The second half of the 2024 NFL regular season is underway.

As Week 10 officially begins, the battle for playoff position heats up. Sunday’s first window of games was an indication of the high intensity, with six of the seven games decided by five points or less.

Here are the winners and losers from week 10 so far:

WINNER: Chefs always find a way

The Kansas City Chiefs are finding new ways to win every week.

Sunday was perhaps their most improbable victory of the season, with a 35-yard blocked field goal at the buzzer preserving a 16-14 win over the Denver Broncos. Now 9-0, the Chiefs have seven wins by seven points or less. While some may call it luck, there is something to be said for the way the two-time defending Super Bowl champions execute week in and week out.

Patrick Mahomes was once again disappointing by his standards, with 266 passing yards and a touchdown. Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix had one of his best games of the season (215 yards, two touchdowns, no turnovers). The Chiefs had to settle for three field goals. And, of course, none of that ultimately mattered to Kansas City.

LOSER: Commanders’ penalty proves costly

The Washington Commanders did not give themselves the opportunity to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the final minutes.

With Pittsburgh leading 28-27 and just over a minute remaining, Russell Wilson lined up his offense to try his luck on fourth-and-2. Washington, which had no timeouts left, just had to stay on its side of the ball and wait. the Steelers to call a timeout and push it back. But rookie Johnny Newton jumped offside for a neutral zone infraction, giving the Steelers a first down and the victory.

The game itself had been a thriller up to that point, with both teams vying for a victory. Wilson passed for three touchdowns, including the game-winner to newly acquired wideout Mike Williams with 2:22 left. Jayden Daniels had an up-and-down game against an excellent defense, completing just 50% of his passes for 202 yards. Pittsburgh is now 7-2, while Washington fell to 7-3.

WINNER: Drake Maye defeats Caleb Williams

In a battle of rookie quarterbacks that has become a defensive battle, the New England Patriots defeated the Chicago Bear 19-3 at Soldier Field.

Caleb Williams and the Bears offense couldn’t get anything going, while Drake Maye and the Patriots did enough to get the win. The No. 1 overall pick finished 16 of 30 for 120 yards in the loss, as the Bears had just one touchdown in the final three games following their bye week.

On the other side, the No. 3 overall pick went 15 of 25 for 184 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The Patriots have slowly turned their season around since giving Maye the keys to the offense, with two wins and an overtime loss in the past three weeks. Still just 3-7, the Patriots can at least start to take some positives from this season as Maye continues to develop well.

LOSER: Jaguars discipline

The Jacksonville Jaguars defense was great against the Minnesota Vikings…until it mattered most.

Jacksonville did not allow a touchdown to Minnesota’s vaunted offense. The group intercepted Sam Darnold three times and forced the Vikings to go 0 of 5 in the red zone. But with a chance to get the ball back while trailing 12-7 in the final minute, Travon Walker threw a punch and effectively ended the game by giving the Vikings a first down.

Mac Jones, replacing the injured Trevor Lawrence, did little to help his defense in this one. The former first-rounder went 14 of 22 for 111 yards and two interceptions in his first start for his hometown Jags.

WINNER: Darren Rizzi

The New Orleans Saints got the job done for the interim coach in his early days.

Darren Rizzi, in place of Dennis Allen, helped end the Saints’ seven-game losing streak in Sunday’s 20-17 win over the rival Atlanta Falcons. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but New Orleans didn’t turn the ball over and took advantage of three missed field goals by Younghoe Koo to get back into the win column.

For the Falcons, the loss ends a two-game winning streak and costs them a chance to extend their lead in the NFC South. Atlanta still leads the division by two games, but it’s far from a juggernaut with five of its six wins by six points or fewer.

LOSER: Joe Flacco doesn’t teach Anthony Richardson

When the Indianapolis Colts replaced Anthony Richardson with Joe Flacco two weeks ago, the general thought was that the veteran could teach the second-year QB some things. Even though this is happening behind the scenes, the product on the ground is not promising.

Flacco had four turnovers in Sunday’s 30-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills, with two interceptions in the first quarter and an interception and a fumble in the second half. The Colts (4-6) had plenty of opportunities to beat the Bills (8-2), but they just couldn’t take care of the ball. Josh Allen had two interceptions for Buffalo and Indy led 13-10 in the first half despite Flacco’s turnovers.

With the Colts now two games under .500, it would make sense to bring back Richardson in the near future. The team is not a Super Bowl contender and Richardson needs reps to improve. No one really knows if he’s a franchise quarterback, and the Colts aren’t going to learn that if he’s sitting on the bench behind a struggling 39-year-old.

WINNER: Jake Moody redeems himself

THE San Francisco 49ers were on their way to a frustrating result against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before their kicker finally stepped up.

Jake Moody, in his first game since October 6 due to injury, scored only 3 out of 6 goals, but he buried the one that mattered most. The sophomore kicker missed 50, 49 and 44 yards before hitting a 44-yarder as time expired to secure a 23-20 victory.

The 49ers improved to 5-4 with the win, keeping them firmly in the race to win the NFC West. Christian McCaffrey provided a boost in his first game of the season, even if it didn’t quite look like him yet. The reigning Offensive Player of the Year had 39 rushing yards and 68 receiving yards in the victory.