GAME-DAY NOTES
Facts, figures and storylines for Week 16:
BALTIMORE vs. San Francisco: Super Bowl preview? The Monday night matchup (8:15 p.m., WTAE) is only the third regular-season matchup between teams with the best outright record in each conference in December or later since the 1970 merger.
THE 49ERS have won 17 consecutive regular-season games played after Nov. 1, tied for the longest streak in NFL history. That streak will be tested by Ravens QB Lamar Jackson, who is 19-1 vs. NFC teams.
WITH TWO rushing TDs, 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey can become the fifth player in NFL history with at least 15 rushing TDs and five receiving TDs in a season. The others: O.J. Simpson (1975), Marshall Faulk (2000), Ahman Green (2003) and Alvin Kamara (2020). THE LIONS
clinch the NFC North with a win vs. Minnesota. It would be the franchise’s first division title since 1993. The coach that year was Wayne Fontes and RB Barry Sanders rushed for the fifth of 10 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. THE GAME between Dallas and Miami (4:25 p.m., WPGH) is the first in NFL history between teams with 20 or more combined wins
and one (or zero) against teams with a better-than-.500 record. Dallas is 9-1 vs.t teams with a .500-or-worse record and 1-3 vs. teams above .500. Miami is 10-1 vs. .500-or-worse teams and 0-3 vs. teams above .500.
FYI: In this, The Year of the Backup Quarterback, every first-place team entering Week 16 has started the same QB all season.
THE CHIEFS can clinch the AFC West for the eighth consecutive year with a win vs. the Raiders. Only New England (11 consecutive AFC East titles, 2009
19) has a longer streak.
WITH HIS next TD pass, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, pictured at right, will surpass Dan Marino (217) for the most TD passes by a player in his first 100 career games in NFL history. If Mahomes does it Monday, it will be in his 94th game.