A quick glance at items of interest as the final weekend of the NFL’s regular season tees off …

Who’s hot: Nick Foles. Every team needs a player like Foles, who is much more than a capable backup poised to fill in for an emergency. He’s become something like a movement, an inspiration, which the Eagles can surely vouch for (again). The reigning Super Bowl MVP reignited the seemingly extinguished playoff hopes the past two weeks while QB Carson Wentz nursed a back injury.

Philadelphia (8-7) heads into Sunday’s game at Washington needing help from Chicago, which, like nearly everything associated with the magic of Foles this time of year, falls into the realm of nothing being impossible. Ask yourself: With the season on the line, would you rather roll with Foles or Vikings QB Kirk Cousins, who will face the Bears?

Foles broke his own franchise record by passing for 471 yards, with four touchdowns, in the comeback victory against Houston last weekend. A backup breaking the mark he set as a backup. What a script. Call it the Miracle on Broad Street. Before that, he helped score the upset win over the Rams. Two weeks, two opponents who are a combined 22-8.

Just ask Eagles defensive end Chris Long, once a Foles teammate in St. Louis. Long recently created a “shrine” in the locker room that may have embarrassed Foles (and maybe Wentz, too), but it undoubtedly expressed the vibe: The Eagles believe. And right now, that counts for something … maybe even something special.

Pressure’s on: Kirk Cousins. The logic for the Vikings in signing Cousins to a three-year free-agent deal that was unprecedented -- in that it fully guaranteed its $84 million value -- was simple: They were paying for the missing link that would put them over the top as a Super Bowl contender. Now the Vikings (8-6-1), who advanced to the conference title game last season, head into the matchup against the Bears scrapping to claim the NFC’s final playoff berth.

Of course, quarterbacks get too much credit and too much blame. And the former Washington signal-caller has respectable numbers; he ranks in the top 10 in all of the NFL’s major passing categories. Yet the playoffs hinge on beating the Bears – which would likely set up a first-round matchup to beat Chicago the following weekend at Soldier Field. Chicago’s incentive will be iffy; it needs a victory plus a Rams loss against the 49ers to earn a first-round bye.

Yet with both games being staged in the same time window, the Bears will still need to do their part – unless the Rams game gets out of hand quickly in an L.A. kind of way. Regardless, there’s one trend – losing against better competition -- that Cousins needs to buck in living up to his contract. Since the start of last season in Washington, his teams are 1-7-1 against opponents with a winning record.

Key matchup: Lamar Jackson vs. Jamie Collins. The Browns didn’t allow a touchdown when they toppled the Ravens, 12-9, in overtime in Week 5. But Cleveland’s defense, with Collins as the leading tackler (95 stops) from his SAM linebacker post, will face a different Ravens team in the make-or-break game at the Big ATM, thanks to Jackson. The dual-threat rookie quarterback has energized his team and created many headaches for defensive coaches scheming to neutralize the NFL’s most unconventional offense.

During a season in which passing numbers have exploded, the Ravens are the kings of the rushing attack. In six games since Jackson took over for Joe Flacco, the Ravens are 5-1, averaging a whopping 218.5 rushing yards, plus 35 minutes, 20 seconds of possession time that complements the NFL’s top-ranked defense. The Browns are vastly different, too, since Week 5, energized by QB Baker Mayfield, interim coach Gregg Williams and O-coordinator Freddie Kitchens.

And Williams, also the D-coordinator, might be just the man to devise the plan that puts the screws to Baltimore’s revised offense. Any success would surely include a big day from Collins, who might even draw the assignment of spying on Jackson.

Next man up: Teddy Bridgewater. With the No. 1 seed for the NFC playoffs locked up, the Saints will start their veteran backup while Drew Brees (and others) rest up for January. That’s standard practice when seeding is secured, but in this case, Bridgewater’s start against the Panthers is quite significant for other reasons. It will be his first regular-season start since 2015.

It’s been a long road back from the devastating knee injury that Bridgewater suffered with the Vikings, but he’s also had the good fortune of being traded from the Jets to New Orleans, which envisions him as a Foles-like insurance policy while providing the perks of growing with Brees and coach Sean Payton in one of the league’s most prolific offenses. Nonetheless, with his contract expiring at the end of the season and free agency looming, this start could be the perfect audition to impress potential free-agent suitors.

Rookie watch: Justin Jackson. With Melvin Gordon back in the mix for the Chargers and change-up back Austin Ekeler returning to practice this week from a concussion, the seventh-round pick from Northwestern will probably be pegged for a much lighter workload when the playoffs roll around. Yet he’s demonstrated – especially in the comeback win at Pittsburgh -- that he’s a legitimate option for an emergency. With Gordon recovered from his knee injury, Jackson had just one carry in Week 16 against Baltimore but was targeted 10 times in the passing game (seven catches, 47 yards), which provided a clue about his value.

More columns:Read more commentary from Jarrett Bell

Stomach for an upset: Colts at Titans. Andrew Luck has never lost to Tennessee, and from his perspective, the win-or-go-home showdown in Nashville would be the worst time for that. In the 10 games against the Titans, the passing stats don’t blow you away – he’s completed 63.2 percent of his throws, averaged 265 yards, posted a TD-to-INT ratio of 18-to-8 and amassed a cumulative passer rating of 97.2 -- but victories provide the ultimate measure.

New Titans coach Mike Vrabel (whose team is a three-point underdog), inherited this pattern, then witnessed it first-hand in Week 11, when Luck arguably had his best game yet against Tennessee (23 of 29, 297 yards, three TDs, zero INTs, 143.8 rating) in a 38-10 romp. What gives Tennessee a chance? The Titans rank second in the NFL for scoring defense, allowing 18 points per game – although they allowed a season-high against the Colts, who more than doubled the season average. And now that defense must proceed without star D-tackle Jurrell Casey, sidelined by a knee injury.

The other key factor: Marcus Mariota. The Titans quarterback is listed as questionable, recovering from the nerve injury that knocked him out of the Week 16 victory against Washington. He returned to practice on Thursday and is expected to play, but his effectiveness (with backup Blaine Gabbert in the wings) will be another matter. If the Titans are ever going to challenge Indianapolis and Luck, Mariota figures to be a huge part of the equation. But it's “questionable,” as they say, as to whether he’s healthy enough for that to happen on Sunday night.

If the playoffs were today … The Seahawks, a fifth-seeded wild-card entrant, would loom as a major threat to bump off the NFC East champion Cowboys in a first-round game. Seattle (9-6) has won five of its past six games behind the ultimate X-factor: Russell Wilson. The seventh-year vet isn’t running as much, while producing his most efficient season as a passer with a 112.7 rating that is third-best in the league. He’s also the top-rated thrower on third downs (117.0), while only Patrick Mahomes (48) and Andrew Luck (36) have more TD passes than Wilson, whose 34 scoring strikes match his career high (2017, 2015). It’s very likely that this matchup happens on wild-card weekend. Although the Cowboys' defense has grown into one of the league’s best, Wilson’s Twitter handle is some kind of warning: @DangeRussWilson.

Did you notice? The Raiders are poised to set a franchise record for fewest sacks in a season as they head into the finale at Kansas City with an NFL-low 13 sacks. That’s just a half-sack more as a team than Khalil Mack, the pass-rush dynamo Oakland traded away, has tallied with the Bears. At the moment, five players – Aaron Donald (19 1/2), Chris Jones (15 1/2), Danielle Hunter (14 1/2), Von Miller (14 1/2) and J.J. Watt (14 1/2) – have more sacks than the Raiders. The franchise’s record-low of 20 sacks was set during a 14-game season in 1961.

Stat’s the fact: Aaron Donald needs 3 1/2 sacks against the 49ers to break the single-season record that Hall of Famer Michael Strahan set (22 1/2) in 2001. It’s not far-fetched, considering the Rams’ star stung San Francisco for four sacks in Week 7.

Jarrett Bell | USA TODAY Sports