With two weeks remaining in the NFL season, we have gotten a pretty clear understanding of which teams are contenders and which teams aren’t.

However, just because a team is a contender does not mean it is without fault. As a matter of fact, some contenders have some very obvious issues heading into Week 17.

Here are three contenders that have some problems to shore up as the 2023 regular season comes to its conclusion.

Dallas Cowboys

A couple of weeks ago, the Cowboys appeared to be emerging as one of the top few teams in the NFL. At the very least, they seemed to be NFC East favorites.

After all, Dallas had won five straight games and had looked thoroughly dominant throughout that span. In fact, it capped its winning streak by hammering the Philadelphia Eagles.

But since then, the Cowboys have lost two straight games to the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins and are now back in second place in the division at 10-5.

Don’t get me wrong: Dallas is still really good, but it has definitely lost some of its shine recently.

December swoons are nothing new to a Cowboys team that has not made it any further than the Divisional Round of the playoffs since the 1995-96 campaign, but this time around, it seemed like things may have been different.

Instead, Dallas has fallen right back into its own ways, dropping a pair of big games on the road with the postseason approaching.

Heck, just two weeks ago, Dak Prescott appeared to be the MVP frontrunner, but now, everyone is on the Lamar Jackson bandwagon (and with good reason).

The Cowboys are just 3-5 on the road this season, and their offense has stalled in each of their last two losses. There is definitely elite talent here, but there is no question that Dallas needs to get things right over these next pair of games before the playoffs roll around.

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles snapped their three-game skid by beating the New York Giants on Christmas, but they still looked very flawed even in victory.

Philadelphia barely beat a Giants team that has been fumbling through quarterbacks, and at Lincoln Financial Field, no less. The defense still looked shaky and Jalen Hurts is clearly not the same player he was last season when he finished second in MVP voting.

The Birds were 10-1 at one point this year and looked primed to repeat as NFC champions, but they were roasted (pun fully intended) by the San Francisco 49ers and the Cowboys before blowing a late lead to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 15.

Even earlier in the season when Philly was winning games, it was doing so by the skin of its teeth, and against mostly inferior opponents, no less.

The Eagles’ defense ranks 20th in the NFL, and their pass defense is 27th. Philadelphia also ranks 14th in passing offense, which is strange considering the club has one of the most dynamic receiver tandems in the league in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. I guess that shows just how underwhelming Hurts has been.

Is Philly still one of the NFL’s best teams? Yes, as the Eagles are 11-4. But even the most diehard Philadelphia fan won’t deny that this squad has some problems that could very well sabotage its chances of making it back to the Super Bowl.

Kansas City Chiefs

Should we even classify the Chiefs as contenders anymore?

Kansas City is 9-6 and has lost three of its last four after dropping a Christmas Day matchup to the Las Vegas Raiders by a score of 20-14—at home.

Actually, since getting off to a 6-1 start, the Chiefs have gone just 3-5, which is incredibly uncharacteristic for a franchise that has made it to three Super Bowls—winning two—over the last four years.

Patrick Mahomes has thrown a career-worst 14 interceptions. Travis Kelce is frustrated. Isiah Pacheco is banged up. The receiving corps isn’t very good.

There are serious problems here, and at this juncture, I’m not even sure Mahomes can fix it.

Heck, we all keep waiting to witness some heroics from Mahomes, but he has really not looked that good all season long. He has only thrown for 300 yards four times this year, and over the last four weeks, he has posted passer ratings below 80 three times.

You never want to count the Chiefs out. They are the defending Super Bowl champions, and they have been terrific for a while now. But there comes a point when even we might all need to admit that Kansas City is not the same anymore. At least not in 2023.

With teams like the Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins and the suddenly surging Bills to contend with in the AFC, it’s going to be difficult for the Chiefs—who now have no chance of gaining home-field advantage throughout the playoffs—to make another championship run.