There is no arena quite like the NFL in December, but as the regular seasonâs endgame comes into focus, a story is unfolding far different from the one projected in preseason. Unseen since the days of Tom Brady, the AFC shockingly runs through Foxborough once again, with MVP favorite Drake Maye leading the New England Patriots to an 11-2 record through 13 weeks, the best in the entire conference. The upstart Denver Broncos are also just one game behind, courtesy of their overtime victory against the Washington Commanders.
But while these two are thriving, a slew of the league's biggest names are floundering. As such, the pressure is now being ramped up, but which quarterbacks are under the most pressure as the postseason looms? Let's take a look.
Patrick Mahomes
Has the inevitable truly arrived in Kansas City? Patrick Mahomes has spent the better part of a decade ruling over the AFC with an iron fist, reaching at least the conference championships in every one of his eight seasons in the NFL. Throughout that run, the former Texas Tech standout has led the Chiefs to five Super Bowls, winning three of them, while if they were to reach the Big Game this season, they would match the Buffalo Bills' record of four straight Super Bowl appearances.
However, right now, a spot in the San Francisco showpiece looks a million miles away. After yet another disappointing loss on the road, this time to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving, the Chiefs currently sit 6-6 and are in very real danger of missing the playoffs altogether, let alone the Super Bowl. Indeed, online betting sites remain unconvinced.
The latest NFL betting at Bovada odds currently make Andy Reid's men a +120 outsider to reach the playoffs, a price that nobody would have believed when the Chiefs were playing in their third straight Super Bowl back in February. But that is indeed the position the mercurial Mahomes now finds himself in, and the pressure is on to win at least four of the next five games in order to prevent a catastrophe.
Can Mahomes single-handedly drag this team across the finish line? Chiefs beat reporters suggest the locker room believes he can, but the road ahead is perilous: three playoff-caliber opponents and a resurgent Broncos squad looking to complete a generational shift in the West. Mahomesâs task is both forensic and Herculean: diagnose an offensive malaise while fending off the growing Greek chorus of critics who claim this, at last, is the end of an era.
If the Chiefs lose this game will they miss the playoffs? pic.twitter.com/DGhm3nukTg
— Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) November 23, 2025
Jalen Hurts
Philadelphia is not a place for the faint-hearted, and Jalen Hurts knows it better than most. After a fall that promised more magic, the mood has soured. Two straight losses against the Cowboys and Bears have triggered a civic alarm. The Eaglesâ offense, symphonic in the destruction of the Chiefs in New Orleans back in February, now struggles for coherence, and the echo of 2023âs late collapse haunts every snap.
The numbers are damning: sacks are up 30% over the last four weeks, and the once-lethal connection to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith appears jammed by tentative timing and shoddy protection. Expert breakdowns attribute much of the downturn to inconsistent adjustments at the line and uncharacteristic hesitancy in Hurtsâ decision-making with the pocket collapsing. Add to that an insistence on consistently handing the ball off to Saquon Barkley, despite a prepared defense expecting the run on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage, and it's clear that there is work to do at the Linc.
This ongoing crisis is as emotional as it is schematic. Hurts is a proven leader, his dulcet calm the heart of Philadelphiaâs Super Bowl heroics in Louisianaâbut the questions now are existential. Can he repair the mechanics before the cityâs patience evaporates? Does this team have the collective resilience to wrestle back momentum? The next five games will be a crucible; five more weeks to prove the Eaglesâ Super Bowl window is still open, or risk sealing it with another collapse.
Lamar Jackson
There are few more captivating players in football than Lamar Jackson running headlong into open space; few whose fates are so deeply entwined with the pulse of their franchise. But the 2025 season has tested both the two-time MVP's resolve and Baltimoreâs identity. An injury in the week four defeat to the Chiefs pressed pause on Jacksonâs campaign at its most critical juncture, and his side duly slumped to 1-5. Since his return, the Ravens have improved, but a shambolic display in the Thanksgiving drubbing at home to Joe Burrow's Bengals now sees them sit at 6-6, a record that barely keeps playoff hopes alive in an AFC North where no team has seized control.
Yet the opportunity remains. Neither the Steelers nor Cincinnati has managed to flex their muscles, with the former also at 6-6 and the latter needing to win out to have any hope at all of winning the division. As such, Jackson now faces a race against the clock. Can he rediscover his form and fitness and lead his team deep into the postseason? Anything less and questions will begin to circle over the direction of a franchise desperate to return to the summit.
