Ten biggest NFL storylines from 2024: A neck-and-neck NFL MVP race, Saquon goes for 2,000 and more

The National Football League is the United States’ most popular sports league — NFL games made up 93 of America’s 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in 2023, according to Sportico — because anything is possible. 

Since 1990, at least four new teams have reached the NFL playoffs each year. Plus, the league provides captivating stories all year long. The sun is setting on 2024 with it being New Year’s Eve, so let’s take a look back at 10 of the NFL’s biggest storylines from the latest calendar year. 

10. Bears faceplant in 2024 despite offensive overhaul in offseason

Chicago Bears first overall pick quarterback Caleb Williams appeared to be primed for success in 2024 after he entered the NFL as the first top-five pick quarterback to inherit two wide receivers coming off 1,200-yard seasons (D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen) in his rookie year. 

Unfortunately, Williams is trying to adapt to the NFL game while attempting to combat an unstable coaching situation. His average time to throw of 3.13 seconds is the fourth-longest in the NFL this season, and he’s been sacked 67 times. That’s the second-most in a season by a rookie quarterback since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger ahead of only Houston Texans quarterback David Carr’s 76 sacks taken in 2002. Chicago is in the midst of their longest losing streak in franchise history, 10 games, and saddled with a 4-12 record in 2024. There’s lot for the Bears to clean up in order for them to get out of the woods in 2025. 

9. Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh leads Los Angeles back to postseason in Year 1

The Chargers were 5-12 in 2023, but after hiring Jim Harbaugh as their head coach, Los Angeles is back in the postseason with a 10-6 record. Harbaugh is now the first head coach in the Super Bowl era, since 1966, to lead multiple teams to the postseason after his team had a losing record the previous year, per CBS Sports Research. He did it with the San Francisco 49ers in 2012, and he’s done it again with the Chargers in 2024. 

After all the drama about whether or not he would actually leave Michigan to go back to the NFL, the wait was worth it. 

8. Cowboys crumble in make-or-break season for coach Mike McCarthy

Remember hearing breathless updates about the Dallas Cowboys’ “all in” offseason? Owner and general manager Jerry Jones waited until the last second to re-sign both quarterback Dak Prescott (four years, $240 million) and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (four years, $136 million) while also spending the fewest amount of money in free agency ($21.3 million, per OverTheCap.com). Injuries decimated the now-7-9 Cowboys, and head coach Mike McCarthy and his coaching staff may or may not return in 2025. Uncertainty begets uncertainty in Dallas.  

7. Rookie QB Jayden Daniels lifts Commanders to postseason

Earlier this year, the Washington Commanders fired head coach Ron Rivera and had the 2024 NFL Draft’s No. 2 overall pick. Now, that No. 2 overall pick — 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels — has them back in the postseason with a winning record for the first time since 2015. He’s the first rookie quarterback in NFL history with at least 10 wins (11 and counting), 30 or more total touchdowns (31) and 4,000 or more total yards (4,394) in a season, per CBS Sports Research. Daniels is also as clutch: he’s the first quarterback in the 21st century with three game-winning passing touchdowns in the 30 seconds of regulation or overtime in a season, per CBS Sports Research. He’s not even a year in, but he’s a fast-rising D.C. sports legend. 

6. Falcons move on from QB Kirk Cousins to rookie Michael Penix Jr. in under a year

The Atlanta Falcons made what was the most stunning move of the 2024 NFL Draft’s first round by selecting Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. eighth overall just over a month from signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract with $90 million fully guaranteed. Even team owner Arthur Blank couldn’t believe the move. 

Fast forward to today, and an immobile, post-Achilles tear Cousins leads the NFL with 16 interceptions and has been benched for Penix. The 2023 Heisman Trophy runner-up showed his mettle by forcing overtime on “Sunday Night Football” at the Washington Commanders on a drive that required him to throwing a game-tying touchdown to tight end Kyle Pitts on a fourth-and-13 throw with 1:19 left to play. That was the second conversion on fourth-and-11 or longer on that drive alone. It’s a small sample size, just two starts, but Atlanta may have something in Penix. 

5. Sam Darnold’s revival has Vikings in contention for NFC’s top seed

Quarterback Sam Darnold appeared to be destined as a bust, floating around the NFL as a talented backup with unrealized potential. After he, like many before him, flamed out with the New York Jets after being selected third overall in the 2018 NFL Draft, he bounced around the NFL.

Since the start of the year, the unfathomable has happened. McCarthy’s rookie year ended with a knee injury in the preseason, and Darnold has performed like a franchise quarterback. He’s got the Vikings out to a 14-2 record while throwing for 4,153 passing yards (the fourth-most in the NFL) and 35 touchdowns (the fifth-most in the NFL). His 35 passing touchdowns are the fourth-most by any quarterback in NFL history with a new team, and his 14 wins, say what you will about QB record being a statistic, are the most by any quarterback in their first season with a team in NFL history. 

With a victory on Sunday night against the Detroit Lions (14-2), Minnesota can clinch the NFC North division title and the conference’s No. 1 seed. Remarkable. 

4. Joe Burrow’s attempt to will the Bengals into the postseason 

Football is the ultimate team game because if even just one of a team’s 11 players aren’t doing their job, everything can become unraveled. Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is putting that premise to the test in 2024. His team looked dead through 13 weeks this season after their 4-8 start. The Bengals currently possess the league’s fourth-worst scoring defense, allowing 26.1 points per game. 

Yet, Cincinnati and Burrow have ripped off four consecutive wins, and at 8-8, they have a real Week 18 clinching scenario to earn the AFC’s final playoff spot. They will make the playoffs if they win at the Pittsburgh Steelers AND the Denver Broncos lose against a Kansas City Chiefs team with nothing to play for since they have already clinched the one seed AND they need to Miami Dolphins to lose to the reeling New York Jets, more on them in a moment. 

The only reason the Bengals are still alive is because of Burrow. He leads the entire NFL in passing touchdowns (42), passing yards (4,641), completions (423) and pass attempts (606). During the Bengals’ four-game winning streak in December, Burrow has posted a 75.3% completion, 1,613 passing yards and 15 passing touchdowns, making him the first quarterback ever with at least a 75% completion percentage, 1,500 passing yards and 15 passing touchdowns in a single month, per CBS Sports Research. 

If the Bengals end up in the postseason, which looked unfathomable just a month ago, Burrow may garner legitimate MVP buzz on a 9-8 team. 

3. Future Hall of Fame QB Aaron Rodgers, Jets crash and burn

The 2024 season, on paper, was supposed to finally be the New York Jets’ year. At least one in which they finally snapped North American professional sports’ longest active playoff drought. Instead, they’ve been a laughingstock and have missed the postseason for a 14th season in a row. They’re 4-12. Aaron Rodgers hasn’t been the answer since returning from his torn Achilles injury. He shoved away then-head coach Robert Saleh, who pulled him in for a hug in-game earlier this season. 

Trading for Rodgers’ longtime Packers running mate Davante Adams didn’t make a difference in the win column. The Athletic reported Jets owner Woody Johnson’s teenage sons possess influence over New York’s personnel decisions, which is why the team reportedly factored in a “Madden rating” and didn’t trade for then-Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy. Jeudy has gone on to a have a career year in 2024, reaching 1,000 yards receiving for the first time as a Cleveland Brown, and he currently ranks sixth in the entire league (1,166) in that metric.

The game show “Jeopardy” made fun of the Jets, and Pro Bowl cornerback Sauce Gardner posted on Instagram that he won’t be telling soon-to-be free agent wide receiver Tee Higgins to come to the Jets. It’s a tire fire in Florham Park.

2. Saquon Barkley goes for 2,000 yards rushing, threatens Eric Dickerson’s all-time, single-season rush yards record

Pro Bowl running back Saquon Barkley became a major news item in the offseason once HBO’s offseason edition of the show followed the New York Giants, which allowed for his phone call with Giants general manager Joe Schoen where he found out he was going to be a free agent to become public. 

However, Barkley more than validated Giants fans’ frustrations in 2024 after signing a three-year, $37.75 million deal with the rival Philadelphia Eagles. He became the ninth player in NFL history with at least 2,000 yards rushing in a season — 2,005 to be exact. Entering Week 18, he needs just 101 yards rushing against his former team to break Pro Football Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson’s all-time single-season record of 2,105 set back in 1984. 

Barkley generated numerous offseason headlines, and he earned plenty more for his sprint into the history books.

1. Lamar Jackson vs. Josh Allen for the 2024 NFL MVP

Only two quarterbacks in NFL history have 3,500 or more passing yards, 500 or more rushing yards and under 10 turnovers through 16 games in a season. Both such occurrences have come in 2024 thanks to Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, per CBS Sports Research. 

In almost any other year, Allen, whose Bills have already clinched the AFC’s No. 2 seed and are the only team to have defeated the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, would be an obvious choice to win his first NFL MVP. However, Jackson’s production is in even more rarefied, all-time NFL air. His 121.6 passer rating is currently the second-highest ever in a single season in NFL history. 

Allen is the current betting favorite with -300 odds, per Caesar’s Sportsbook, while Jackson trails him at +235, but it wouldn’t be a shock to anyone for Jackson to jump Allen for the MVP hardware by season’s end.