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The Confusion of Watching the NFL’s Worst Teams Get Counterproductive Wins

The NFL’s Week 14 games contained so many eye-popping moments—Miami’s miracle, the last few minutes of regulation in Eagles-Cowboys, the touchdown-free Rams, the Giants’ 34-point first half—that it was easy to overlook a trio of results that would have been stunning on any other weekend: Wins by the Raiders, 49ers and Jets.

These wins were not gimmes either, to the extent that the league’s worst teams can have anything like gimmes. Oakland beat Pittsburgh, who remained in the AFC North lead after the loss. San Francisco beat Denver, a hot team that had won three straight—two of those over the playoff-positioned Steelers and Chargers.