# NFL Week 12

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-12/1024956>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Tags:** football-nfl\
**Created:** [November 18, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-12/1024956 "2025-11-18T15:45:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-12/1024956/61 "2025-11-25T19:37:22Z")

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> [@TroutMan](#):
>
> Maybe I’m naive, but I’d be surprised if teams use a fake concussion diagnosis as an excuse to sit a player.

Yeah, I may have been being too conspiracy-theorist there. That said, McCarthy is clearly regressing with each week, and I imagine that the Vikings are desperate to figure out how to turn him around (if it’s possible).

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**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-12/1024956/62 "2025-11-25T20:04:22Z")

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If you’re a Vikings fan, the one point of optimism is that McCarthy’s biggest problems – not processing routes and coverage fast enough, which leads to holding the ball too long or panicking – are things that can be fixed with more experience.

But that’s _can be_ fixed. Doesn’t mean it will be, or is even possible with him specifically.

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**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-12/1024956/63 "2025-11-26T01:44:07Z")

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> [@TroutMan](#):
>
> Maybe I’m naive, but I’d be surprised if teams use a fake concussion diagnosis as an excuse to sit a player. The league really puts a lot of focus on concussions\*, and there are so many other nebulous “injuries” that wouldn’t get as much attention.

Agreed. I do think that there are sometimes games being played with injuries. I feel like Kyler Murray being put on IR with a foot injury, when all reports were that he was on track to come back, and the team faring a bit better with Jacoby Brissett, and the team seeming very open to trading Murray, and putting him on the shelf to protect him ahead of such a trade… Seems awfully convenient to me.

> **[QB Kyler Murray's future with Cardinals in question with offseason decision...](https://www.nfl.com/news/qb-kyler-murray-future-with-cardinals-in-question)**
>
> Major change could be on the horizon in Arizona this offseason, as there will be many conversations after the 2025 season centered around whether to move on from QB Kyler Murray in the offseason, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport writes.

But with concussions I don’t think the league screws around. They have too many lawsuits and too much bad PR around it.

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