Each week NFL Nation team reporters award a game ball to a player, coach or unit. Here are the game balls for Week 15:
VIKINGS 38, BEARS 17 | ANALYSIS
John Timu. In his first career start, Timu was all over the field. He finished with nine tackles, including one for loss. -- Jeff Dickerson
Teddy Bridgewater. He had the first four-touchdown game of his career, finishing with a career-high 154.4 passer rating, and ran for another score, becoming the first Vikings QB with four passing TDs and a rushing touchdown since Fran Tarkenton in the Vikings’ first-ever game (against the Bears in 1961). Bridgewater finished 17-of-20 for 231 yards. -- Ben Goessling
FALCONS 23, JAGUARS 17 | ANALYSIS
Julio Jones. He set a franchise record with his 116th reception of the season, breaking the old mark by Roddy White from 2010. Jones also scored on an 11-yard pass, his first score since Nov. 1 against Tampa Bay. -- Vaughn McClure
Paul Posluszny. The linebacker played with a cast entirely covering his fractured right hand and it didn’t seem to affect him at all. He made 10 tackles (two for loss) and came up with a huge interception off a deflected pass early in the third quarter that set up a game-tying touchdown. -- Michael DiRocco
TEXANS 16, COLTS 10 | ANALYSIS
Brandon Weeden. He led the Texans to a field goal and a touchdown to lead the Texans to their first win in Indianapolis. They control their destiny now in the division. -- Tania Ganguli
Quan Bray. The undrafted rookie free agent did his part to help the Colts get good field position. He had four punt returns for 67 yards, including a Colts’ season-long 33 yards, and three kick returns for 80 yards. All those yards went to waste, though. -- Mike Wells
PANTHERS 38, GIANTS 35 | ANALYSIS
Cam Newton. Go ahead and put Newton’s name on the NFL MVP trophy. He had five touchdown passes for the second consecutive game and third time in five games. He had no games with four or five touchdown passes in his first 71 starts. He also led the Panthers to the game-winning field goal on the final drive of the game. -- David Newton
Rashad Jennings. He had 16 carries for 107 yards, the first Giants running back to top 100 yards this year. He had a 38-yard TD run in the fourth quarter and seems to have broken out of the RB by committee. -- Dan Graziano
PATRIOTS 33, TITANS 16 | ANALYSIS
Delanie Walker. The tight end had only two catches for 64 yards, but both receptions were for touchdowns and one was the Titans' high moment. He took a short Zach Mettenberger throw and worked magic with it -- bouncing off safety Patrick Chung, scooting out of an ankle tackle, hurdling another defender along the sideline and stiff-arming defensive back Jordan Richards to finish up. It earned Walker a 57-yard touchdown. -- Paul Kuharsky
Chandler Jones. The defensive end had two sacks, including a strip sack returned for a TD. He now has 12.5 sacks on the season. -- Mike Reiss
REDSKINS 35, BILLS 25 | ANALYSIS
Mike Gillislee. The former Florida running back, called up from the Bills’ practice squad earlier this month, has been a spark plug when LeSean McCoy hasn’t been on the field in recent weeks. With McCoy injured Sunday, Gillislee ran for a 60-yard touchdown in the third quarter. He entered Sunday averaging 6.5 yards on 10 carries. -- Mike Rodak
Kirk Cousins. He posted his sixth 300-yard game of the season and finished with four touchdown passes. In the past eight games, he has thrown 16 touchdowns and only three interceptions. -- John Keim
CHIEFS 34, RAVENS 14 | ANALYSIS
Marcus Peters. He salted the game away with a 90-yard pick-six. It was his sixth interception of the season and second touchdown. -- Adam Teicher
Kamar Aiken. He provided the biggest highlight of the game for the Ravens, catching a 48-yard pass from Jimmy Clausen on the last play of the first half. Aiken finished with a career-best 119 yards, and all but two of those yards came in the first half. He has really stepped up for the Ravens since Steve Smith suffered a season-ending Achilles injury last month. -- Jamison Hensley
SEAHAWKS 30, BROWNS 13 | ANALYSIS
Gary Barnidge. His first-quarter touchdown reception was his ninth of the season. That matched Ozzie Newsome for the most in a season by a Browns tight end. Barnidge has been a bright spot for a bad team. He now shares a team record with a Hall of Famer. -- Pat McManamon
Russell Wilson. He continued one of the most impressive stretches in NFL history, completing 21 of 30 passes for 249 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions as the Seahawks clinched a playoff berth. During the team’s current five-game winning streak, Wilson has completed 74.3 percent of his passes, averaged 9.6 yards per attempt and thrown 19 touchdowns without an interception. -- Sheil Kapadia
PACKERS 30, RAIDERS 20 | ANALYSIS
Bryan Bulaga: The Packers right tackle gave up one sack to Khalil Mack, but that’s a win considering Mack had five sacks last week against Denver. Bulaga more than held his own against the hottest pass-rusher in the NFL. -- Rob Demovsky
Amari Cooper. The rookie receiver had two touchdown catches, snapping a five-game scoring drought. He also surpassed the 1,000-yard receiving mark on the season. He is the first Oakland receiver to have a 1,000-yard receiving season since Randy Moss in 2005. -- Bill Williamson
STEELERS 34, BRONCOS 27 | ANALYSIS
Emmanuel Sanders. The wide receiver came up big against his former team. Sanders had 10 catches on 16 targets for 181 yards and one touchdown. He also had one carry for 24 yards. -- Jeff Legwold
Antonio Brown. He was unbelievable all game. When the defense struggled and the offense started to slow, Brown was the only consistent player on the field. He finished with 16 catches for 189 yards and two touchdowns. -- Jeremy Fowler
CHARGERS 30, DOLPHINS 14 | ANALYSIS
Oliver Vernon. The defensive end was one of the few players to have a solid performance in a blowout loss to the Chargers. Vernon had 11 tackles and a half sack he shared with teammate Ndamukong Suh. Vernon now is tied for the team lead with injured defensive end Cameron Wake with 7.0 sacks on the season. -- James Walker
Danny Woodhead. He finished with his first four-touchdown performance of his seven-year NFL career. Woodhead had touchdown catches of 20 and nine yards, and rushing touchdowns of nine and two yards. It was the first four-touchdown performance for the Chargers since LaDainian Tomlinson’s four rushing touchdowns against the Oakland Raiders in 2007. -- Eric Williams
BENGALS 24, 49ERS 14 | ANALYSIS
AJ McCarron. In his first career start, the Bengals quarterback led Cincinnati to a playoff berth thanks to a 15-of-21, 192-yard, one-touchdown effort. He had a couple of accurate deep passes in the game, too, hooking up with A.J. Green on a perfectly placed 37-yard pass, and Marvin Jones on a 47-yarder. -- Coley Harvey
Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Wishing for better days, faithful? Look, no one wearing a 49ers uniform truly deserved a game ball from that performance, so let’s go with GOAT 1 and GOAT 1A. Joe Montana and Jerry Rice were in the house to commemorate San Francisco’s two Lombardi Trophy-winning teams that beat the Bengals in the Super Bowl after the 1981 and 1988 regular seasons. So Montana and Rice get the game balls, because with 49ers fans yearning for better days, it got no better than with them still playing and lighting up NFL defenses. -- Paul Gutierrez
CARDINALS 40, EAGLES 17 | ANALYSIS
David Johnson. The Cardinals rookie running back from Northern Iowa had a career night. He finished with 187 yards on 29 carries, including three touchdowns. He also had four receptions for 42 yards. -- Josh Weinfuss
Jordan Matthews. The wide receiver, who had a back injury that limited him last week, caught seven passes for 159 yards, including a 78-yard touchdown. There weren’t many bright spots for the Eagles, but Matthews was one of them. -- Phil Sheridan
LIONS 35, SAINTS 27 | ANALYSIS
Matthew Stafford. He continued his strong play, completing 22 of 25 passes for 254 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He also led a critical fourth quarter drive when the Lions started to let the game slip away, including a tough third down throw to Golden Tate and a perfectly placed ball to Eric Ebron. -- Mike Rothstein
Drew Brees. He was left limping a bit after suffering a foot injury in the second quarter, but he still managed to play his best football in the second half, throwing three TD passes as the Saints’ rally fell short. He also became the fourth QB to reach 60,000 passing yards in NFL history. -- Mike Triplett