Inside The Star
It may not be Thursday, Sunday, or Monday, but we will have NFL action today with the league’s Week 17 Saturday slate of games.
On Thursday, we got great Christmas Day action: the Dallas Cowboys faced off with the Washington Commanders, the Detroit Lions traveled to play the Minnesota Vikings, and the Denver Broncos went to Arrowhead to take on the Kansas City Chiefs.
Today, it will be the Houston Texans and Los Angeles Chargers, in what could be a future playoff matchup, and the Baltimore Ravens against the Green Bay Packers.
The latter of the two will see a backup quarterback battle, as both Jordan Love and Lamar Jackson are out with injuries. It will instead be Malik Willis against Tyler “Snoop” Hundley, just as the higher-ups in the NFL hoped, I’m sure.
Here, I’ll cover what you should know about these games as Week 17 continues to roll.
The Texans and Chargers will start us off at 3:30 with their matchup in Houston, and it is an important one for both sides.
For the Texans, they are aiming to continue a staggering seven-game winning streak that has put them firmly in position for a playoff spot this winter. Their season started really badly, but a monster defense has saved their chances in 2025.
Guys like Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. are aiming to continue dominating against a banged-up Chargers offensive line.
For Los Angeles, they’ve already clinched a playoff berth, their second consecutive one under former Michigan and 49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. In fact, this Texans team knocked them out of the postseason just last year.
While their spot in the playoffs is confirmed, they still have a chance to catch the Broncos for first place, so there is a lot on the line for Justin Herbert & Co. today.
They enter as a very slim favorite over Houston, so this thing is just about as pure a toss-up as you’ll find in Week 17.
The story in this one, as I mentioned earlier, is the quarterbacks. Jackson, a two-time MVP, is almost certainly out, and Love, an emerging star, is as well. In fact, Green Bay’s backup isn’t even fully healthy, as Willis is also dealing with an injury.
In a nightmare scenario for Green Bay, it would be Clayton Tune filling in for him.
Clayton Tune will be Willis' backup tomorrow. He was a fifth-round pick by the Cardinals in 2023 who started one game for them as a rookie.
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) December 26, 2025
Both teams desperately need a win...
