Week 13 panic meter: Eagles, Colts, Ravens, Steelers, Lions - ESPN

Week 13 is in the books. It was a chippy one! There was plenty of — as the broadcasters would say — pushing and shoving in Patriots-Giants, Jaguars-Titans and Steelers-Bills. As the weather gets colder and playoff hopes dwindle, so the skirmishes begin. Just know that if any of you hit my editors late, I'll be coming over with bad intentions.

Every Tuesday, I'll spin the previous week of NFL action forward, looking at what the biggest storylines mean and what comes next. We'll seek measured reactions to everyone's overreactions, celebrate the exciting stuff that nobody is appreciating and highlight what you might have missed.

There will be film. There will be stats (a whole section of them). And there will be fun.

Jump to a section:
Big Thing: Panic meter for five teams
Second Take: It's OK for the Bills to run
Mailbag: Answering questions from… you
Next Ben Stats: Wild Week 13 stats

Every week, this column will kick off with one wide look at a key game, player or trend from the previous slate of NFL action. What does it mean for the rest of the season? This week, we're looking at five playoff contenders to gauge how panicked they should be about recent skids.

Panic meter: DEFCON 1,000,000

(Yes, I understand that the bigger DEFCON numbers are actually less severe. «DEFCON 1» just doesn't sound as good.)

The Steelers' 2025 offseason did not work. They pursued Aaron Rodgers in the belief that the 41-year-old quarterback had another year of championship-caliber play in him, and he clearly doesn't. They swapped safety Minkah Fitzpatrick for Jalen Ramsey in the belief that Ramsey could still play cornerback and give them unprecedented versatility in the defensive backfield, and he couldn't and hasn't. They extended T.J.