Derek Carr was supposed to be better than this.

When Carr signed a $150 million deal with the New Orleans Saints, it was supposed to be an upgrade over what the team had with Andy Dalton last season. Even if we consider it an upgrade — it's debatable, because Dalton was actually not too bad last season — the return on investment is clearly not there.

The Saints had the chance to open up a nice lead in the NFC South with a win at the Atlanta Falcons. But the biggest play of the game was Carr throwing an inexcusable pick 6, telegraphing a throw that Falcons safety Jessie Bates III broke on and returned 92 yards for a touchdown. The Falcons were bad on offense with Desmond Ridder back in the lineup, but Carr's mistake was too much to overcome. He didn't make enough positive plays to make up for the bad pick 6. The Falcons won 24-15 and are back in a tie with the Saints for the NFC South lead at 5-6.

The Saints have too much talent to be under .500 with this much supporting talent and a $150 million quarterback. It's not all Carr's fault but he hasn't been the boost that New Orleans needed. Plenty of the Saints' games have followed the same script, with a decent amount of yards but not enough points to win. Carr misses a play here or there and the Saints lose a close game.

Carr hasn't been terrible but he hasn't been what the Saints need. They could still make the playoffs because they play in the NFL's worst division, but is there a a lot of value in going 8-9, winning a division title and getting beat by a better team on wild-card weekend?

The Saints aren't getting out of Carr's contract soon. Of the $150 million, $100 million was guaranteed. Carr was solid with the Raiders, and then paid like a star by a desperate team. There are worse quarterbacks in the NFL, but the Saints are paying a lot of money to their quarterback to wonder if they can even win a bad division with a record below .500.

It's a lesson for other teams: That quarterback who is available to you at a high price might be the best choice at that moment, but it still might be a terrible investment.

Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Sunday of Week 12 in the NFL season:

WINNERS

Josh Allen: The Jacksonville Jaguars needed a big play to slow down C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans when they were holding onto a three-point lead.

Allen gave them two.

Allen, the Jaguars' top pass rusher, had a sack and combined on another with Travon Walker on the Texans' final drive. The Texans made the questionable decision to try a 58-yard field goal but it hit the crossbar and was no good. Jacksonville held onto a 24-21 win and has a two-game lead over the Texans in the AFC South.

It was a huge win for Jacksonville, which was embarrassed by Houston earlier this season. Allen pushing the Texans back a couple times on Houston's final drive was a huge factor.

Indianapolis Colts' playoff chances: Don't be surprised when you see the Colts in the playoff picture in a few weeks.

The Colts are 6-5 after beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-20. The Colts got a couple of rushing touchdowns from Jonathan Taylor and the defense forced a late turnover from Baker Mayfield to hold on.

Mayfield is the best quarterback the Colts will face for a while. Their next five quarterback opponents, unless there's an injury or someone is benched: Will Levis, Jake Browning, Kenny Pickett, Desmond Ridder and Aidan O'Connell. The Colts might not be very good but they've got a pretty easy stretch coming up. You were warned.

LOSERS

Frank Reich's job security: On fourth-and-six and less than two minutes left, with the Panthers still in the game trailing 17-10, the Panthers threw a screen pass behind the line of scrimmage to receiver D.J. Chark. It was stopped for no gain by the Tennessee Titans. The Titans went in victory formation after that and won 17-10.

There's not one play that would cost Reich his job. The Panthers are 1-10. There haven't been a lot of good plays. But calling that play on fourth down and watching it get immediately stopped has to make owner David Tepper even more upset. His team didn't trust rookie quarterback Bryce Young at all in that situation and a winnable game turned into another loss.

Reich might be a one-and-done coach. Having an impatient owner doesn't help. The Panthers are by far the wrost team in the NFL, doesn't have its first-round pick next season because it was traded to the Chicago Bears so they could draft Young, and aren't offering a lot of hope. It might not end well for Reich.

Cincinnati Bengals' sad season: The Bengals got a look at what's to come for the rest of this season.

With Joe Burrow, the Bengals probably would have beat an offensively-challenged Pittsburgh Steelers team. But there was a reason Jake Browning had been in the NFL since 2019 but hadn't thrown a pass until this season. The Bengals struggled to move the ball and the Steelers escaped with a 16-10 win. Cincinnati had just 222 yards of offense.

The Bengals were supposed to be Super Bowl contenders this season and despite a slow start, still had a shot to get in the playoffs and make some noise. Then Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury. If there was any hope that Browning could pull a Nick Foles and lead the Bengals somewhere off the bench, that died pretty fast on Sunday.

It's looking like a depressing final stretch of the season coming up for the Bengals.

Mac Jones, at least one more time: Why did the New England Patriots start Jones?

When Jones was benched in London with less than two minutes left in a close game, that seemed to be a wrap for his time as the Patriots starter. But after a week of strange secrecy from the Patriots, Jones got the nod against the New York Giants. It turned out exactly how anyone would have predicted.

Jones was awful. He threw a handful of passes that no NFL quarterback should throw. And at halftime, with the Patriots stuck on zero points, he was benched. It was the fourth time he's been benched during a game this season. The biggest question this time was why he started in the first place.

Bailey Zappe came in and gave the Patriots a spark, at least for a while. He led a touchdown drive to tie the game. Then he threw an interception that led to a Giants field goal, but shook that off. He got the Patriots in position to kick a game-tying 35-yard field goal, but rookie Chad Ryland — who the talent-poor Patriots drafted in the fourth round — missed the short attempt and the Giants won 10-7. Maybe the Patriots would have won it earlier if they hadn't made a weird, bad decision to start Jones again.