The 2025 season wasn’t without its drama for the National Football League. As usual, teams that dominated last year (the Detroit Lions, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles) fell short of expectations, while other teams (the Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars) rose from the ashes, stars in their eyes and the Lombardi Trophy on their horizon.
But this year, new themes and scandals and surprises emerged. Out of all the teams in the entire AFC, the one that secured the #1 seed and hosted the conference championship was… the Denver Broncos. The Broncos. The playoffs were completely without the Chiefs for the first time since 2014, the head coaching carousel spun faster than ever, and somehow, Jerry Jones is still making terrible decisions.
These are the biggest stories from the 2025 season (playoffs included), with some honorable mentions at the end for Jerry Jones’ said decisions and one of the most brutally honest, memorable phrases ever expressed by an NFL quarterback.
The Chiefs Were Bad, Yay
Let’s get this out of the way so we can stop talking about them. The Chiefs completely flamed out this season, and no one’s exactly upset.
Last year, the Chiefs broke the NFL record for the number of games won by one score (11). This year, that voodoo magic caught up to them, and we found ourselves seriously questioning the staying power of the Chiefs in October. By December, the Chiefs were officially out of the postseason, based on their own record and their quarterback’s torn ACL (which was yet another injury that made headlines this season… more on that later).
What happened? Besides the bad juju, it’s well known that Patrick Mahomes doesn’t have many reliable offensive weapons outside of Travis Kelce (who, according to NFL standards, is getting old). The Chiefs’ defense didn’t show up this season, and, well, for the first time in a while, other teams in the AFC West (cough Broncos cough) just simply played better.
Are we experiencing a mere dip in the Chiefs’ dynasty, or will we look back and see that 2025 was the year everything changed? Time will tell. All we know is that Travis Kelce can now solely focus on his wedding to someone named Taylor Swift.
Parity Gripped the League
We don’t remember because the Seahawks and Patriots were so good all year, but at the beginning of the season, no one would have picked those two teams to make it to the Super Bowl. They had terrible or okay records last year, okay quarterbacks, and okay coaches—until Mike Vrabel arrived in Boston and Sam Darnold arrived in Seattle, and that changed everything.
But we’re not talking about the Super Bowl just yet. We’re talking about the whole season, which was really defined by its parity. By definition, parity in sports is an equitable competitive environment where the outcome is unpredictable and certain teams are not significantly superior to others.
In other words, parity = anything can happen. This year, the Bears went from the worst to the best in the NFC North, the Chiefs lost their division for the first time in ten years, and the Carolina Panthers were actually competitive in the playoffs.
Leagues love parity because it drives interest and engagement (read: money), but more than that, teams love parity, and fans love parity, because you will die on a hill believing your team has a real chance even if they kind of suck.
This year, winning in the NFL seemed more wide open than ever as there weren’t really any dominant teams. It’s rare to sustain success because so much has to fall into place to have a winning season, let alone make it to the Super Bowl, let alone make it multiple years in a row. But this year, the NFL was especially weird. It’s like someone took all the teams and tossed them in a bowl and picked out winning teams at random. Once the postseason settled, it truly seemed like any of the teams in the playoffs had a chance to make it all the way, especially in the NFC. (Sorry, Josh Allen).
Maybe this is more of the NFL’s scriptwriting, but this was the most exciting and unpredictable January in years, capping off an exciting and unpredictable season.
Injuries Took Center Stage
Football is more than a tough game. Players risk their health and safety every time they get on the field, and it’s easy to forget that when we get swept up in the spectacle of the NFL. A lot of measures have been taken to make the game safer, but every year, injuries are prominent and terrible.
This year, that seemed to especially be true. And, it seemed to especially hit quarterbacks. Although you have to question whether it just seemed like injuries were a huge part of the story this year, or if the issue was just exaggerated more than usual by the way that our society places more importance and more of the spotlight on the quarterbacks.
Here’s where we break out the bullet points to make this content about quarterback injuries more digestible:
- The New York Giants’ quarterback Jaxson Dart took too many risks, suffered multiple concussions, and there was some blue tent drama in which the NFL’s concussion protocol was interfered with during a game (which supposedly, in part, led to the Giants firing their head coach). Dart was out for multiple games and the team specifically looked for a new head coach that could teach the kid how to safely slide.
- Patrick Mahomes suffered an ACL and LCL tear in December, ending his season the same day that the Chiefs officially were out of the playoffs based on their record.
- Daniel Jones, the quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, suffered an Achilles tear midway through the season right when the Colts were riding high and honestly considered to be the best team in the entire league. With Jones out, the Colts’ hopes came crashing down and put Jones’ future at risk since he only signed a one-year deal with the team. While it’s devastating that an up-and-coming quarterback got taken out that way, Jones was also already playing on a fractured fibula.
- Perennially injured quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow could not play the superhero this season. Jackson injured his hamstring and was out for multiple weeks, returning to help his team almost reach the playoffs if it weren’t for one missed field goal, while Burrow had turf toe right at the beginning of the season, gutting the Cincinnati Bengals for most of the season.
- In one of the most high-profile quarterback injuries, Bo Nix broke his ankle during overtime in the Bronco’s playoff win against the Buffalo Bills, leading to the team relying on their backup quarterback (who had not thrown an NFL pass in two years) for the AFC championship. And, apparently, Sean Payton would not have drafted Nix if he’d known about the quarterback’s injury history.
It wasn’t just the quarterbacks, though. The Green Bay Packers’ entire season tanked after Micah Parsons had an ACL injury in December (more on that below), and the San Francisco 49ers have endured so many injuries to their roster in the last couple of years, they were actually investigating a conspiracy theory involving the location of their practice field close to an electrical substation.
This is where I feel a little uneasy about watching football, and you should, too. The reality is, NFL players risk their bodies every time they step onto the field, and beyond that, CTE and mental health issues are becoming more understood. While a lot of progress has been made to ensure players are a little more protected—including Guardian Caps, those huge helmets you saw some players wear this season—it’s not entirely possible to make contact football a safe sport.
Something’s Brewing in Chicago
So has head coach Ben Johnson and his scary shirtless locker room screaming. I mean, whatever gets Chicagoans free hotdogs gets Chicagoans free hotdogs.
The Bears had a dream season. Probably the season they’ve been praying (and crying) for since the ‘80s. After years and years of cursed quarterbacks, poor draft picks, and futile effort, the Bears not only made it to the playoffs, they won their division and beat the Packers repeatedly along the way. Second-year quarterback Williams made some magical throws and first-year head coach Johnson was apparently just what the franchise needed to click into success.
I’m happy for Chicago. I really am. And that’s not just because the Bears are one of my side teams. This ties into the parity mentioned earlier. For years, the Packers—and Aaron Rodgers in particular—have owned the Bears, who were kind of the little brother of the NFC North as they struggled to gain any traction in a gritty division. At what point does a franchise just suffer from bad luck?
The Bears have proved how much can change when the right quarterback is paired with the right head coach. You just have to root for Williams and his manicures, and for fans who are willing to stick it out in a stadium that gets as low as -10 degrees with the windchill coming off of Lake Michigan. The cheese graters are a little mean, but… Chicago is so starved for attention and success, I’ll accept it.
Coaches Were Fired for… Being Successful?
This season, we saw brand-new head coaches take their teams far, making it all the way to deep playoff runs and even the Super Bowl (Vrabel and the Patriots). Those new coaches sparked something in their franchises. They vibed with quarterbacks like Caleb Williams and Trevor Lawrence and showed us why those players were top picks years ago. They proved that sometimes, all it takes to turn an entire franchise around is the right head coach.
That quick success meant that this year, long-tenured head coaches were in trouble. Those coaches who had repeatedly brought their teams into the playoffs only to burn out with just one Super Bowl to their name (or none). Namely: Mike Tomlin after 19 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sean McDermott of the Buffalo Bills after 9 seasons, and John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens after 18 seasons. (Also, I think literally 80% of NFL coaches are named Mike, John, or Sean. If you have that name, there is a very high probability that you could be an NFL head coach).
Tomlin resigned, which is different, but Harbaugh’s and McDermott’s firings were a shock, and the central theme here is that apparently leading your team to the postseason and having an overall winning record isn’t enough for head coaches to stick around, anymore. You have to take your team to the Super Bowl, and not take a decade to get there. Harbaugh’s firing particularly seemed to come out of nowhere, especially when he repeatedly proved that he is indeed a good coach.
McDermott’s firing came with a ton of drama (courtesy of yet another cray-cray franchise billionaire). Both of those coaches had successful teams, central quarterbacks in Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, and apparently were let go for taking their time to bring those quarterbacks all the way.
Impatience is brewing in the NFL more than ever. With the splash brand-new head coaches are making, we’ll see if it becomes even harder for coaches to have secure jobs as the expectations loom larger and larger.
Honorable mentions
A Grandfather Played Quarterback
Yes, that sentence is correct. A grandfather played several games as quarterback this year, and it’s not the cranky old grandpa you’re imagining, it’s 44-year-old Phillip Rivers, who came out of retirement to start for the Colts and has 10 kids (dude will get flagged for too many men on the field if he has more kids).
The Colts had a crushing season. After starting 7-1, Daniel Jones (as mentioned above) suffered a season-ending injury, and all of the hope was sucked out of Lucas Oil Stadium. Rivers came in to save the Colts, but… he didn’t. That’s the one thing everyone could have predicted this season. Still—a guy coming out of retirement to play the hero, and all of his cute kids (and one grandkid) were watching. Cool.
The Micah Parsons Trade
Okay this early-season trade of Micah Parsons from the Dallas Cowboys to the Packers had a lot of tea. A star player asking to leave his team? Handshakes behind closed doors? Jerry Jones being stupid and spicy?
Long story short, a generational player who literally makes or breaks a team’s success was fed up with negotiations over his contract and left for a team that could actually maybe compete for a Super Bowl. The Cowboys’ owner didn’t want to let him go, and once Parsons was released and started, you know, winning, Jones acted like it was in his plan for the Cowboys all along. (Jones is the same guy who has a $250 million yacht and calls his stadium “Jerry World” so… that tracks).
And the Packers secured a core piece to their bruising defense, a reason to make it all the way to the Super Bowl… until Parsons, like so many other players this season, ended his season early with an ACL tear in December. So… the trade was not a win? For anybody? It just made Jerry Jones look even worse, which didn’t seem possible, but is kind of fun.
The Scheuder Sanders Mess
I guess having a famous dad who did really well in the NFL doesn’t mean that you’re going to do well in the NFL.
Scheuder Sanders, Deion Sander’s son, was the biggest story of the season’s draft. Predicted once upon a time to go within the first few picks, Sanders fell all the way to the fifth round, where he was selected by the Cleveland Browns and joined a crowded quarterbacks room that included three other players vying for the starting spot.
To no one’s surprise, the Browns still bottomed out this season and the quarterback play was a mess. Whether Sanders did well or not, so much attention and scrutiny was attached to him due to the legacy of his last name and his own attitude. If you’re going to claim that you’re better than other quarterbacks, you should… play better than other quarterbacks… but what do I know.
Maybe the Browns will finally have luck next year with a new head coach (who’s part of my alma mater! Todd Monken went to Knox College!!! That’s not the entire reason for this little section. Totally not).
Cam Ward’s Honesty
Speaking of the draft, the #1 pick went to the Titans, who took quarterback Cam Ward and promptly had a terrible season that involved firing their head coach midway through and gifting us this, the most honest answer any NFL player has ever given when he was asked about how his team was performing. I’ll just insert a link to it because my mom might be reading this blog post.
What’s Next?
So, 2025 was defined by parity, the Chiefs losing, shirtless Ben Johnson, and ACL tears. That’s probably exactly what the NFL hoped for when the season kicked off in early September.
Ultimately, we’re looking ahead to Super Bowl LX, where the Seahawks and Patriots will throw down in the California sunset and we’re all going to pray that this is not the beginning to another Patriots dynasty, because, again… parity. At least it’s not the Chiefs in the Super Bowl again.
Next year will tell us whether this whole season was a really weird blip in the NFL’s storybook, or the beginning of a new era. Maybe coaches will continue to be given even less time to prove themselves and the Bears will win Super Bowl LXI. Either way, the 2025 season gave us a lot to cheer for, a lot to think about, and a lot of cheese to grate.
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