The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL

College Football Playoff controversy? What College Football Playoff controversy? You won't find any of that here on this episode of Building the Beast. What you will find, though, is Dane Brugler and Dave Helman digging into how the conference championship games and College Football Playoff field helped shape the state of the 2026 NFL Draft conversation as we approach the end of the year.

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The Vikings, Commanders, Titans and Browns have dealt with varying degrees of disappointment this season, but they remain worthy of our attention as we get ready to close the book on them for 2025. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen dive into the Vikings' 31-0 win over the Commanders, and the Titans' surprisingly fun 31-29 win over the Browns, on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Then, the guys get into a particularly illustrative edition of Monday Mourning with calls from Colts and Falcons fans.

Rundown (timestamps are approximate)

3:27 Commanders-Vikings recap

30:08 Titans-Browns recap

59:25 Monday Mourning with the Colts and Falcons

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If you caught the Week 14 preview episode of The Athletic Football Show, you know we were excited about this Sunday. Bears-Packers, Colts-Jaguars, Texans-Chiefs, Steelers-Ravens and Bengals-Bills. Welp, the day lived up to the expectations, and the some. Robert Mays, Dave Helman and Derrik Klassen dive deep into an awesome day of football—and consider its implications—on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.

Rundown (timestamps are approximate)

0:00 Welcome to the show

0:45 Texans-Chiefs

11:15 Andy Reid

20:30 Jags-Colts

20:45 Trevor Lawrence

27:00 Colts lose Daniel Jones

34:50 Packers-Bears

35:30 Caleb Williams & Bears offense

45:45 Jordan Love & Packers offense

52:30 Bills-Bengals

1:05:30 Steelers-Ravens

1:12:50 John Harbaugh’s future

1:17:00 Buccaneers-Saints

1:27:15 Romantic: Josh Allen

1:28:45 Romantic: Puka Nacua

1:30:00 Minnesota Vikings/JJ McCarthy

1:34:30 What did we learn today?

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It’s a ton of fun anytime you get a game with first place on the line this late in the season. This week, we have three such games. And one of them is Bears-Packers. So yeah, Week 14 just might be the best week of the season. Robert Mays, Dave Helman and Derrik Klassen preview everything we’ve got to come this week on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.

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Chiefs, Ravens, Eagles and Lions; Chiefs, Ravens, Eagles and Lions. Look back over the last half-decade of the NFL, and you'll see those four teams at the top of the league, year in and year out. They're all such constants, in fact, that it seems we just chisel their names in stone into the playoff picture in August. But this year, the Eagles are sputtering their way into December, and the Chiefs, Ravens and Lions all could easily miss the playoffs. So, what happened to these assumed powerhouses? On this episode of The Athletic Football Show, Diante Lee from The Ringer hops on with Robert Mays to cover the issues for the Ravens, Eagles and Lions, and then former Chiefs offensive lineman Mitch Schwartz joins Robert to break down the problems for his old team, and whether they can come back from them this season.

Rundown (timestamps are approximate)

8:26 Detroit Lions

24:33 Philadelphia Eagles

36:34 Baltimore Ravens

48:06 Any overarching lessons?

59:40 Kansas City Chiefs

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