Finally, after weeks of speculation and theorizing, we know exactly whose body Daphne bumped into on the last swim of her Sicilian vacation. We had to say farewell to our sole holdover from season one: Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya McQuoid. But since this is The White Lotusher death was, of course, anything but straightforward. And because of the endlessly expanding web that Mike White weaved over the last six episodes, that was just one of the many loose ends that this finale was tasked with tying up.

When our day begins, Ethan is still haunted by the thought of Harper and Cameron sleeping together, Daphne is FaceTiming her blonde and blue-eyed children, and Dominic is staring longingly at a photo of his absent wife and daughter (The photo they use for his wife, unfortunately, is not Laura Dern, but we can just pretend). Meanwhile, their son Albie is pillow-talking with Lucia and making big plans for her to come to Los Angeles. Such big plans, in fact, that he asks his father for 50,000 Euros to give her. Dominic balks at this truly insane idea until Albie calls it a karmic payment and promises to put in a good word with his mother if he agrees.

Elsewhere, in Ethan and Harper’s room, Ethan finally confronts his wife about her (real or imagined) tryst with Cameron that’s been occupying his mind for every waking moment. The pair go back and forth about who’s telling the truth about each of their respective suspicions, but finally Harper caves. She admits that they drunkenly came up to the room, where Cameron latched the door, but assures him that they just kissed. “So it wasn’t for the hat?” Ethan asks, referring to Harper’s original excuse for coming up to the room. “No, it wasn’t for the hat.” It was a drunken, stupid nothing, but the real issue, Harper says, is that Ethan isn’t attracted to her. This deflection doesn’t work because Ethan still doesn’t believe that she’s telling him the full story, and he’s convinced that more happened. Either way, one thing is for sure: Cameron tried to fuck his wife.

With this hunch now confirmed, Ethan storms out of the room in search of Cameron, who he finds and confronts while taking a swim at the beach — uh oh, the scene of the crime. Years of resentment over Cameron’s “mimetic desire” and constantly being treated as less than erupts as Ethan attacks his old roommate. The pair start brawling in the water like they’re Denise Richards and Neve Campbell in Wild Thingstaking turns holding one another down under the water and flirting with a drowning. Finally, it ends when Ethan delivers a swift punch squarely to Cameron’s face, and calmly exits the ocean.

His post-fight walk eventually leads him to Daphne lounging on the beach, who asks if he’s doing okay. He tells her that he thinks something happened between their spouses, and her face drops for a moment, but in true Daphne fashion, she bounces back. She tells him that she doesn’t think he has anything to worry about, before delivering yet another ethereal take about dealing with infidelity and how it’s impossible to know what really goes on in people’s minds. “You don’t have to know everything to love someone,” she says before echoing the same words she told Harper earlier in the trip about doing whatever you have to do to make yourself not feel like a victim. What does that entail in Ethan’s case? Well, a walk they take just the two of them implies that having sex themselves might be the thing that does the trick — Trading Spouses style.

Daphne could and should start a cult. I want to see her give spiritual advice to Oprah every week on Super Soul Sunday. She should wear flowy white gowns for healing retreats held in a field and black turtlenecks for corporate TED Talks. I want to read the book her ghostwriters put together after three stream-of-consciousness interviews over arugula salad. She should run for office. She should lead a country, for all I know! In saying goodbye to all of our guests, I’ll miss her most.

As Tanya prepares to head back to the hotel, she suddenly remembers the picture she found last night during her cocaine-fueled sexscapades. She understandably thought it might have been a dream, so she returns to the room to find that it was, in fact, real. As she examines it, Quentin walks in and tells her that the man in the photo’s name is Steve, and he worked on a dude ranch. “He looks just like Greg,” Tanya says, noting the uncanny resemblance.

Tanya has been willfully blind to every red flag that has come her way since we’ve met her — it’s a part of her charm! And she isn’t snapped out of that habit until she’s on the yacht and gets a call from Portia, who stole Jack’s phone to call her while he used the bathroom. When Portia tells her about her missing phone, Tanya finally fills her in on what she saw. “He was kinda … fuckin’ his uncle,” she says, reminding us all how lucky we are to live in a world where Jennifer Coolidge gets this kind of dialogue.

Portia thinks something bad is happening (no shit) and tells Tanya what Jack let slip the other night about Quentin not really being rich and how he’s supposed to come into a windfall. Suddenly Tanya’s rose-colored glasses are shattered, and it all hits her. Greg was the one who insisted they come to Sicily, and if they were to get divorced he’d get nothing, but if Tanya were to die … that’s another story. But when Jack returns, their call is cut short and they have to return to their respective captors.

“Can you just cut the shit? Have I been kidnapped?” Portia asks Jack outright. She tells him that she knows something is up and confronts him about fucking his “uncle.” This takes the wind out of Jack’s sails, who’s no longer in the mood to follow through with the plan of showing her around town to keep her occupied. He frighteningly tells her to just let him do his job, and Portia doesn’t understand how she’s a job to do.

Tanya, now anchored at the resort, has been informed that she won’t be leaving the yacht until later when her mafia-connected one-night stand Nicolo comes to fetch her via dinghy. Absolutely panicked, she scurries around the yacht attempting to call for help but drops her phone overboard: the sea’s first casualty. But ah! She spots the captain in his little knit cap; maybe he can help her. “Do you know these gays? Do you know these gays?” she urgently asks him, explaining everything and begging to be brought to shore. But of course, he doesn’t speak English, and the language barrier makes this whole conversation completely unfruitful. Worst of all, here comes Nicolo, who Tanya is convinced is her soon-to-be assassin.

A much different scene is playing out over dinner in the hotel restaurant, where all loose ends are tied up in neat little ribbons. Cameron finally slips Lucia the money he owes her before toasting his travel companions as if he wasn’t just pummeled in the ocean. Mia excitedly tells her number one fan, Bert, that she got the job as the pianist. And Dominic tells Albie that he made the karmic payment, and he goes to excitedly tell Lucia to check her bank account. For his part, a good word has been put in with his mother, so much so that when Dominic calls her that night, she actually answers (more Dern!).

Back in their room, Harper asks Ethan what’s going to happen to them, and suddenly they start having sex (finally!). Lifting her up onto the table, they knock over and shatter the moor heads vase that, as a symbolic omen of infidelity, has been haunting them the whole trip. Did Dr. Daphne’s advice and/or services actually work?

Things look bright for a moment, until we return to the yacht and remember that poor Tanya is being held captive. She’s haunted by Nicolo’s duffel bag, knowing from last night that it contains a gun — and now she’s trying to stall. She wants another glass of wine first, until the thought of it being poisoned seems to cross her mind.

Even though the paranoia is completely warranted, it’s such a great emotion to watch Jennifer Coolidge play with. It makes me mourn the never-made Mike White/Jennifer Coolidge project, Saint Patsy. Coolidge would have played a paranoid actress who begins to spiral when she starts to believe an award ceremony is really a ruse from an ex-boyfriend trying to kill her. It seems like we’re getting notes of that concept this season, but I hope that doesn’t stop Mike White from eventually making it happen one day.

Meanwhile, Jack has driven Portia to some creepy, abandoned locale. “Why have we stopped?” Portia asks before he gets out and lights up a cigarette. “Where are we?” Instead of going to the resort, Jack brought her to the airport, advising her not to return to The White Lotus and get right on a plane. He warns her not to mess with these powerful people and tosses her missing phone out the window as he drives away.

While Portia has been miraculously spared from her grim situation, Tanya is still in the thick of it, excusing herself to use the bathroom and snatching Nicolo’s duffel on the way. She locks herself in a room and empties the contents on a bed to discover rope, duct tape, and a revolver — like this is some kind of life-sized Clue board. Soon enough, the men are all pounding on Tanya’s door. Sobbing, she points the gun at the door. She’s been cornered. They break down the door, and she begins shooting her way through the yacht.

Bloodied bodies sprawled about, she sees that a wounded Quentin is still alive. “Is Greg having an affair? Tell me, I know you know,” she asks. Even in a world where Greg has orchestrated her murder, the thought of him cheating on her still consumes her. It’s so brilliant and classically Tanya. What happens next is also classically Tanya.

All she has to do is board the dinghy and escape to land, but as she heaves herself over the yacht railing, she loses balance, plummeting onto the side of the boat and into the sea. Drawing one last parallel to Madame Butterfly, booming opera music plays as Tanya McQuoid drowns off the coast of Italy. Of course her downfall, no pun intended, would be her own doing.

Morning comes, and we see our guests one last time before check-out time. Lucia leaves Albie, taking the money and running. Daphne bids our Survivor contestants farewell before discovering Tanya’s body. The police swarm. At the airport, the Di Grasso men gawk at a passing woman, each more like one another than ever. Our now-happy couples sit at their gate wrapped in each other’s arms. Portia buys an elaborate disguise that somehow makes her look less insane than her real clothes.

Despite her airport gift shop hat and sunglasses, Albie recognizes her as they wait for their flight and these two crazy kids reunite, bonding over their misguided rendezvous. Albie breaks the news that somebody died, all but confirming Tanya’s fate to Portia, who doesn’t let the bad news stop her from finally making a good decision and exchanging numbers with him. Another happy ending? Lucia and Mia joyously galavanting through the streets of Sicily, having had the best week out of everyone staying at the resort.

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CNN
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Finally back on American soil after nearly 10 months of imprisonment in Russia, WNBA star Brittney Griner is spending time at a medical facility in Texas before she returns to her regular life.

The basketball star – who was released Thursday as part of a prisoner exchange between the US and Russia for notorious convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout – arrived at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for a routine evaluation early Friday, and officials have not specified how long she will be there.

“I’m understanding that it’s going to be a few more days before she gets out,” Bill Richardson, a former New Mexico governor, told CNN on Sunday. Richardson and his center privately work on behalf of families of hostages and detainees. He previously traveled to Russia to discuss Griner’s release, as well that of Paul Whelan, a former US Marine who remains in custody.

Griner’s release through the prisoner exchange took months to negotiate and marked an end to months in confinement after the basketball star was arrested on drug charges at a Russian airport in February and then sentenced to nine years in prison.

The Texas facility Griner is at would stand in stark contrast to the Russian penal colony she was held in before her release.

During her time there, Griner had to cut her now-famous dreadlocks to make life easier during the Russian winter, Griner’s Russian lawyer, Maria Blagovolina, told ESPN – and confirmed to CNN.

Most of the women in the penal colony worked sewing uniforms, but the 6-foot-9 Olympic gold medalist was too tall to sit at a work table and her hands were too big to manage the sewing, so she carried fabric all day, her attorney said.

“We are now focused on ensuring that Brittney and her family’s well-being are prioritized and that all available assistance can be offered to them through an appropriate manner,” US State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a news briefing Friday.

Richardson said it’s important to give former detainees like Griner space as they settle into life after their release.

“We’ve got to give them a little space, a little time to readjust because they’ve had a horrendous experience in these Russian prisons,” said Richardson, who served as US ambassador to the United Nations in the Clinton administration.

On the day of her release, Griner was given a sense she would be going home, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, who led the mission to conduct the prisoner exchange in the United Arab Emirates, told CNN.

But it didn’t feel real until the moment he was able to board the plane and tell her that “on behalf of the President of the United States, Joe Biden, and Secretary of State Tony Blinken, I’m here to take you home,” Carstens said.

He described Griner as an intelligent, compassionate, humble, and patriotic person, who seemed healthy and full of energy during the trip.

“When she finally got on to the US plane, I said, ‘Brittney, you must have been through a lot over the last 10 months. Here’s your seat. Please feel free to decompress. We’ll give you your space,’” Carstens recalled.

“And she said, ‘Oh no. I’ve been in prison for 10 months now listening to Russian, I want to talk. But first of all, who are these guys?’ And she moved right past me and went to every member on that crew, looked them in the eyes, shook their hands and asked about them and got their names, making a personal connection with them. It was really amazing,” Carstens said.

He described Griner spending 12 hours of an 18-hour flight talking with him “about everything under the sun.”

Griner’s friend, WNBA player Angel McCoughtry, said she knows Griner will need time and space, but believes she’ll eventually return to the basketball court.

“We missed her last year. It wasn’t the same in the WNBA without her,” McCoughtry said. “We don’t start until May, so that gives her a couple months to gather and get back in shape and get back in the groove, smell the American air again.”

“We all want to see her, but we’re going to give her time and space and get her medically evaluated, mentally, emotionally and physically,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said.

Jorge Toledo – one of the “Citgo 6” – spoke to CNN Saturday about how reintegration into society can take time and effort after prolonged captivity. Toledo was released in October – also as part of a prisoner swap – after being detained while on a 2017 business trip to Venezuela with other oil and gas executives from the Citgo Corporation.

Having spent five years in captivity, Toledo said he came home with trouble sleeping and other health issues, and saw minor, everyday tasks like driving become sources of anxiety.

Toledo said he was part of a program in San Antonio that involved six days with a group of psychologists. He said the program was “extremely important” for his reintegration and hopes Griner can take advantage of similar resources.

While many celebrate Griner’s return, the possibility of a release for Whelan remains unclear.

Whelan – a US, Irish, British and Canadian citizen – is currently imprisoned in a Russian penal colony after he was arrested in December 2018 on espionage charges, which he has denied. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. He, like Griner, had been declared wrongfully detained by US officials.

With Griner now back in the US, Richardson said he’s optimistic about Whelan’s release, and noted Russia did previously offer a trade for Whelan.

The US tried to persuade Russia to swap both Griner and Whelan for Bout, but Russian officials would not budge on the matter, with Russia saying the Americans’ cases were handled differently based on the charges each of them faced.

“This was not a choice of which American to bring home,” President Joe Biden said last week. “Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s. And while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up.”

Whelan said he was happy Griner was released, but told CNN“I am greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release, especially as the four year anniversary of my arrest is coming up.”

Everything about the moment seemed surreal.

san francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was pounding a fist across his chest on Sunday night and screaming “WHAT’S UP!?” to seemingly nobody and everybody. The team’s left tackle, Trent Williams, walked up behind him and broke into a wide smile while clapping into Purdy’s energy. The stands around him were chanting “Purr-dee! Purr-dee! Purr-dee!” like this was the anticipated arrival of a first-round franchise centerpiece rather than the last pick in the 2022 NFL draft.

In the middle of it all, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were getting thoroughly trounced on the way to a 35-7 loss to the 49ers and had to be wondering if maybe Purdy had a point with his boisterous rhetorical question.

What. On Earth. Was up?

This felt like a stunner. Not because a struggling Buccaneers offense got pounded by the best defense in the NFL, but because Purdy was only expected to step into the starting lineup for San Francisco and not screw things up. At absolute most, he needed to be a Xerox of a game-managing Jimmy Garoppolo. A few hours later, he looked like he might have a chance to be more, which should be scary for NFC elites like the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. The last thing they expected was for Garoppolo to go down with a long-term injury and to see the 49ers’ offense actually look better.

Yet, for at least one game against a solid Tampa Bay defense, that’s what happened. Purdy, the four-year starter at Iowa State who was just good enough to be drafted after 261 other players in April — earning the back-handed compliment of being “Mr. Irrelevant” as the last player chosen — was so much more in his first start in San Francisco. Aside from an efficient stat line (16 of 21 for 185 passing yards, with two passing scores and one rushing touchdown), it was how Purdy played that struck a chord.

He was decisive, accurate and made off-schedule passes. He made completions with defenders in his face. He bounced back after being crushed in the pocket while delivering a flawless 27-yard touchdown to running back Christian McCaffrey — which Purdy squeezed between McCaffrey and the sideline, where no defender could get it. His rushing touchdown? Deft. His throws on the run? Well, one cross-body completion to wideout Deebo Samuel was an eyebrow-raising dart between Buccaneers defenders.

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If you saw Purdy at Iowa State, this was his forté. He was a slightly undersized but exciting player who had a penchant for making things happen off script. Of course, he also made some memorable mistakes, too, which is what you get with a player who falls all the way to the last pick in the draft despite being a successful four-year starter in a major conference. The highs are very high and memorable, especially on days like Sunday when Purdy is playing without turnovers or big mistakes.

As 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters, “He reacts and runs around and makes some plays. That’s how he was in college. And that’s how he’s been so far in the league. When you do that, it’s how many good plays can you make without making the bad ones. He’s done that really well so far.”

While Shanahan said he was impressed, we really should have known how he felt about Purdy in August, when the team cut fellow backup QB Nate Sudfeld after giving him a fully guaranteed $2 million for the 2022 season. When that happened, the move was largely focused through the lens of Garoppolo restructuring his contract and returning to the team to back up Trey Lance. But those closest to the 49ers knew it was because general manager John Lynch and Shanahan were impressed with what Purdy had shown in training camp and the preseason. Yes, cutting Sudfeld had some cost savings, since the 49ers knew another team would pick him up and pay at least $1 million in salary that would offset part of what San Francisco owed him. But part of it was because Shanahan was impressed with Purdy’s skills, cocky competitiveness and willingness to push whoever he was playing with on the scout team.

All of that was on display Sunday against the Buccaneers. It’s how Purdy became the first Mr. Irrelevant to throw a touchdown pass in the NFL. It’s how he became the only rookie to get a win against Tom Brady in his first career start. And it’s how, with eight minutes left and the 49ers leading Tampa Bay handily, Shanahan pulled Purdy out of the game to protect him.

A move that, along with Purdy’s exciting and emotional day, had some people already losing their minds. Some drew comparisons to Tom Brady coming off the bench in 2001 for the New England Patriots as a sixth-round draft pick and never giving the job back to Drew Bledsoe. Or suggesting flippantly that maybe Purdy could steal the 49ers’ starting job from Garoppolo and Lance. They were overreactions that fit perfectly into a surreal day.

For now, the fact remains. Purdy is San Francisco’s quarterback during this hopeful Super Bowl run. And he asked the pertinent question Sunday: What’s up?

Nobody knows. But he’s taking the franchise for a ride. For better, worse … or maybe a lot further than anyone expected a just week ago.

Week 14 of the NFL season continued to clarify the championship picture.

The Philadelphia Eagles found a new top gear in New York, hanging 48 on a Giants team that’s leaking oil like a ’72 Chevelle. In the Bay Area, Brock “Don’t Call Me Irrelevant” Purdy and the 49ers made a statement with a 35-7 dismantling of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Meanwhile, Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers resuscitated their playoff hopes with a gritty win in the “Taekz Bowl” against Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins.

As for the Bears, their draft position took a hit Sunday as the Denver Broncos continue only to be able to obtain moral victories.

Here’s where each team stands after Sunday’s Week 14 action:

32. Houston Texans (1-11-1): The Texans caught the Cowboys off guard with the Davis Mills-Jeff Driskel QB combo, but it wasn’t good enough for them to finish the upset. As the old adage goes, if you have two quarterbacks, you have zero. Texans need to find their franchise signal-caller ASAP.

31. Denver Broncos (3-10): Denver can’t eat the dead cap hit required to cut a seemingly washed Russ. The Broncos’ best chance might be to bring in Frank Reich to see if he can salvage the ruins of a franchise-wrecking trade.

30. Chicago Bears (3-10): The Bears exit the bye week to face an Eagles team that just hung 48 on the Giants and appears to be reaching top gear. Best of luck.

29. Indianapolis Colts (4-8-1): It was a good Sunday for the Colts as wins by the Panthers and Jaguars moved them up to No. 7 in the draft. They can move up to No. 6 if the Cardinals beat the Patriots on Monday night. That’s the only kind of winning going on in Indy this season.

28. Los Angeles Rams (4-9): Baker Mayfield and Sean McVay might be a really fun pairing for the next four weeks. Or maybe the Raiders just stink.

27. New Orleans Saints (4-9): If the Saints hadn’t choked last Monday night’s game away, there would be a four-way tie in the NFC South at 5-8. As it stands, the Saints are in sole possession of last place. Tough times on the Bayou.

26. Arizona Cardinals (4-8): There’s no way the Cardinals will run it back with Kliff, Kyler, and Keim next season, right?

25. Atlanta Falcons (5-8): It’s Desmond Ridder time in Atlanta. Better late than never, I guess.

24. Cleveland Browns (5-8): The Browns’ run defense lacks honor.

23. Pittsburgh Steelers (5-8): Mitch Trubisky just isn’t an NFL quarterback. Never has been. Never will be.

22. Las Vegas Raiders (5-8): The Raiders have now lost to Baker Mayfield after he was in LA for two days and Jeff Saturday after he was on “Get Up!” for two years. Impressive.

21. Carolina Panthers (5-8): Are the Sam Darnold-led Panthers the best team in the NFC South?

20. Jacksonville Jaguars (5-8): On Sunday, Trevor Lawrence became the youngest player in NFL history to throw for 350 yards, three touchdowns, and run for a touchdown in one game. Stock is going through the roof.

19. New England Patriots (6-6): From poor protection to a vanilla scheme, there are a lot of problems with the Patriots’ offense in 2022, but Mac Jones is the least of their worries.

18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-7): The Bucs can’t run the ball, can’t protect Tom Brady, and can’t find a way to get Mike Evans consistently involved. That’s just the start of the issues in Tampa.

17. Green Bay Packers (5-8): The Packers’ playoff hopes aren’t dead yet, but it will take some magic from Aaron Rodgers to get Green Bay to the postseason. So you’re saying there’s a chance?

16. New York Giants (7-5-1): The Giants were a fun first-half story, but Brian Daboll’s team is limping to the finish line. New York has won just one game since Week 8 and was embarrassed by the Eagles on Sunday. Do they have anything left for next week’s critical showdown with the Commanders?

15. Tennessee Titans (7-6): The Titans fired their GM midweek, and then the team went out and laid an egg against the Jags. The ship is sinking in Nashville.

14. Seattle Seahawks (7-6): Seattle has given up 90 points on 33 drives since its bye week. That’s 2.73 points per drive which would be far and away the worst in the NFL over the course of the season. The Seahawks have been exposed.

13. New York Jets (7-6): Robert Saleh said the Jets would see the Bills again come playoff time. The Jets have to get there first.

12. Washington Commanders (7-5-1): Washington sat at home Sunday and watched its playoff chances tick up with losses by the Giants and Seahawks. A win next Sunday against New York and the Commanders should be in the driver’s seat for the No. 6 seed.

11. Detroit Lions (6-7): Just like that, the Lions have gone from 1-6 to 6-7 and are eyeing the playoffs. Detroit tripled its playoff chances with Sunday’s win over the Vikings (7 to 21 percent). Are the Lions the fourth-best team in the NFC? I could make the case.

10. Minnesota Vikings (10-3): How am I supposed to take the Vikings seriously? A 10-win team with a negative point differential? If it walks like a fraud and talks like a fraud …

9. Miami Dolphins (8-5): The 49ers showed the blueprint for how to stop the Dolphins’ offense. That the Chargers were able to do the same with a patchwork secondary and subpar coverage linebackers should have alarm bells going off in South Beach.

8. Los Angeles Chargers (7-6): Is eight high for a 7-6 Chargers team that has struggled to stop the run and can’t protect its quarterback? Yup. But with Mike Williams and Keenan Allen back, and a soft schedule in front of them, I like the Chargers to snag the No. 7 seed in the AFC.

7. Baltimore Ravens (9-4): The Roquan Smith trade was the best move of the trade deadline, but not in the way the Bears hoped.

6. Dallas Cowboys (10-3): The Cowboys were asleep for 57.5 minutes Sunday against the Texans. But a goal-line stand and a game-winning drive were enough to deliver Dallas its 10th win. Good teams find a way to win.

5. San Francisco 49ers (9-4): If Trent Dilfer can win a Super Bowl behind a vaunted defense, I don’t see any reason why Brock Purdy can’t do the same with Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers’ embarrassment of riches behind him.

4. Buffalo Bills (10-3): The Bill relied on their defense to beat the Jets on Sunday, but Josh Allen knows Buffalo’s offense has to get much better for there to be a parade in Orchard Park this February.

3. Kansas City Chiefs (10-3): Travis Kelce summed up the Chiefs’ flaws and their hopes perfectly after they avoided catastrophe against the Broncos on Sunday. “Even when you think you’ve got us, we still got 1-5 back there.”

2. Cincinnati Bengals (9-4): The Bengals have held Nick Chubb and Derrick Henry in check while also limiting Patrick Mahomes to a season-low 223 yards passing. Cincy can beat you in a number of ways.

1. Philadelphia Eagles (12-1): The NFL’s Death Star appears fully operational in Philadelphia, and the Eagles still think they have another gear to reach. Scary hours for the rest of the NFC.