Brock Osweiler played well in his first start for the Denver Broncos.

“He can do everything," said Gary Kubiak. "He’s a very composed young man, and the more he plays, I think, the better he’s going to get. We booted a little bit, not a lot. They [the Bears’ defenders] were up the field quite a bit, but the threat of us [running bootlegs], I think, helped us run the ball.” 

Osweiler finished 20-for-27 and had a passer rating of 127.1.

Opposing defenses have blitzed Aaron Rodgers at the highest rate of his career.

In the past, defensive coordinators have been afraid of blitzing Rodgers.

Rodgers has seen a blitz in 32.5 percent of his dropbacks this season, which is the 12th highest rate in the NFL.

Opponents blitzed Rodgers just 25.5 percent of the time last season, which ranked 28th.

Rodgers came into this season with the second-highest passer rating (111.6) against the blitz dating to 2008. 

This season, Rodgers’ passer rating of 100.7 against the blitz ranks 10th.

Carson Palmer is the quarterback selected to the Pro Football Focus Midseason All Pro Team ahead of Tom Brady. PFF chose Palmer largely due to his intermediate and downfield aerial assault.

Offense

QB: Carson Palmer
RB: Le'Veon Bell
FB: Patrick DiMarco
TE: Rob Gronkowski
WR: Antonio Brown
WR: Julio Jones
WR: Larry Fitzgerald
OT: Tyron Smith
OT: Mitchell Schwartz
OG: Marshal Yanda
OG: Richie Incognito
C: Ryan Kalil

Defense

DE: J.J. Watt
DE: Aaron Donald
NT: Linval Joseph
Edge: Cameron Jordan
Edge: Khalil Mack
LB: Luke Kuechly
LB: K.J. Wright
CB: Josh Norman
CB: Tyrann Mathieu
CB: Chris Harris
S: Malcolm Jenkins
S: Harrison Smith

Special Teams

K: Stephen Gostkowski
P: Pat McAfee
Punt Returner: Jarvis Landry
Kick Returner: Dwayne Harris
Special Teamer: Justin Bethel

Geep Chryst see some aspects of Alex Smith in the game of Blaine Gabbert.

Gabbert needed to adapt from a spread run system into a pocket passer like Smith.

"Alex came here, was very young and played, had to slug out a lot of tough situations," Chryst said Thursday, via ESPN.com. "We felt like Blaine had all this talent, and as a young player, maybe a change of scenery would be good for him. He's really applied himself well in the classroom. He's engaged and active; he's a really bright guy."

For his career, Gabbert has a 53.0 completion percentage, 159.4 passing yards per game, a 22-24 TD-INT ratio and a 66.1 passer rating -- the lowest rating in the NFL since 2011. 

Josh Norman of the Carolina Panthers is leading all cornerbacks this season in yards allowed, passer rating against, interceptions and catch rate.

Norman is on pace for an all-time season at cornerback.

Norman was a fifth round pick in 2012 out of Coastal Carolina.

The Carolina Panthers have won 11 regular season games in a row and it started with the decision to run more no-huddle on offense.

Cam Newton was given more responsibility to identify defensive looks and make play calls against them.

“The evolution of our offense, has been as much the evolution of Cam,” Ron Rivera said, via Jenny Vrentas of TheMMQB.com.

Rivera estimated that Newton is charged with making a call about what play to run about 70 percent of the time.

The Seattle Seahawks rank fifth in FiveThirtyEight's Elo rating, but have just a 53 percent chance of reaching the playoffs.

The Arizona Cardinals currently lead the NFC West and have a 69 percent chance of reaching the playoffs and rank seventh in Elo.

The Atlanta Falcons have a better chance of reaching the playoffs at 63 percent despite ranking 12th in Elo due to their softer schedule, while the Minnesota Vikings have a 54 percent chance of making the playoffs. The NFC Wild Card is likely to come down to the Seahawks, Falcons and Vikings.

In the AFC, the Pittsburgh Steelers (49 percent), New York Jets (46 percent), Kansas City Chiefs (28 percent) and Oakland Raiders (24 percent) have the best Wild Card odds.

The New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals, Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers each have a 95 percent or better chance of reaching the playoffs.