Minnesota Vikings... until it mattered most.

Jacksonville did not allow a touchdown to the vaunted Minnesota offense. The group intercepted Sam Darnold three times and forced the Vikings to go 0 for 5 in the red zone. But with a chance to get the ball back while trailing 12-7 in the final minute, Travon Walker threw a punch and effectively ended the game by giving the Vikings a first down.

Mac Jones, filling in for the injured Trevor Lawrence, didn't do much to help his defense in this one. The former first-rounder went 14 of 22 for 111 yards and two interceptions in his first start for his hometown Jags.

WINNER: Darren Rizzi

The New Orleans Saints got the job done for the interim coach in his debut.

Darren Rizzi, in place of Dennis Allen, helped snap the Saints' seven-game losing streak in Sunday's 20-17 win over the rival Atlanta Falcons. It wasn't a perfect performance, but New Orleans didn't turn the ball over and benefited from three missed field goals by Younghoe Koo to get back in the win column.

For the Falcons, the loss snaps a two-game winning streak and costs them a chance to extend their NFC South lead. Atlanta still leads the division by two games, but it has been far from a juggernaut with five of their six wins coming by six points or fewer.

LOSER: Joe Flacco isn't teaching Anthony Richardson

When the Indianapolis Colts benched Anthony Richardson for Joe Flacco two weeks ago, the general thought was that the veteran could teach the second-year QB some things. While that may be happening behind the scenes, the on-field product isn't promising.

Flacco had four turnovers in Sunday's 30-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills, with two interceptions in the first quarter and an interception and fumble in the second half. The Colts (4-6) had plenty of chances to beat the Bills (8-2), but they just couldn't take care of the ball. Josh Allen had two interceptions for Buffalo and Indy led 13-10 in the first half despite Flacco's turnovers.

With the Colts now two games below .500, it would make sense to bring Richardson back in the near future. The team isn't a Super Bowl contender and Richardson needs reps to improve. Nobody truly knows if he's a franchise quarterback, and the Colts aren't going to learn that with him sitting on the bench behind a struggling 39-year-old.

WINNER: Jake Moody redeems himself

The San Francisco 49ers were on their way to a frustrating result against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before their kicker finally stepped up.

Jake Moody, in his first game since Oct. 6 due to injury, made just 3 of 6 field goals -- but he buried the one that mattered most. The second-year kicker missed from 50, 49 and 44 yards before hitting a 44-yarder as time expired to secure a 23-20 win.

The 49ers improved to 5-4 with the win, keeping them firmly in the mix to win the NFC West. Christian McCaffrey provided a boost in his first game of the season, although he didn't quite look like himself just yet. The reigning Offensive Player of the Year had 39 rushing yards and 68 receiving yards in the win.

LOSER: Jets get scorched in Arizona

If there was more evidence needed that the New York Jets' season was in the books, this was it. New York fell to 3-7 on the season after the Cardinals scorched it 31-6 in Arizona, taking a 24-6 lead at the break before cooling down.

Aaron Rodgers completed just 22 of 35 passes for 151 yards, no touchdowns and no picks with Davante Adams bringing in six catches for a grand total of 31 yards.

Meanwhile, Arizona kept first place in the NFC West at 6-4 behind Kyler Murray's phenomenal showing. Murray went 22 of 24 for 266 yards, one touchdown and no picks while adding two rushing touchdowns.

WINNER: Chargers keep winning

Justin Herbert didn't have to do much as the Chargers moved to 6-3 with a 27-17 home win vs. Tennessee. Herbert completed 14 of 18 passes for 164 yards, one touchdown and no picks while also rushing for 32 yards on nine carries and a score.

Tennessee got a decent showing from second-year signal caller Will Levis, who completed 18 of 23 passes for 175 yards, two touchdowns and no picks. But the Titans just couldn't put it together in time and added a touchdown late to help flatter the scoreboard.

Tennessee dropped to 2-7 while Los Angeles is now 6-3.

LOSER: Cowboys' QB situation worsens

The Dallas Cowboys have been bad with Dak Prescott under center. With their $60 million quarterback now out, Cooper Rush had to step in for heroics at home against the Philadelphia Eagles. Philadelphia easily won 34-6.

Rush completed just 13 of 23 passes for only 45 yards, then got benched for Trey Lance who completed 3 of 4 passes for only 17 yards and a pick. Dallas had five turnovers as a team. Philadelphia had two, but the Cowboys lacked the talent to capitalize.

Philadelphia moved to 7-2 while Dallas dropped to 3-6. Jalen Hurts registered four total touchdowns, two through the air and two on the ground.