You'll put up with a lot when all you have to do is win the AFC South. That assignment comes with a whole truckload of margin for error. You sign an unproven quarterback for $37 million guaranteed, and he throws 14 interceptions in your first 13 games? Not great, surely, but you feel like you can let him work it out. Win with defense, muddle along. All you need is nine wins anyway, right? Give the kid time to work out the bugs.
Then you get to Week 15, and he throws two more interceptions right out of the gate, and you're losing to Jacksonville. Meanwhile in Kansas City, the team in your own division that was lucky enough to be picking No. 2 the year Marcus Mariota came out is going to upset the Chiefs, and you're looking at the very real possibility of being in second place on Christmas Eve. At that point, it's too much. At that point, it's Tom Savage time.
This is the story of the 2016 Houston Texans, who by sundown Sunday had finally had enough of Brock Osweiler -- contract be damned -- and will roll with Savage instead this week as they work to hold off the upstart Tennessee Titans. At this point in the NFL season, it can't matter what a guy is getting paid. If he hasn't shown he can play by now, he has to take a seat and let someone else show whether he can play.
What happens from here with Osweiler is a complete unknown. Savage could flop and hand him back the job before the playoffs. Osweiler could have a monster offseason, get the starting job back next summer and run with it. Or he could never play another down for the Texans as long as he lives. There is no way to know how it's going to go long term.
But short term, it's Savage, who, one Jaguars player told me Monday, "sliced and diced us -- did a really great job of looking at the best matchups and just going with them." He gets Cincinnati this week and then, potentially, a division championship game against Tennessee in Week 17. Savage doesn't have to be a franchise savior or even a long-term answer. He just has to keep from throwing the ball to the other team for the next month or so, and then he and the Texans will figure out where to go from there.
It's the time of year when coaches can't worry about feelings or pride or what the plan was back in August. It's time to ask yourself, "What gives us the best chance to win this game right here so we can make it to next week?"
In Houston in December 2016, that means it's Tom Savage time.
Here's what else we learned in Week 15:
Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott aren't a fluke
The Dallas Cowboys' star rookies bounced back from their tough division loss to the Giants with a stunner of a performance Sunday night. Prescott was 32-for-36 passing. Elliott rushed for 159 yards, puncturing a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that came in as hot as any in the league. Dallas' playcallers need to keep it boring -- enough with the third-down reverses and trick plays. If they stick with their bread-and-butter and run Elliott behind that monster offensive line, theirs is a formula that travels in January. The rookies are clearly the kinds of competitors you want on your side in the biggest games.
Neither is the Giants' defense
The New York Giants gave defensive tackle Damon Harrison $9.25 million a year, even though he comes off the field on third down. The reason for that is -- because of what Harrison does on first and second downs -- the opponent has a lot longer to go on third down than it used to when it played the Giants. The Giants could have a hiccup in a short week if injured cornerback Janoris Jenkins can't answer the bell Thursday in Philadelphia, but the fact that they could insert Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in his place Sunday and Rodgers-Cromartie wasn't pouting about his reduced role says a lot about what's going on in East Rutherford right now. Their offense isn't where it needs to be, but the defense believes it can win games.
The Broncos lucked out on Osweiler, but all is not well at Mile High
First of all, the praise Denver Broncos general manager John Elway gets for letting Osweiler leave in free agency is a bit overstated. Elway wanted Osweiler back somewhat badly. He was willing to pay good money to keep Osweiler. He got outbid by Houston. And while Trevor Siemian doesn't appear to be the problem in Denver, whatever the Plan B ended up being on offense this season hasn't worked. The Broncos' offensive line can't protect Siemian. Their receivers drop too many passes. At a must-win time of year, the Broncos have lost two straight by the uninspiring combined score of 29-13. They are on the outside of the AFC playoff field looking in, and they probably have to win this week in Kansas City and next week at home against Oakland if they want a chance to get back in and defend their Super Bowl title. Good luck with that.
You can't fire Mike McCarthy if you're the Packers
The best coaches are problem-solvers, the ones skilled at identifying problems and devoting themselves to creative solutions. McCarthy ran out of running backs, so he made one out of wide receiver Ty Montgomery, who had 162 rushing yards in the team's white-knuckle victory over the Bears on Sunday. It has been four weeks since certified wizard Aaron Rodgers said that thing about "running the table," and the Green Bay Packers are 4-0. One more win sets up a division title game against Detroit in Week 17. I get that the standards are high in Green Bay, where the Packers have made the playoffs seven years in a row. But considering the Packers' rebound from their midseason swoon, it's hard to buy McCarthy as a coach whose time is up.
The two open head-coaching jobs come with big quarterback questions
No one who isn't enamored with Jared Goff is going to take the Los Angeles Rams' head-coaching job, and no one who isn't enamored with Blake Bortles is going to take the Jacksonville Jaguars' job. That sounds obvious, but Bortles' 2016 performance is a perfect illustration of how the quarterback position can do you in if it isn't right. Both players look like major projects right now, after Bortles took a big step backward this season, and the franchises in question need to keep the care and development of their young quarterbacks front of mind when deciding on their next coaches.