Tag: job

People Are Sharing Stories About A Time Their Job Put Them On A Performance Improvement Plan, And Some Of Them May Need An Attorney Immediately

We recently shared a story about an HR professional who went viral for giving people advice about navigating a PIP — aka a performance improvement plan — at work.

TikTok: @johanas_world / Via tiktok.com

Johana Saimbeau, known as @Johanas_world on TikTok, told people they should request a copy of their PIP, and document everything that happens at work moving forward, but that it doesn’t have to mean the end of a job.

Her advice encouraged people to share stories in the comments about a time when they were put on a PIP, or when they had to put someone on a PIP. Here’s what they said:

1.“I have put two employees on PIPs.”

“One of them was fired, and the other ended up excelling. It totally depends on if the manager is actually trying to help you or if they want you out. Look for all of the signals that tell you the manager’s motivations. It’s not always about firing, but it can be!”

—shmoolie666

NBC / Via giphy.com

2.“I inherited an employee who had been on a PIP for six months.”

“I told him it would be extended for another six weeks due to me being new in the position. He failed to show up to the first meeting. I gave him another chance, and he declined that meeting, too. He was legitimately surprised when I terminated him, and he followed up with a disability claim, saying he tore his achilles on the way to his termination. The organization settled for $20k and a job-training grant.”

—homefree

3.“I told an employer I was having a family medical emergency and probably needed to take time off.”

“I had the time accrued, but I got a PIP out of the blue later that week for a period of 10 business days. It was also a day before my direct manager left for a week of vacation. Two of the three points they alleged were in need of improvement were a STRETCH. It seemed like they just wanted to do it and push it through before my manager’s vacation ended. When I asked what the multiple outcomes could be, they were intentionally vague, especially the HR representative.

I later asked for a meeting with the person covering for my manager to discuss a client’s need. *Bloop* HR representative’s mug pops up. I was being terminated on day three of the PIP. I was fired for ‘something I said.’ When I asked what it was verbatim, HR refused to tell me what I said or to whom it was, TWICE.

So I refused to sign the 25-page separation agreement, and filed with the Department of Human Rights after I called a lawyer. I refused to take their hush pennies. It was the universe telling me to change directions. I had an ulcer and chest pain every day I worked there. I found a better job, better position, better flex hours, and way more money. I am still pursuing the case against them. They did it so they didn’t have to pay me for the time off for Family and Medical Leave (FMLA), and possible bereavement time as well. Dirty, dirty ethics and a dirty company, I hope they have the 2025 they deserve.”

—MzForza

4.“I was put on a PIP because a coworker who was pretending to be my friend made stuff up about me to my manager.”

“They said that my staff complained about me. In fact, HER staff complained to me about her, and I told them she was misunderstood and a good person. My manager never bothered to substantiate any of the alleged reports from my staff. I figured that out when I asked my staff to tell me how they really felt about me, and they were all so confused. I learned that my manager never bothered to ask them and took the other girl’s word at face value, so I quit.”

—happyorca36

First We Feast / Via giphy.com

5.“I wasn’t put on a PIP per se, but I did get a written warning that was a complete shock.”

“Some of their examples to justify the warning included: During a daily meeting I had my arms crossed and muttered under my breath (which I do all the time, and not in a mean way). They claimed I showed frustration through body language or some nonsense. Apparently I packed up my desk indicating to them that I would be leaving soon (um, I cleaned off my desk because it was SUPER MESSY, and if they’d bothered to look through my desk, they would’ve seen everything was there, just put away).

I was able to get the warning rescinded, but I had to meet with my supervisor weekly. In the first meeting he claimed, ‘You were doodling in your notebook during the team meeting.’ So I read him the NOTES I had taken to prove him wrong. It was way downhill after that, and some shit went down: Mental health, leave of absence, and I ended up quitting instead of going back, but my unemployment was approved.”

—bougiegazelle40

6.“I was constantly hounded and given new requirements beyond what others had by both my manager and the department director.”

“Every weekly meeting was with both of them when it was only supposed to have been with my manager. I went through hell with them for three months and still ended up getting fired. At the end of the 60-day PIP, they extended it another 60 days, saying they didn’t have enough data. Seriously?? How can upcoming due dates qualify as ‘not meeting expectations’ when everything to date has been on time?! I now have a complaint in the investigation process with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) because I am disabled. I requested a reasonable accommodation which they denied three times.”

—uniquecat265

7.“I was placed on a PIP and given 30 days to reach a sales figure no one was getting…”

“…all because a few big sales I had been chasing were taking their time.This was six months into the job. I was still very new to their process.I learned it was because I ‘kept making the same request.’ But it was because the dumbass manager kept asking the same question, so I had the same hanging issue for three months, which was fixed after I left.”

—venkmanphd

Disney / Via giphy.com

8.“I was doing reasonably well at a job until the longest-employed person retired.”

“After that, my manager stopped working with me. I would ask for work and was told ‘there’s nothing for you to do.’ While extra work was being given to the other employee who was hired the same day I was. When my manager wanted to have a one-on-one, she invariably used the compliment sandwich technique on me. That’s when you say something positive, then get to the meat of the matter (always negative), and finally, say something else positive. I recognized it for the manipulation it was.

Finally, I was put on a PIP, and that’s when I knew I had to get out of there. When I told my husband I had to leave, he replied, ‘Good! It isn’t normal to cry after every shift, which is what you’ve been doing.’

It was the only time I’ve quit without being eligible for unemployment. My mental health was suffering so much that I was willing to go without a paycheck while looking for another job. Luckily for me, my next job turned out to be a MUCH better fit.”

—ladicair

9.“I’ve had to put people on PIPs. But it’s not something I’ve ever wanted to do for a whole host of reasons…”

“…including that I may like you as a person. I want all of my reports to succeed and continue to grow in their roles, plus, it’s a ton of work for me.

I HATE the advice that if you get a PIP it means you’re going to be fired. I don’t want to fire you, but I do need you to do your job at the level you were hired (and I’m paying you) at.

If you’re not able to do your job, then I probably don’t want to fire you, but I need someone who can do the job at the expected level. While there may be crappy companies that do use PIPs to avoid having to cite other reasons to let you go, it’s hard for me to think this is the norm. Hiring takes sooooo much time and energy, and putting someone on a PIP and firing them does as well.”

—katieoz920

MTV / Via giphy.com

10.“As an HR director I always make sure that PIPs are given out so that the employee has the opportunity to improve.”

“They should be given to someone you want to keep who has potential but is struggling. If a manager wants to get rid of someone and needs a paper trail, I will go the verbal warning, written warning, and termination route.”

—patrisiabb13

11.“I was put on a PIP recently. I work in a medical lab, and I have made zero errors.”

“I’m just slow at my job. They seem to value quantity over quality of work, and I get reprimanded for others’ mistakes.”

—lindseycarmack

Paramount Plus / Via giphy.com

12.“I was put on a PIP the second week into a job…”

“…when my mistakes weren’t egregious and were expected for a new hire. The manager expected me to accomplish their goals in two days. I voluntarily resigned the day after I was put on the PIP.”

—leager129

13.“I started job hunting as soon as my old manager mentioned the possibility of me getting put on a PIP.”

“It was such a morale hit that I knew my work would suffer if it got that far.”

—noideasforausername

14.“PLEASE RETAIN ALL COPIES OF THIS DOCUMENTATION!”

“If your copy is unreadable, ask for a clean copy at that moment. As an HR director, I have turned down many termed employees who want a copy after the fact because that is not a requirement in my state. That’s a hard ‘no.’ If you wanted this paperwork so bad, subpoena me for it. Then I will worry about if I have a case or not.”

—born_with_no_bones

CBC / Via giphy.com

15.And finally, “I’ve managed people for over a decade and put employees on PIPs before, and this is what I will say…”

“1) Yes, companies put people on PIPs because they want to fire them, mostly because, from a legal standpoint, putting someone on a PIP and documenting incompetence while showing the employer’s effort protects the company from having to pay unemployment or wrongful termination.

2) Your manager does not want to do a PIP any more than you want to. It’s a lot of extra time and effort for them to conduct a PIP. Nine times out of ten, by the time we are at a PIP, it is less work to train a new person than it is to try to re-train you. Especially when the odds are I have to train a new person at the end of it anyway.

3) With all this said, there were absolutely employees who were put on a PIP that just needed the extra time and attention and were totally worth it.

4) The truth: They could have fired you immediately, but instead you have a few months where you are still getting paid, and you can start looking for a new job and quit before getting fired.

5) I have never done a PIP where the person got fired and didn’t go on to a better position they liked more. Never. A PIP doesn’t mean you suck, it means it’s a bad fit.”

—floatingbee536

Reading these responses made me wish more people knew how common it is to find yourself in this situation. So, I have to know, have you ever been placed on a PIP, or placed someone on a PIP, and what was the outcome? Let us know in the comments.

Comments have been edited for length and clarity.

December 24, 2024
Surgeons Are Sharing Their Wildest “Oh, Crap!” Moments From The Job, And I’m Too Stunned To Speak

We’ve all had things go wrong at work. No matter what industry you work in or what title you have, we’ve all experienced our fair share of “oh crap” moments.

Luckily, most of us aren’t doing open heart surgery, so the stakes aren’t as high.

Although, that may make you wonder…do surgeons ever have those panic-inducing moments on the job?

Well, the answer is yes, and the evidence is right here in this Reddit thread. Dozens of medical professionals shared stories about their “oh crap moments,” and it might have you lost for words:

1.“I was doing a corneal transplant when I had the ‘oh shit’ moment. During surgery, I cut off the patient’s own cornea and replaced it with a new donor cornea. During that moment when the host cornea was off, but before I could get the new one on, there was literally nothing on the front of the eye except a tear film and aqueous humor. Anyway, the patient takes that moment to start vomiting.”

“The reason we tell everyone to skip food and drink is so they don’t aspirate in case they throw up. This patient lied about eating breakfast and started throwing up everything. The eye is still an ‘open sky’ at this time. Everything inside of the eye can now become outside of the eye. And she’s bucking and vomiting.

Those not in the know will say this is not good. Those really in the know will say, ‘Oh shit.’

Anyway, I had to grab the new cornea and start stitching as fast as I could on a patient actively throwing up. I use 10-0 nylon sutures which are thinner than an eyelash. It turned out okay but not great.

Don’t lie about eating breakfast before surgery, folks.”

—seeing_red415

2.“The oh shit I’ve seen was stuff during transplants.”

“There are these things called lifeports that are used for kidneys; they allow fluid to circulate during transport from the donor to the recipient. One surgeon I was working with dropped a kidney inside the lifeport on the ground and it cracked and skidded along the ground. The kidney was ok, though. Another surgeon just couldn’t get it to open and was getting frustrated and asked for a mallet: he was going to bash it to try to open it.”

—raftsa

Skaman306 / Getty Images

3.“When I was a new RN working the ICU in a large teaching hospital, I came into work one morning to a patient that was admitted that night, intubated (breathing tube in), sedated, Foley catheter (tube in pee pee hole) and all. Long story short, he was extubated (breathing tube out) that same shift and was completely alert and oriented.”

“Now, the catheter bag had been empty my whole shift, which is norma,l seeing as how he didn’t make urine anymore, and this hospital had a nurse-driven Foley removal policy, meaning while we needed a doctor’s order to insert one, we could remove one at our discretion unless a doctor specifically put in orders not to. This patient had no such doctor’s order, so I went to remove the catheter. They are held in the bladder by a balloon on the end that is inflated with 10ml of saline. I deinflated the balloon removing 10ml of saline, and pulled it out.

As soon as the catheter left his penis, blood started pouring out in a heavy stream. Turns out the nurse who placed it on admission hadn’t advanced it far enough since there was no urine production to indicate correct placement and had inflated the balloon while still in his urethra, causing trauma.

It would not stop bleeding. I had to hold this man’s penis ‘shut’ to put pressure on it while my coworker paged the resident who came and looked at me with pity as he told me to just keep holding this 30-something-year-old man’s penis In my hands to staunch the blood flow until urology could get there to assess. It just kept gushing blood every time I eased up to check. For over an hour total I held this mans penis and tried to make polite conversation until the urologist arrived.”

—shanbie_

4.“Not a surgeon, but was working in obstetric theatre in the UK mid-heatwave last year. This is important as maternity wards are kept quite warm as newborn babies aren’t good at regulating their temperatures. Combine this with a heatwave and the fact that in Britain, we’re not exactly used to high temperatures, and we have the perfect storm.”

“Mid-emergency cesarean, the scrub nurse assisting the op starts feeling faint. This is unusual as this scrub nurse worked in these theatres full time so this was her bread and butter, so I can only conclude it was the heat. She has to step out, so the SHO takes her place, assisting the obs registrar with the section. This SHO looked extremely junior, as in the first C-section ever. And they were trying to assist with the instruments in the uterus when they fainted. I had to jump in and grab the back of their theatre gown to stop them from faceplanting the open uterus, and then sort of gently tug backward to let them fall into me when someone else took over assisting.

This SHO was not exactly small. Thank God the baby was already out.”

—Dawn-of-Ilithyia

5.“Fifth-year resident here. There are lots of bad ‘Oh shit’ moments throughout training, such as necrotizing soft tissue infections or takebacks for bad complications or deaths during cases. However, I’d like to share a recent positive ‘Oh shit’ moment.”

“15cm kidney tumor with thrombus into the vena cava. Big incision, great exposure of the vasculature and the tumor. My attending and I are dancing around the aorta and vena cava. We are able to feel the tumor thrombus in the IVC. I was expecting that we’d need to cut and clamp the vena cava to get all the cancer out. But my attending literally squeezes the tumor out of the vena cava back into the renal vein and then has me tie the renal vein off so the tumor doesn’t slip back into the vena cava.

Patient went home in like 4 days, margins were negative, and is still doing great.

The first time I felt like, ‘Oh shit. I’m a surgeon.’”

—wenkebach

6.“Surgeon here. I’ve dealt with loads of morbid stuff, but one thing that made me stop and go ‘oh shit’ was a conversation with a young patient who had a perforated colon from diverticular disease, which is a common wear and tear of the colon.”

“He was one of youngest patients I had seen with this condition and certainly the youngest with a perforation so bad as to require an operation. When I was counseling him on the operation, which involves removing the perforated part of the colon and giving him a colostomy, he told me his biggest concern was how he was going to have anal sex with his same-sex partner. He would only have a small stump of rectum left inside, which would be at risk of perforation with any force applied to it.

It made me really think about the implications of the surgery we do. The operation is the easy part!”

—andrewkd

Jacob Wackerhausen / Getty Images

7.“I was the patient.”

“I had a liver transplant and was having an ERCP done to place a new bile duct stent. Well, apparently, my anatomy is different than normal, and my lungs go more down my sides. So he accidentally caused a nick, which caused a hemothorax. So when I woke up I couldn’t breathe, they did an x-ray and had to do a chest tube. Eventually, I was so exhausted I asked to be vented, so he vented me. Apparently, he cried. He felt so bad about it all.

But it wasn’t him being malicious or negligent; it was simply an accident.”—greffedufois

8.“Not a surgeon, thought I’d share this though.”

“Husband went in for a routine colonoscopy, and as they were prepping him, anesthetist asks him if he’s a ginger. My husband tells him yeah. When he was a kid growing up, he had fire-engine red hair, though it’s faded to a more strawberry blonde now. The anesthetist laughs and says, okay, I gotcha, we’ll give you the redhead dosage and winks.

Well, my husband thinks it’s funny until he wakes up at the tail end of the procedure (pun intended), and doctors are just chattin’ it up, and what have you. Turns out it’s not a joke and redheads have some type of natural block to anesthesia. The dude had given him the allowable dosage, and he still woke up.

Happened a couple of years later. They gave him ketamine and some other shit to knock him out to get wisdom teeth out when he told the dentist about the colonoscopy thing. He still woke up at the end of that one, too.”–Berty_Qwerty

9.“My grandfather told a story about a clamp coming off an artery while he was pulling a kidney in rural Wyoming in the early 50s.”

“The abdominal cavity was quickly filling with blood, and the nurse fainted. He was able to push down with his elbow on the descending aorta and got the clamp back on. The patient lived, but I think he chose his surgical assistants a little more carefully after that.”

—Spam-Monkey

10.“Not a surgeon. I’m a hospitalist physician. Happened at my hospital- a mentally ill young woman, who was pregnant at the time, was in denial, locked herself into her room when she realized the contractions were coming.”

“She basically didn’t push, and the baby didn’t come naturally. Her family called 911 because of the smell. The ER realized her baby had died inside her and was basically rotting due to the smell. She was taken to the OR to remove the baby, and apparently, all the nurses and surgeons were vomiting because once they opened her up, the smell was overpowering, and it was traumatizing to see a rotting baby.”

—TheSunscreenLife

11.“I work in cardiovascular, and I can think of a couple. Over my 8-year career, I’ve had three patients start moving their arms in the middle of open heart surgery; one of them even tried to sit up (the surgeon was pushing the patients’ shoulders down and yelling to anesthesia to ‘give the patient something’).”

12.“Not me, but my uncle—he’s a respirologist and was supervising/sitting in on lung surgery to remove a tumor. Turns out the tumor was a rootball—some type of seed had gotten into the patient’s lungs and started to grow.”

—NoHartAnthony

13.“I had an ingrown toenail. It was supposed to be a quick fix. I was 14 and had my mom with me. They let an apprentice do the surgery, and he goes, ‘Oh shit.’ The doctor in charge just laughed and said, ‘No risk, No fun.’ Turns out they fucked up my toe, and I had to have four more surgeries to correct it. I cried.”

—misterpapabear

14.“During my third year of medical school, I was stitching up the wound after breast cancer surgery, and the anesthesiology nurse woke the patient too early as I was making my last stitch, and I felt the patient moving her arm and trying to sit up. The patient was still covered in surgery draping and cables and still intubated. Luckily most people do not remember much from the first moments after waking up but I got quite nervous from the patient starting to move.”

—Ankuzi

15.“Just an RN here. I was working in the ER and had a patient brought in by her husband.”

“Apparently the woman had a fall a week prior and injured her face but refused medical care. Her husband finally forced her to come in. As soon as I see the wound on her face (from across the room) I think, ‘that does not look like any wound I’ve seen.’ I approached her and realized maggots had infested the wound and were eating the rotting skin. A really simple and quick fix but I cant imagine her living conditions.”

—Whahappon2020

16.“Not a surgeon but when I was in nursing school I was observing a tonsillectomy when the power went out.”

“Everything switched over to the backup generators except for the suction which is incredibly important for any surgery but particularly in the throat (aspiration risk). They ended up having to connect a giant syringe to a length of suction tubing to suction manually while someone went to the other side of the building to find portable suction. Luckily ours was the only theatre that had started operating that morning!”

—godricspaw

17.“Not mine, but my father’s. He told me this back when I was 10, so I’m sorry if it doesn’t fully make sense. He had a 21-year-old patient who needed to have a penectomy. He had cancer of the penis.”

“There were two ‘Oh Shit’ Moments for this. The first is a common thing. He wasn’t fully asleep. The second, however, is funny and humiliating. They are about to start the surgery.

Suddenly, one of the nurses that was there suddenly threw up and left. A test later, and boom! She got knocked up! Halfway through the surgery, the other nurse leaves for a call about her father. My dad’s [nurse] was just standing there, a half-gone penis in his hand. He calls for help and is standing there, a guy’s penis in his hand for thirty minutes.”

—EverydayImASnake

Paul Harizan / Getty Images

18.“We operated on the carotids of a patient, like a gaping hole in his neck, when the patient woke up. The easy fix was shouting at the anesthesiologist… who wasn’t there. Had to hold down the head with my elbow so he wouldn’t move too much and hurt/kill himself.”

—Vulsruser

19.“When I was a nursing student, I was on theatre prac. We had a guy in who needed humerus and elbow repair.”

“I was pretty useless in everything but emotional support (as I wasn’t qualified), so was chatting to him before he went under. He admitted to having a (un)healthy meth habit. I informed the surgeon, who shrugged it off. Apparently, I should have told the anesthetist because this dude woke up mid-surgery and was trying to reach for his open arm that the surgeon was working on. Super ‘Oh shit’ moment as we scramble to contain this guy’s arm and stop it from touching anything sterile.”—NecessaryFlamingo

20.“Not a surgeon but a biomedical scientist.”

“My office mate had his MD and was working on his PhD. He did an appendectomy and cut into this person’s abdomen, only to find no appendix, and he started freaking out. The support nurses in the room started snickering at him because they knew right away what it was. Occasionally, they see someone with a rare genetic disorder in which all their left-right asymmetries are reversed. The appendix was on the other side.”

—SatanScotty

21.“Orthopedic surgeon here. Mostly do joint replacements.”

“Having a unit of blood run down my leg while doing CPR on a patient in the trauma bay. The connector between the blood bag and the patient’s IV came loose, and no one noticed until it had basically emptied all down my leg. Mostly just felt cold. But I had to walk through the main lobby of the hospital, covered in blood, past patients, and families to get to my call room. Threw away my underwear and socks and did the rest of the 24 hr shift commando.”

—jmartino2011

Do you work in the medical field? If so, tell us your wildest stories in the comments!

Note: Some responses have been edited for clarity/length.

December 6, 2024

NFL Week 13 Power Rankings: Surging Broncos may be Sean Payton’s best coaching job yet; Steelers out of top 5

Sean Payton has been one of this league’s best coaches for a long time, winning a Super Bowl, leading amazing offenses with precision play-calling and having a great feel for what defenses do against him.

But he might be doing the best coaching job of his career this season — and that’s saying something.

Payton has taken the Denver Broncos, a team many picked to be one of the worst in the league, a team starting a rookie quarterback most thought was a reach in the first round, to being the No. 7 seed in the AFC if the playoffs started today. The Broncos are 7-5 after beating the Las Vegas Raiders, 29-19, on Sunday on the road, the first time they beat the Raiders on the road since 2015.

The Broncos now play two straight home games against the Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts, both winnable games that could get them to 9-5 with three games to go. That would almost certainly get them into the playoffs.

The Broncos have been riding a top-level defense all season, but it’s the play of rookie quarterback Bo Nix that has elevated this team the past three games. In those games, Nix has eight touchdown passes and no interceptions. Payton, who had Nix as his hand-picked quarterback — even though most said he reached to take him with the 12th overall pick — does a great job of calling plays for Nix to make for easy throws and decisions.

But the thing that stands out from the past three weeks is Nix taking and hitting shots into the middle of the field with accuracy. He is certainly playing with more confidence, and the league has taken notice. He’s completely closed the gap in terms of betting odds for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year over at FanDuel, as it’ll likely be neck-and-neck between he and the Commanders’ Jayden Daniels down the stretch.

As for the defense, it’s special. It is third in points given up at 16.5 points per game, with only the Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit Lions better. It is third in total defense, sixth in rush defense and ninth against the pass. It gives up a paltry 3.8 yards per rush, and it’s been 3.1 yards per rush over the past three games.

That run defense leads to second- and third-and-long situations, which leads to sacks. The Broncos lead the NFL in sacks with 44 as coordinator Vance Joseph turns his blitz-heavy group loose to menace quarterbacks. It may not be a group of stars on that side of the ball — aside from corner Patrick Surtain II – but they get after it. They play hard and tough and fast, and Joseph knows how to call a defense.

Denver, which is up to 10th in my latest Power Rankings, hasn’t exactly beat up on a brutal schedule. It has one victory over a team with a winning record and that is 6-5 Atlanta, who it beat up two weeks ago at home. But if the Broncos beat the remaining teams on their schedule who don’t have a winning record, they will be a playoff team. So no apologies needed, and they did go toe-to-toe with the Chiefs in Kansas City three weeks ago, only to have a last-second field goal blocked to lose the game.

With a dominant defense, solid running attack and Nix hitting the timely passes when needed, the Broncos will be a playoff team. The question will be whether it can be more. Defense does win in the playoffs and it travels well. And then there’s always the Payton factor. He can flat out coach, and he’s proving it as well as ever with this team.

Biggest Movers

Rk	Teams		Chg	Rcrd
1	Lions	They are a brutish, power team that can knock you off the ball and yet still hit shots off of that. The defense played well against the Colts.	—	10-1-0
2	Bills	They went into their bye having scored 30 points or more in five straight games. This is one team that has to hope the bye didn’t slow them down.	—	9-2-0
3	Chiefs	They won another close game last week, which has been a season-long trend. Playing close against the Panthers is not a good look.	—	10-1-0
4	Eagles	Saquon Barkley is keying their offense right now, and the offensive line is mauling people. The defense has really come on over the past five games.	1	9-2-0
5	Vikings	They went unbeaten in their three-game road trip, which is tough to do. They were all close, but that matters little in the record.	1	9-2-0
6	Ravens	They got back to playing Ravens football on the road to beat the Chargers. They were physical and got Derrick Henry going again.	1	8-4-0
7	Packers	They dominated the undermanned 49ers, but that’s what they had to do. The running game clicked with Josh Jacobs, and the defense came up big.	1	8-3-0
8	Chargers	The top-ranked defense was exposed some in the loss to the Ravens. Now they have a tough road trip to face Atlanta, which is coming off a bye.	1	7-4-0
9	Steelers	That was a bad loss on the road at Cleveland for a team pushing for the top seed in the conference. They face a tough division game at Cincinnati this week.	5	8-3-0
10	Broncos	The schedule is favorable and they have a great defense, a great coach and a rookie quarterback who is growing every week. The playoffs are real.	2	7-5-0
11	Seahawks	The defense has improved greatly since the bye. It seems they are getting a grasp of what coach Mike Macdonald wants them to do. They lead the division as we head down the stretch.	3	6-5-0
12	Cardinals	They must have left their offense somewhere during the bye. They did nothing in the loss to the Seahawks. Kyler Murray has to be better.	2	6-5-0
13	Commanders	Losing at home to the Cowboys is a bad look. They can’t afford many more losses or the playoffs will be gone.	2	7-5-0
14	Texans	This team just isn’t right. Losing at home to the Titans won’t badly hurt their playoff chances in a bad division, but they need to get it going. C.J. Stroud looks off.	1	7-5-0
15	Dolphins	Tua Tagovailoa has been outstanding since coming back. Now they have to end the narrative that they can’t beat teams in the cold when they go to Green Bay Thanksgiving night.	6	5-6-0
16	Buccaneers	They dominated the Giants, and with a soft schedule the rest of the way, they can make a run. Getting healthy on defense is big for this group.	3	5-6-0
17	Falcons	They come out of their bye off two straight losses with a tough game at home against the Chargers. They have to get the offense back on track.	1	6-5-0
18	49ers	With so many injuries, this team hardly resembles the team that went to the Super Bowl last year. If Brock Purdy is out this week, their season might be over.	3	5-6-0
19	Colts	Anthony Richardson is improved, but they still aren’t scoring enough points. They had a chance to make the division close with the Texans losing, but they didn’t play well against the Lions.	2	5-7-0
20	Rams	They were mauled physically by the Eagles. So much for that late-season push they were expecting. The good news is the division is still tight.	2	5-6-0
21	Bengals	They come out of their bye knowing they likely have to run the table to make the playoffs. It starts with a rough one against the Steelers.	1	4-7-0
22	Bears	Caleb Williams was good in the loss to the Vikings, bringing them back late to get to overtime. That type of situation matters for the future.	—	4-7-0
23	Saints	Two straight victories before the bye has them a magical run away from playoff possibility. It’s not likely, but you never know.	1	4-7-0
24	Cowboys	Give them credit for showing up and winning at Washington when things looked bleak. If they beat the Giants this week, they are 5-7. Wow.	2	4-7-0
25	Browns	Jameis Winston has brought this team some life. That was much needed. Too bad it happened too late.	2	3-8-0
26	Titans	Will Levis is making progress — even if people won’t admit it. He is also taking a beating with 20 sacks in the past three games.	3	3-8-0
27	Patriots	Drake Maye had his rookie game against the Dolphins, which can be expected. The defense did nothing to stop the Miami passing game, either.	4	3-9-0
28	Jets	This season is toast. The coach and general manager are gone, but what happens to Aaron Rodgers?	3	3-8-0
29	Panthers	Progress for Bryce Young is a good thing. And he is making it. Credit to him for improving.	1	3-8-0
30	Giants	So much for Tommy DeVito adding life to this team. They are so bad right now.	—	2-9-0
31	Raiders	They just aren’t good enough right now, which means changes are coming after the season. Just stink, baby.	—	2-9-0
32	Jaguars	Coming off the bye, there were no firings. That’s not surprising the way ownership operates, but it doesn’t mean it’s right.	—	2-9-0