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NFL Week 12: Kirk Cousins trending up, Jonathan Taylor visiting end zone

A familiar team rises to the top of the NFL, and a certain Vikings quarterback joins some exclusive company.

By Mark Craig

November 24, 2021 at 12:07AM

Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers. (Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

BEST TEAM

Patriots (7-4): Does the NFL even have a "best" team? Tennessee, the AFC's top team, had its six-game winning streak ended in a nine-point loss to a one-win Texans team. The NFC's top team, 9-2 Arizona, is 2-2 in its past four games. The Chiefs (7-4) are coming around, but for this week, let's go with the league's best-coached team. Bill Belichick is riding a five-game winning streak, and all five wins were against teams with first- or second-year head coaches.

WORST TEAM

Lions (0-9-1): At least they battled the AFC North, going 0-3-1 with a three-point loss to the Browns on Sunday, a two-point loss to the Ravens on a record 66-yard field goal, and a tie with the Steelers.

RANKING THE VIKINGS

No. 14 of 32: A two-game win streak against division leaders has the Vikings back to .500 and ranked behind only five NFC teams. And they beat one of those teams (Green Bay) and lost to two others (Dallas and Arizona) by a total of five points.

TRENDING UP

Kirk Cousins: The Vikings quarterback posted his 25^th game with at least 300 yards passing and three touchdowns. That moved him ahead of Aaron Rodgers into second place by a quarterback in his first 10 seasons. Cousins has seven games to catch Hall of Famer Dan Marino (26). Cousins now heads to San Francisco as the sixth player with at least two touchdown passes and a passer rating of 100-plus in seven straight road games. Carson Palmer set the record of eight in 2004-05. Cousins is tied with Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Tony Romo and Rodgers.

TRENDING DOWN

Division leaders: The Vikings, Texans and Colts were .500 or worse when they beat division leaders Green Bay, Tennessee and Buffalo, respectively. That makes 11 teams with records of .500 or worse that have beaten division leaders the past three weeks, the most in three weeks since 1970.

STAT OF THE WEEK

22 years, 306 days: Age of Colts running back Jonathan Taylor on Sunday when he scored five touchdowns in a win over the Bills. He joined Hall of Famer Gale Sayers (1965) and Clinton Portis (2003) as the only players under 23 to score five touchdowns in a game.

STAT TO WATCH

13:05: Time elapsed during San Francisco's game-opening drive against Jacksonville. The Jaguars won the coin toss, deferred and then played defense for the next 22 snaps, including two defensive penalties on third down. The 87-yard drive stalled at the Jaguars' 2-yard line, resulting in a 20-yard field goal. It was the NFL's longest drive time-wise since 1997 when Tennessee had one that lasted 13:27. When Jacksonville finally got the ball, it went three-and-out.

GAME OF WEEK 12

Rams (7-3) at Packers (8-3): Week 12 features five games between teams with winning records. These two teams are reeling heading into Sunday's game at Lambeau Field. Before last week's bye, the Rams lost two straight while being manhandled in 12- and 21-point losses to Tennessee and San Francisco. The Packers have lost two of their past three and couldn't beat the Vikings on a day when Rodgers threw for 385 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions and a 148.4 passer rating. Green Bay's red-zone defense ranks 30^th (73.33%) while kicker Mason Crosby has missed four of his past six field goal attempts, including a 32-yarder in Sunday's three-point loss to the Vikings.

about the writer

Mark Craig

Sports reporter

Mark Craig has covered the NFL nearly every year since Brett Favre was a rookie back in 1991. A sports writer since 1987, he is covering his 30th NFL season out of 37 years with the Canton (Ohio) Repository (1987-99) and the Star Tribune (1999-present).