Week 11 of the NFL season is here. 10 weeks down, eight more to go until the playoffs begin in January. Every week from here on out is a massive week. Top teams are trying to hold onto their place in the playoff picture, while others on the outside are looking to stack a few wins and topple some of the top teams.

As always, this week brings a ton of storylines. Can some struggling teams turn it around? Will a playoff contender be exposed as a fraud?

Here are some of the top storylines for NFL Week 11.

Will Buffalo or Tampa get back on track this weekend?

The Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers started the season 5-1 and 4-0, respectively. Things were looking great for both sides, but after a bit of a slump, they both sit at 6-3. Now these two powerhouses will face off on Sunday, and both of them desperately need a win.

Tampa has been plagued by injuries, specifically on the offensive side of the ball. Jalen McMillan’s been out all year, Bucky Irving’s missed extended time, Mike Evans has suffered two separate injuries and Chris Godwin has missed virtually the whole season. When they were healthy, they were rolling teams, so I’m not too worried about them long-term. They just need to get healthy fast.

It seems like the Bills need the win more than the Bucs. Their struggles have not come because of injuries, but because of poor play. They just aren’t executing at a high level on either side of the ball right now, and have been incredibly inconsistent. I mean, how do you beat Kansas City one week and then lose to Miami the next? They have some issues they need to iron out if they want to topple the Bucs.

Whoever wins this game is going to feel pretty good about themselves. They’ll be 7-3 and right in the mix for the top seed in their respective conference, but the loser will be 6-4 and Week 12 will be absolutely crucial for their season.

Can Carolina keep their faint playoff hopes alive against NFC South rival?

The Carolina Panthers are 5-5, but it feels like they’re more of a 3-7 team. Outside of their 30-0 rout of Atlanta, they haven’t looked all that good, and it feels like their opponents have been handing them wins. In the grand scheme of things, how you win doesn’t really matter as long as you have more points on the scoreboard at the end of the game, but I won’t lie, I’m very worried about Carolina moving forward.

This week is a make-or-break week for them. They just lost to the 2-8 New Orleans Saints, and now have to hit the road to face another NFC South rival in the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons have been struggling recently, too, losing their last four games, but they’ve played a couple of the top AFC teams close in recent weeks. I think they’re a better team than Carolina, despite what their record says.

This will be a very intriguing game. If Carolina is legit, they must win this game to keep their playoff hopes alive. Falling below .500 at this point in the season would make it incredibly hard to come back. They’d likely need to hope for a meltdown from Tampa so they can win the division, because a Wild Card would almost be out of the question at 5-6, especially when you look at their remaining schedule, which features two matchups against Tampa and one against Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco.

Can Minnesota expose Chicago?

I am not a believer in the Chicago Bears. They’re 6-3, but they’re nowhere near as good as their record says. Last week, if Jaxson Dart didn’t get hurt, they would’ve lost. The weeks before that, it took a miracle play against the worst defense in the league to beat a three-win team. The week before that, they lost by two scores to the Lamar Jackson-less Baltimore Ravens, and in the weeks prior to that loss, they beat the 3-7 Commanders and 2-7 Raiders by one point each.

I think they could be exposed this week. Minnesota isn’t a great team, but they have a capable offense and a defense that can make plays in big moments. In fact, Vegas agrees with me. They have Minnesota as 3.5-point favorites over the Bears on Sunday. They know this team is fraudulent, and that the casual fan will pick the 6-3 underdogs against a 4-5 team.

And if it’s not this week, it’ll be the next three. They have to host Pittsburgh before traveling to Philadelphia and Green Bay. Buckle up, Bears fans, this isn’t going to be a pretty stretch.

Will Green Bay bounce back? Or are they actually a bad team?

The Green Bay Packers are a lot like Chicago. They’re 5-3-1 right now, but it doesn’t feel like they’re as good as their record, especially in recent weeks.

Their offense has been atrocious over their last two games. They’ve scored a combined 20 points against Carolina and Philadelphia (both losses), and Jordan Love has thrown for 349 yards, no touchdowns and an interception in those games. They’re very clearly missing Tucker Kraft, who’s out for the year with a torn ACL.

So, can Green Bay bounce back this week, or is their season all but done? They play a New York Giants team that just fired their head coach, but has an explosive offense and an exciting young quarterback. They also have an interim head coach in Mike Kafka, who’s been a popular interview in recent years, so he’s head coach material.

This feels like a trap game for the Packers. Usually, that’s when you’re coming off an emotional win and face a lesser opponent, but right now, Green Bay is down and out and desperately needs a win. The Giants are playing with house money at this point and can afford to take some risks.

Can the Packers bounce back and move to 6-3-1? Or will they fall flat on their face again, drop to 5-4-1, and wonder what the hell happened?

Is Cincinnati’s season going to be over before Burrow returns?

After Joe Flacco came over from Cleveland and led the Cincinnati Bengals to 33 points and a TNF win over their AFC North rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, it felt like they had an outside shot at the playoffs. They were 3-4 and had the Jets coming up next. It felt like an easy win, which should get them to 4-4, but their defense completely blew it, giving up 39 points to one of the worst offenses in football, and the Bengals fell to 3-5.

The following week, the Bengals found themselves down 14 points to the Bears in the fourth quarter, but pulled off a miracle to come from behind and take a 42-41 lead with under a minute to go. It looked like they had the win wrapped up, but their defense gave up a 58-yard touchdown to rookie tight end Colston Loveland, and they lost once again, falling to 3-6.

With news that Joe Burrow was back at practice this week, the Bengals really need to turn things around right now if they want any chance at the playoffs. They’ll likely have to finish 10-7, maybe 9-8, if they want to make the postseason, so there’s little room for error. A loss this week would essentially eliminate them from playoff contention before Burrow ever steps back on the field.

Knocking off the Steelers for the second time would help keep their slim hopes alive for when Burrow does return, but it won’t be easy if their defense can’t get a stop.

Who takes control of the NFC?

There are two very impactful NFC matchups this weekend: the Seattle Seahawks vs Los Angeles Rams and the Detroit Lions vs the Philadelphia Eagles.

Right now, the Eagles hold the No. 1 seed with a 7-2 record over the 7-2 Seahawks, who are in second, and the 6-3 Lions, who are in third. The Rams are down in fifth because they are in the same division as Seattle, who holds a tiebreaker over them.

All of this could change this weekend, or nothing at all.

If Philly and Seattle win, the playoff picture should remain the same. Detroit could fall to the 4-seed depending on Tampa and Green Bay’s game.

If Philly and LA win, Philly would likely maintain the 1-seed, but LA would become the 2-seed. Detroit would stay at the 3-seed or possibly fall to the 4-seed.

If Detroit and Seattle win, Seattle takes over the 1-seed, Detroit takes over as the 2-seed and Philly falls to the 3-seed.

If Detroit and LA win, LA takes over as the 1-seed, Detroit takes over as the 2-seed, Philly slides to the 3-seed and Seattle will be the 5-seed.

Needless to say, there are a ton of scenarios that could play out this week, especially if Green Bay and Tampa both win their matchups, and all of them will have massive playoff implications.

Can the Chiefs avoid disaster?

The Kansas City Chiefs’ season started off with back-to-back losses. They then won five of their next six games to move to 5-3, but after a tough battle against Buffalo, the Chiefs entered their bye week 5-4. Now they have to travel to Denver to face the 8-2 Broncos, who have one of the best defenses in football.

Can the Chiefs avoid disaster? A loss this week would put them at .500 heading into a massive game against the Indianapolis Colts, who will be coming off a bye. The stats say they should be okay. Andy Reid is 22-4 coming off a bye in his career, so even though this is a tough matchup, the numbers are on their side.

This still won’t be easy, though. Denver’s pass rush is one of the best we’ve ever seen. They’re averaging 4.5 sacks per game this season. No other team has finished with an average of 4.0 or higher since at least 2003. If they can get after Patrick Mahomes, who’s been sacked nearly two times a game, they have a real shot at winning this game.

This is a massive game for the Chiefs. A win puts them at 6-4, and makes them feel much better about their chance to not only make the playoffs, but win the division. A loss drops them to 5-5, while their AFC West foes move to 9-2, virtually eliminating them from AFC West contention.

Who’s going to show up on Sunday? We’ll have to wait and see.

Will we finally get a good primetime game?

It’s been a long time since we got a good primetime game. Last week, we saw two 10-7 snoozefests on Thursday and Monday night to go along with a blowout on Sunday Night Football. The week before, Baltimore blew out Miami on Thursday, Seattle blew out Washington on Sunday and Monday was a boring game between Arizona and Dallas. And the week before that, the average margin of defeat across the three primetime games was 19.3 points.

I think the last good primetime game we got was in Week 7 when the Steelers and Bengals combined for 64 points on Thursday night. It has been three full weeks since the last entertaining primetime game, but we could be in store for a good one on Sunday night.

We already talked about the playoff implications of Sunday night’s game between the Lions and Eagles, but let’s jump into the actual matchup.

The Eagles’ offense is struggling. They turned things around for a few weeks, but played a horrible game on Monday against the Packers. It was so bad that their star wide receiver, A.J. Brown, called it a sh**show. They’re going to have to turn things around in a major way because next week they get a Lions team that has a very explosive offense.

Last week, the Lions’ offense reached their full potential, and it’s not a coincidence that it happened the same week Dan Campbell took over play calling duties. Jahmyr Gibbs had his best game of the season, Amon-Ra St. Brown was impactful and Jared Goff looked sharp. I know Philly has a good defense, but Detroit is going to put points on the board.

If Philly can iron out some of their offensive issues, this should be a fantastic primetime game.