NFC NORTH

DETROIT

Colton Pouncy of The Athletic on the Lions growing confidence:

There’s nothing Dan Campbell loves more than when his football team indirectly tells him everything’s going to be OK.

Of course, that responsibility usually falls on Campbell. Coaches are supposed to be the calm amid chaos. We saw it a year ago. Campbell had to navigate the Detroit Lions’ 1-6 start, injuries and a young roster finding its way. He remained a believer that things were on the right track, and in turn, his players followed suit. That was a pivotal point in time for these Lions and what they’d ultimately become. That’s when Campbell’s message became their message.

A trap game against an 0-4 team? Treat ’em like the defending champs. Shorthanded at several positions? Pfft. What Campbell saw from his team on Sunday — a 42-24 win over the Carolina Panthers — was a group that collectively patted him on the shoulder and nodded, almost as if to say …

Coach, relax, we got it.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: They don’t care who we play,” Campbell said of his team. “It’s competition and they show up. They’re not worried about the elements, who they have, who we have, what the records are. I’m proud of the way we showed up.”

It’s easy for Campbell to wonder if his team’s in the right headspace. After all, this is all new. The Lions are a good football team. It feels relatively safe to say that, based on how they’ve played this season. Their 3-1 record entering the day speaks to that. In turn, they’re also being discussed like a good football team. That, as we know, is uncharted territory for this group.

So, then, what makes for a good football team? For starters, attitude. The Lions speak highly of themselves because they know what they’re capable of. They’ve won 12 of their last 15 games dating back to last season. They’ve shown they can hang with some of the better squads in the league and emerge for the moment. But one particular slip-up from last season, against the very franchise they played Sunday, left a lingering, sour taste.

The Lions were in a playoff hunt, essentially needing to win out to earn a spot in the postseason. The Panthers, then 5-9, had other plans. They ran it down Detroit’s throat to the tune of 320 rushing yards in a 37-23 victory on Dec. 24. It was an inexcusable effort with so much on the line. Good teams don’t fold when it matters most. It was a sign there was work to do to get where they wanted to go.

That day ultimately sealed Detroit’s fate. But in the process, it made the Lions realize they can’t overlook anyone. They’ve carried that into this season, even after a hot start.

“It’s still very early,” defensive tackle Alim McNeill said earlier this week. “3-1 does sound great, though, and it’s good to be in that position, but that could change in a heartbeat. We just gotta stay on everybody’s neck these next couple of weeks. It feels good to be here, but we have not done anything yet.”

That’s how players talk and carry themselves. Comments like that will give a head coach confidence. It’s an attitude this team has developed over time — one of many. Another one? A collective attitude that this roster has enough to walk away with victories, even without key players.

The Lions have been tested early this year. They’ve played without their starting right guard, starting left tackle, a co-starter at running back, a starting wide receiver, two starting safeties, a starting nickel, a starting-caliber cornerback and three rotational pass-rushers. And yet, you wouldn’t know it by their record.

Sunday’s game was no different. The Lions scored six touchdowns, en route to a 42-point effort. Quarterback Jared Goff had an excellent day — 20-of-28 for 236 passing yards and four total touchdowns — leading an efficient offense that scored early and often. Two of those touchdowns went to rookie tight end Sam LaPorta, as the offense found ways to generate points without two key weapons in Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs. The offense was aided by a strong rushing attack, led by David Montgomery’s 109 yards and one TD, and a defense whose three turnovers turned into 21 of those 42 points.

“You get certain chances in life to have opportunities,” Montgomery said in the locker room. “It’s either you capitalize on ’em or you fold, and we got guys on this team who capitalize every chance that they get. … Injuries happen and it happens throughout the season, but you gotta make sure that you got guys that are ready, and we do have guys.”

Detroit’s rushing defense, a group that entered the day allowing the fewest yards on the ground in the NFL, allowed just 99 rushing yards to the Panthers. Far cry from a year ago. The defense forced three turnovers in a game without one of its best defenders — rookie defensive back Brian Branch — who’s still recovering from an ankle injury. It’s not a stretch to say he’s been one of the best nickel corners in the NFL through four weeks. He makes impact play after impact play. A pick six against the Chiefs, three tackles for a loss against the Falcons, an innate ability to cover the run and the pass at a high level. That’s not an easy dude to replace.

And yet, there was Will Harris, stepping in seamlessly. The Lions’ coaching staff kept around, much to the dismay of some fans, because of their trust in him when called upon. He recorded nine tackles in Sunday’s win, broke up a would-be touchdown in the end zone and recovered a fumble that the Lions would score on.

Efforts like that serve as further proof this group will keep humming its tune, blocking out the noise. Last year’s team might’ve struggled along the way, or at least made you wonder if it were susceptible to a letdown. This game was comfortable. The Lions tucked the Panthers into bed and said goodnight by halftime.

MINNESOTA

How bad is WR JUSTIN JEFFERSON’s hamstring?  The Athletic:

The Minnesota Vikings are still evaluating Justin Jefferson’s hamstring injury and are focused on the receiver’s “big-picture” outlook, coach Kevin O’Connell said Monday. Here’s what you need to know:

Jefferson pulled up on a route in the red zone during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

The 24-year-old was initially ruled questionable to return but remained on the sideline for the rest of the game.

O’Connell said the team, which dropped to 1-4, is “going to do what’s best for Justin and make sure we give him the treatment and plan that is a big-picture positive for him.”

Backstory

Jefferson currently ranks third in the NFL in both targets (53) and receiving yards (571). Since being selected in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft by Minnesota, Jefferson has been one of the league’s best players.

He has had at least 1,400 receiving yards each season and led the NFL with 128 catches for 1,809 yards in 2022.

The Vikings picked up Jefferson’s fifth-year contract option in April and despite talks of a long-term extension getting done last offseason, he and the team have yet to agree to a deal.

NFC EAST

NEW YORK GIANTS

The Giants were beaten by the Dolphins and QB DANIEL JONES did not finish the game.  Patricia Traina of SI.com:

Despite New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley being inactive for Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins, old No. 26 was still running interference for his quarterback, Daniel Jones.

In this case, Barkley took exception to a heckling fan behind the Giants bench who was tossing verbal insults at Jones after the quarterback suffered a neck injury in the second half, which immediately ended his day.

In the short video clip appearing on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, Barkley could be seen angrily pointing and then yelling at someone behind the team’s bench.

Barkley caught wind of the video’s existence on X and angrily shot back a retort to the poster on X, saying, “Stop reaching and trying to make it a me vs. fans thing. I’m not gonna just sit there and not say anything while you talk crazy to 8 after he just got hurt… buddy knew he was in the wrong.”

Barkley and Jones are close friends, yet ever since Jones got his big payday while Barkley did not, some people have tried to pit both men against each other, but to no avail.

Barkley has repeatedly expressed appreciation and respect for Jones, even going so far as to be among the first to congratulate the quarterback after he signed his four-year, $160 million deal.

PHILADELPHIA

Mike Jones of The Athletic on an imperfect Eagles team with a perfect record.

The Los Angeles Rams had just taken the latest lead in a seesaw battle Sunday and the Philadelphia Eagles offense returned to the field with just 32 seconds remaining before halftime.

Deep in their own territory, they could’ve executed a single play — a kneel-down or a rush — to run out the clock and ensure they escaped the quarter unscathed. Few would have faulted coach Nick Sirianni for a conservative/safe approach. But there’s nothing conservative or safe about the Eagles coach or his team. Given the choice, Sirianni will always opt for the path of aggression, and his players love it.

So, Sirianni and the Eagles viewed the task of traveling 75 yards in 32 seconds as manageable. Three plays and two Rams penalties were all Philadelphia needed to reach the shadow of L.A.’s goal line, and with two seconds left on the clock, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles line plowed into the end zone on their signature and virtually unstoppable quarterback sneak. Blasting the Rams’ formidable defensive line off the line, the Eagles scored with authority. With that drive, they imposed their will on their hosts, swung the momentum back in their direction and never relinquished it en route to a 23-14 victory.

In so doing, Philadelphia remained unbeaten, improving to 5-0. They may own a perfect record, but the Eagles certainly have their flaws. Yet they again proved themselves capable of 1) overcoming a variety of shortcomings or transgressions and 2) winning games in varied fashion.

“By any means necessary” is seemingly the Eagles’ season theme thus far, because every week, their approach differs and a different game-changer (or two or three) answers the call.

Wide receivers DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown and running back D’Andre Swift all commanded the spotlight at various points during the first four games of the season, as did defensive linemen Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis and linebacker Nicholas Morrow.

This week, it was tight end Dallas Goedert’s turn to set the tone for the offense. Goedert had eight catches for 117 yards and a touchdown, all season highs after weeks of near irrelevance. Sunday, it was pass-rusher Haason Reddick’s time to deliver the knockout punch on defense with two massive sacks late in the fourth quarter.

This was also the day Hurts got back to being a dual threat, after being questioned for weeks about inconsistent passing and an apparent hesitancy to use his legs to hurt teams. Sunday, he not only delivered his second consecutive 300-yard passing day, he also led the team with 72 rushing yards and a touchdown on 15 carries (both season highs). And although shorthanded in their secondary and along their defensive line, the Eagles’ defense delivered one of its best outings yet while recording its first second-half shutout of the season.

Again and again, the Eagles just get it done, and they never seem to flinch, because the one thing that remains consistent each week is the mindset with which they go about their business.

“I think we have a really tight group,” center Jason Kelce said, “and I think at this point, a lot of these guys, especially on offense, have been through a lot of football together. And I think when you’ve played a lot of football, playing a lot of tight games, the mistakes … you know there’s gonna be more opportunities. You just know there’s no sense of worrying about that. And then we have dynamic playmakers who can make big plays and overcome those mistakes.”

The Eagles will certainly look back at this game critically. They continue to struggle in the red zone. They opened the game with a red-zone touchdown pass to Goedert, and they closed out the half with the Hurts sneak. But for the day, they were 2-for-5 inside the 20. And they left even more points on the board when Hurts — with his team lined up just outside of the 20 — threw an interception to Rams defensive back Ahkello Witherspoon in the end zone on a third-quarter pass intended for Brown.

Defensively, the Eagles offered little resistance as Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp burned them for 95 first-half yards on six catches. Puka Nacua had another 34 receiving yards and a touchdown before halftime, and a third wideout — Tutu Atwell — also had a touchdown catch in the first half.

But the Eagles made the necessary halftime adjustments of altering their pass-rushing techniques to beat the Rams’ blocks and thus pressured Matthew Stafford more consistently, recording three second-half sacks and five hits. Kupp managed just two more catches for 23 yards in the second half. And L.A. produced only 81 yards of offense while converting 1-of-7 third downs after going 5-for-7 in the first half. (Comparatively, the Eagles gained 250 yards of offense while converting 6-of-8 third downs in the second half, and finished the game with 454 yards and a 13-for-18 showing on third downs.)

Improved communication paved the way for the improved play on defense, cornerback James Bradberry said.

“We just went back more of, if we called zone, making sure we all knew it was zone. If it was man, we made sure we really got up on our man and challenged him,” he said. “And our line did a great job in the second half. I think that really was a game-changer, them just making plays.”

Having weathered the first-half storm on defense, and having overcome their second-half self-inflicted offensive wounds, a wave of relief washed over the Eagles as Reddick snuffed out the Rams’ final hopes for a late-game scoring drive when he sacked Stafford on back-to-back plays.

Sirianni erupted in jubilation, high-stepping onto the field, flexing and punching an invisible foe.

“Football is fun, and I’m not going to hide my emotions,” he said. “I can’t make plays anymore doing anything. So I celebrate when our guys make those kind of plays. … I want the culture for the Philadelphia Eagles to be you can have great relationships, have a ton of fun and still be highly, highly demanding. And that’s our culture.”

That’s why the Eagles refused to settle for a conservative approach late in the first half, or why they refused to let shortcomings in the red zone, or a drive-killing interception, deflate them. They understand that there are more waves to ride and more punches to throw, and if they refuse to relent, they’ll come out on top.

NFC SOUTH

ATLANTA

QB DESMOND RIDDER had himself a game.  John Breech of ESPN.com:

After struggling in each of the past two weeks, Desmond Ridder finally managed to turn things around. The beleaguered quarterback threw for 329 yards and a TD and the most impressive part is how he played in the fourth quarter. With the game on the line, Ridder went 5 of 5 for 44 yards to set up Younghoe Koo’s game-winning field goal on the final play. The Falcons roster is talented enough to compete for the NFC South title as long as Ridder is playing well and he definitely played well on Sunday.  

NFC WEST

SAN FRANCISCO

Here it comes – Peter King goes all in on the greatness of QB BROCK PURDY.

And we can’t wait to read it:

In this football fairy-tale life of Brock Purdy, you might be surprised to learn that, in the midst of a 42-10 beatdown of the Dallas Cowboys Sunday night, he made a mistake. He threw an incomplete pass slightly behind Brandon Aiyuk in the second quarter.

An hour after the game, you could tell: It ticked him off. Not in the helmet-throwing way, because that’s not Brock Purdy. But in the professional, I-let-my-team-down kind of way. With 6:22 left in the first half and the Niners up 14-7, he had Aiyuk in the middle of bracketed coverage—linebacker in front, DB in back—and he just missed it. “I had a great look at it,” Purdy told me calmly (everything he says is in a calm tenor) an hour after the game, in a room outside the Niners’ locker room. “The ’backer was dropping a little bit deeper than I expected and I was trying to fit it in there, and I just threw it behind him.

“I was like, man, you know, if we ran it again, I could just put it on a line over the ’backer for Brandon and just lead him before the safety comes. I just wanted another chance at it.”

Brilliant minds …

“That,” Kyle Shanahan told me, “was like the only play all night I can remember that Brock was off on the whole day. So I went up to him and BA [Aiyuk] at halftime. We had such a good look—it was set up so well for it to work. I said to him: ‘We’re gonna come back to that. BA, you run the same route. Hopefully we’ll get that look again. Brock’ll get you this time.’“

When Kyle Shanahan wants to run a play, he really wants to run a play. On the second snap of the second half, it was first-and-15 from the Niners’ 20-yard line, Purdy saw an in-cutting Aiyuk. But uh-oh. This time the linebacker, Leighton Vander Esch, played it even better—he was close to Aiyuk in the middle of the field, maybe 27 yards downfield from where Purdy was set up in the pocket.

“The linebacker was so deep,” Shanahan said. “I didn’t know if Brock could get it over him.”

Purdy threw the ball 26 yards in the air, sort of a soft line drive, and it looked like Vander Esch was going to have a shot at batting it away. The linebacker leapt. The ball was maybe 10 inches over his outstretched hand, and it settled into Aiyuk’s grasp at the 39-yard line. An absolutely perfect strike of a throw. The trailing corner, Stephon Gilmore, dove and shoe-tackled Aiyuk at the 43, or he’d have been gone. “Such a beautiful touch pass,” Shanahan said. “Turned out to be a huge play in the game.”

In a 42-10 game, how could that have been such a big play? Shanahan’s point: The Niners were up on a dangerous team 21-10, and this was the first series of the half, and the coach really wanted to come out and keep the avalanche coming. Seven plays later, Purdy to George Kittle for the third Kittle TD of the night, and it was 28-10, and the San Francisco sideline could breathe.

“That first one,” Purdy said, “was on me. I wish I had that one back. But I got another shot at it. We were able to adjust, throw it right over the ’backer and trust that Brandon was going to be there. I just had to do my job.”

So much of the Brock Purdy story is amazing, but this might be the most amazing thing: In 17 months, he’s gone from being the last pick in the NFL draft to a frontrunner for MVP. You may think that’s a stretch, because it’s just impossible that a player bypassed for seven rounds by 31 NFL teams could have a passer rating 27 points higher than Patrick Mahomes, and you doubt he could have led his team to 5-0 by an average margin of 20 points a game. But it is not a stretch. Five weeks into the season, Brock Purdy is playing MVP football.

In the concourse outside the Niners’ locker room Sunday night 70 minutes since securing the win, George Kittle was greeting his family after the game. Cool night for the extended football family: George Kittle was a couple of hours from turning 30 (today’s the day), and when he emerged from his post-game media talk, the family sang him “Happy Birthday.” Twice.

“Three touchdowns!” Kittle said. “And I’m 30!”

A cool moment. Kittle realized he owed a bit of it to his fairly anonymous QB.

“Brock’s so consistent every day,” Kittle said. “He’s a robot.”

The 49ers dismantled the Cowboys, a team that had won by 30, 20 and 35 so far this year. “This might be the most humbling game I’ve ever been a part of,” Dak Prescott said. “I didn’t see it coming.” Maybe he should have. San Francisco owns the Cowboys. The Niners are their daddies. Prescott’s Cowboys have 39 points in three humbling losses (2021 playoffs, ’22 playoffs and this ’23 “Sunday Night Football” biggie) to San Francisco. Now the successor to Staubach, Aikman and Romo is confronted with this humbling factoid: Purdy is 2-0 versus Dak by a score of 61-22, and his four-TD night here could have been five- or six- had Shanahan needlessly kept his foot on the gas.

“I am so glad America got to see this,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said. “Glad Brock got to have a four-touchdown performance on national TV. He deserves more respect than he’s gotten.”

The 49ers built this team methodically. Great pass-rush, punishing and athletic linebackers, great skill players … but the quarterback. It was supposed to be Jimmy Garoppolo, but he got hurt too much. Then Trey Lance, but he got hurt too much, and was just too green. The Niners stumbled into the next “then.” Brock Purdy. He was by far the highest-rated player on their board when the draft ended in 2022, and so they picked him; 47 college starts in a Power Five (Big 12) conference, on a little-engine-that-could team at Iowa State. So impressive at Iowa State that his coach, Matt Campbell, recited a poem of emotional praise to Purdy before his final college home start.

But it’s still a stunner to many that he’s here, doing such great things. You’re still doing a double-take (or triple-) over my assertion that Brock Purdy is playing MVP football. I’d go further. Through the first month of the season, Purdy’s the leader in the MVP clubhouse. Consider five points:

1. The MVP most often comes from one of the two top seeds in each conference, and it’s become a quarterback award. For the last 10 years, and 15 of the last 16 years, a quarterback’s won it. And for the last 10 years, a quarterback from one of the top two seeds in a conference has won it.

2. This morning, the top four seeds would be San Francisco and Philadelphia in the NFC, Kansas City and Miami in the AFC. Purdy, Jalen Hurts, Mahomes and Tua Tagovailoa would be the four quarterbacks. Among the four, Purdy is first in accuracy (72.1 percent), first in passer rating (123.1), first in TD-to-interception ratio (plus-9), second in yards per pass attempt to Tagovailoa (9.3 yards), third in passing yards (1,271) and first in team margin of victory (19.8 points per game).

3. This stretches to last year, and thus wouldn’t count in a 2023 MVP case. But I include it because, well, because it’s ridiculous. Purdy has played three quarters or more in 13 NFL games. In those 13 games, San Francisco is 13-0.

4. The most dominant team, which matters in MVP voting, has been the 49ers. Easily. Purdy’s not thrown an interception and has led his team to 30 or more points in every game.

5. No one thinks Purdy’s got a great arm. Consider MVPs with big arms. Brett Favre won three straight MVPs in the nineties, with average yards per attempt of 7.7, 7.2 and 7.5 yards. Purdy’s YPA, 9.3, and his accuracy of 72 percent mean two things: He’s got two great receivers in YAC (yards after the catch), but as one retired quarterback told me last week, “Part of a high yards per attempt, yes, is having great receivers who run after the catch. It’s also putting receivers in position to run after the catch by putting the ball exactly where the guy can catch it in stride and run after the catch.”

And there’s one other thing about the beatdown of the Cowboys. Shanahan and Purdy told me this wasn’t by design, but NextGen Stats late Sunday night reported that Purdy became the first quarterback in the eight-year history of NextGen to have thrown four touchdown passes outside the pocket in one game. The inference is interesting. Purdy’s not Mr. Mobile. But he had the football sense to move when he had to, and to make plays while moving. Two of his TD throws were made on the move. “They were definitely not by design. But you’re just playing football, and you feel the push, and you go, and you just make the play,” Purdy said.

This is not the opening salvo in a campaign for Purdy-for-MVP. It’s a simple acknowledgement that he’s playing great at the most important position in the sport, and maybe in all of sports.

I want to tread lightly here. I am not comparing Purdy to anyone … yet. Joe Montana was drafted 82nd overall in 1979 and won four Super Bowls. Tom Brady was drafted 199th in 2000 and won seven. Purdy’s played 11 months. So please, or as Jimmy Johnson would say, Puh-leeze.

But.

But … what I am saying is this kid has some traits of the good and great ones. He’s humble, he’s a worker bee, he’s not angry when people diss him, which is rare in the Deionish times. For instance:

Last week, The Ringer ranked the NFL quarterbacks, three days after Purdy went 20-for-21 in beating Arizona, and Purdy was 25th—below Mac Jones, Daniel Jones and Derek Carr. Have you watched the sport of football in 2023? Could you in any circumstance say Mac Jones or Derek Carr is playing better than Brock Purdy? I can think of a lot of words to describe ranking Brock Purdy the 25th-best quarterback in the NFL, but “logical” is not one of them.

Here’s a riff by Purdy to me late Sunday night, when I told him the Niners were 13-0 in games when he’s played at least three quarters:

“Every level that I’ve played at growing up it’s like you get to that level and at first you may think it’s a big deal, but then once I start playing it’s like, ‘Man this is just football.’ Youth to high school, high school to college, and college to NFL. Just football. Yes, everyone’s better at every level, but at the end of the day, man, you’re throwing a football to some guys trying to get open and catch it. And that’s really how I look at it. Try to keep it simple. This is a simple game.

“Then obviously my faith. I don’t try to get rattled and caught up in trying to have all this status and fame and all that stuff. I’m just a normal guy who’s trying to live out a life for God. That’s how I stay steady and level and even-keeled. If you were to tell me these stats last year, I maybe would’ve been like, ‘Man, that’s crazy.’ I came in as a rookie, and I was sort of in awe of everybody. But then once I got acclimated to the culture and the organization, I’m like, ‘Man, this is the standard, and this is what we’re trying to do.’ That’s where I’m at with my mindset. I don’t try to get caught up in what’s going on, what everyone else says outside.”

Isn’t that what you want your quarterback to do, instead of getting caught up in the maelstrom of the modern NFL world? When I told him lots of people still were skeptical of him, Purdy smiled and said, “It’s all good.” That’s a good thing: He realizes no one in his building cares that The Ringer thinks he’s a below-mediocre quarterback. And that’s all that matters to him. A football player who doesn’t listen to the outside noise. How refreshing.

So, here is the thing that occurred to the DB – the top player in college football is making more money this year than this possible MVP.

According to SportTrac, Purdy is making $870,000 this season, the second of his four-year rookie contract.

We assume he has some basic incentive bonuses in his contract – playing time things he will easily hit, standard award bonuses that seem funny when you put them in a 7^thround contract.  But we can’t find any on-line evidence of what they might be.  We’ll guess $500,000 more, but that’s purely a guess.

contracts. And he certainly seems to be a prime candidate for the NFL’s Performance Based Bonus program.

Last year, the most over-performing player by the his formula made $889,000.

There could be another $300,000 or so in playoff money.

So with a salary of just under a million, we think his total football compensation could reach around $3 million with a Super Bowl win and an MVP award.

Now, what about QB CALEB WILLIAMS at USC?

Boardroom.TV puts his NIL valuation for 2023 as high as $3.6 million.  We wouldn’t be surprised if that is going up, up, up as USC schemes to get another year out of him.

Now, of course, Purdy will amplify his income, should he choose, with endorsement money which basically where Wililams is getting his income.  Still….

Jelani Scott of SI.com has this on Purdy’s current frugality:

In fact, Purdy’s finances are so tight that the 23-year-old shared a couple ways he’s tried to save money during a recent interview with NBC’s Today Show when asked what the reality is for him at home.

“So, I still have a roommate, one of my offensive lineman here,” Purdy admitted without sharing a name. “So, he and I are still splitting rent. I still drive my Toyota Sequoia and, other than that, it’s pretty simple.”

AFC WEST

KANSAS CITY

QB PATRICK MAHOMES has beaten every team he could beat.  Michael David Smith ofProFootballTalk.com:

When the Chiefs beat the Vikings on Sunday, it added to Patrick Mahomes’ growing list of accomplishments: He has now beaten all 31 teams in the NFL, except the team he plays for.

Mahomes hadn’t beaten the Vikings yet because he hadn’t played them yet. The only other time in Mahomes’ career that the Chiefs faced the Vikings, Mahomes was injured and backup Matt Moore led the Chiefs to a victory. With Sunday’s win in Minnesota, Mahomes has now beaten every team except the Chiefs.

At age 28, Mahomes is the youngest quarterback to accomplish that feat. All the other quarterbacks who have beaten 31 other teams were in their 30s when they beat their 31st opponent.

Mahomes is one of five quarterbacks who have beaten every team except the one they played on for most or all of their careers: Alex Smith also beat every team but the Chiefs, Ben Roethlisberger beat every team but the Steelers, Russell Wilson has beaten every team but the Seahawks and Aaron Rodgers has beaten every team but the Packers.

Oddly, one other quarterback, Kerry Collins, beat 31 teams, but the team Collins never beat, the Dolphins, wasn’t one of the teams he played for. Collins actually started against the Dolphins four times while playing for four different teams, but lost all four games.

Mahomes’ opposing quarterback on Sunday, Kirk Cousins, also entered Sunday’s game having beaten 30 other opponents, and Cousins also had a chance to make it 31, as the Chiefs are one of the two teams Cousins hasn’t beaten. (The other team Cousins hasn’t beaten is Cincinnati.) Cousins has beaten both franchises he has played for; he beat Minnesota while with Washington and beat Washington while with Minnesota.

Four quarterbacks in NFL history have beaten all 32 teams: Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre. Chiefs fans will hope that Mahomes retires a Chief and never joins that list.

LAS VEGAS

WR DAVANTE ADAMS should be on the field against his former team tonight.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

Davante Adams was listed as questionable on Saturday, but the Raiders wide receiver is not expected to miss his first chance to play against his former team.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that Adams is expected to play against the Packers on Monday night. Adams missed two days of practice with a shoulder injury before returning as a limited participant on Saturday.

Adams said late last week that there is “a lot of mutual love and respect” between him and the Packers despite the contract impasse and trade that ended his tenure in Green Bay last year. Adams added that he does not expect any of the emotions tied to facing his former team to impact the game once it gets underway.

The Raiders also listed cornerbacks Jakorian Bennett (hamstring, shoulder) and David Long (ankle) as questionable to play. Cornerback Nate Hobbs (ankle) is the only player they have ruled out.

AFC NORTH

BALTIMORE

Some teams go to London late in the week, some go midweek – and the Ravens are nearly or already there.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

When the Ravens played in London during the 2017 season, they followed the same travel plan as most teams playing in England by arriving on the Friday morning before their game.

The Ravens got crushed 44-7 by the Jaguars in that game and head coach John Harbaugh said that informed their decision to try things differently this time around. The Ravens flew to London on Monday morning and they will practice on the other side of the pond ahead of their Week Six game against the Titans.

“It’s mostly driven by the fact we didn’t do well,” Harbaugh said, via the team’s website. “We did the opposite. There’s no data. We looked for it – when you should go out there, what’s the science on that. As often is the case, they really don’t know.”

The Ravens will arrive in London in time to get to their hotel and go to sleep. The team will be off Tuesday and then practice for three days ahead of their matchup with the Titans.

CINCINNATI

WR Ja’MARR CHASE says the Bengals are heading back to the top. Josh Alper ofProFootballTalk.com:

After the Bengals lost to the Titans in Week Four, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase scoffed at the notion that he wasn’t always open and said that he was confident quarterback Joe Burrow would get the team’s offense back on track “in no time.”

Chase’s words seem prophetic after Sunday’s game against the Cardinals. He caught 15 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns as he and Burrow led the Bengals to a 34-20 victory that bumped their record up to 2-3 on the season.

After the game, Chase was asked if the performance showed that the offense has gotten back on track after a sluggish start to the year.

“We’ve taken a step closer to who we really are,” Chase said, via a transcript from the team. “We keep facing adversity this year. It’s not going to be an easy season and right now we just keep taking it step by step into next week.”

Getting Burrow back to himself after his calf injury is a necessary part of getting the Bengals to where they want to go this season. Sunday was a good sign that things have progressed on that front and a good reminder of just how potent the team can be as he gets there.

CLEVELAND

With the mighty 49ers on the horizon, the Browns came off their bye without QB DESHAUN WATSON at practice.  Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk.com:

According to multiple reports, Watson was working inside while the practice session was going on.

Watson missed Week Four with a right shoulder injury. Head coach Kevin Stefanski said after the loss to the Ravens that Watson was medically cleared to play, but “just did not feel like he had his full faculties” during a pregame warmup. General Manager Andrew Berry said later in the week that it was “obvious” to everyone watching the workout that Watson was not well enough to play.

AFC SOUTH

JACKSONVILLE

The thought is if/when the NFL has a team or teams in London/Europe, they will have multi-game homestands and multi-game road trips and they will be formidable the second week.  A test for this proposition was this week when the Jaguars played the Bills in their second straight game in London.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

For the first time ever, an NFL team played two games on two Sundays in London. After the game, one of the key contributors to Jacksonville’s upset win over the Bills pointed to the acclimation as a big factor in the victory.

“I felt like it really created a great edge for us,” running back Travis Etienne Jr. told PFT by phone from London, just before the Jaguars were preparing to go wheels up to America. “Just knowing how I felt [last Sunday] in the Falcons game, the first game that we had out here and having the whole week out here, just being able to get our bodies adjusted and not having to have that jet lag on us throughout the game. I feel like it played a huge part.”

Etienne played a huge part. He had 184 yards from scrimmage, the most in his career. He also added two touchdowns.

And he could feel that things were going to go well for the Jaguars before the game started.

“I kind of felt like I was going to have a good day this morning,” Etienne said. “Just getting ready for the game, just listening to some music and just hanging around the locker room I kind of felt it was going to be a good day for us and it was going to be my day, honestly.”

Was there anything specific that happened to make him believe that?

“Just a gut feeling,” he said. “Just seeing how guys move around the locker room. Nobody’s feeling tense. Everybody’s just loose, relaxed. And I felt everybody just wanted to play. Wanted to go out there and win the game.”

And win they did, completing a two-game sweep in London and beating one of the league’s elite teams.

What message does beating the Bills send to the league at large?

“We’re here to stay,” Etienne said. With this caveat: “We have to continue to be competitive and continue to come out here and show who we are and show up every Sunday.”

If the Jaguars can do that, they’ll be playing once again beyond Week 18. And playing well.

AFC EAST

NEW ENGLAND

Coach Bill Belichick after a huge beatdown at the hands of a mid-level team.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

Bill Belichick might not be rattling off wins, but he’s rattling off catch phrases.

A day after the embattled Patriots coach used “starting over” or some variation of it multiple times after a 34-0 home loss to the Saints, Belichick has a new saying he is repeating.

He’s doing the best he can to help the team.

Appearing on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show, Belichick was asked why he is the right person to restart the team right now?

“I’m gonna do the best I can to help our football team,” Belichick said. “That’s my job.”

The problem is he’s not doing his job very well. He’s doing it worse than ever before, frankly. He was asked whether the message is resonating, given that a 38-3 loss to the Cowboys was followed by an even more embarrassing outcome seven days later.

“I’m gonna do the best I can to help the team,” Belichick said.

It’s debatable in some respects whether he is. Belichick made a curious decision to punt on fourth and three from the New Orleans 40 early in the third quarter, while down 24-0. He was asked about that during a Monday press conference.

“Yeah, I did what I felt was best at the time,” Belichick said.

Again, he’s doing his best as a coach. The problem is that, in his job as the de facto G.M., he has not done good work.

In the past, he was able to overcome his shortcomings in personnel acquisition. Now? Not.

And it feels like it’s just a matter of time before he’s not the coach of the Patriots.

John Breech of CBSSports.com gave the Patriots an F for Sunday:

F                Patriots

The Patriots weren’t just bad, they were embarrassingly bad. Mac Jones threw a pick-six in the first quarter and things only got worse from there for the offense. Jones was bad, but it’s not all his fault that he was bad: He has no one to throw to and he got no help from his offensive line or the Patriots’ ground attack. This team has now been blown out in two straight weeks and it’s worth wondering if Bill Belichick’s seat is starting to get warm in New England.

NEW YORK JETS

We are not sure exactly how amazing OC Nathaniel Hackett’s offense was against the Broncos – but watching the sidelines, he does seem to have made a lot of friends.  Jason Owens of YahooSports.com:

Sunday’s win over the Denver Broncos was sweet for the New York Jets — for none more so than Nathaniel Hackett.

Before kickoff, tight end C.J. Uzomah dedicated the game to Hackett in a fiery pregame speech. The Jets delivered with a 31-21 win over the Broncos organization that fired Hackett as their head coach last year before he finished his first year on the job.

Now he’s the offensive coordinator for the Jets. And he’s the recipient of the game ball from Sunday’s win. Head coach Robert Saleh delivered the good news to Hackett in the postgame locker room.

“How about offense — 234 yards rushing — 177 from Breece [Hall],” Saleh said in his postgame speech. “There’s a lot of good things we can talk about in regards to these stats. But I’ve got one game ball. Hack!”

Hack, of course, is Hackett. And he beamed as Saleh handed him the game ball.

Hackett was the subject of intense scrutiny and criticism during his time in Denver. Much of it was warranted due to his glaring game management struggles alongside a historically bad Broncos offense in 2022. But months after his exit, Sean Payton poured a healthy dose of salt into the wound.

His successor as Broncos’ head coach, Payton took a pointed barb a Hackett over the summer.

“It might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL,” Payton said of Hackett in July.

That seemed unnecessary. And it put a red circle on the calendar in New York for Sunday’s visit to Denver. The Jets won, and to the victor went the spoils. Included in those spoils was Hackett taking particular pleasure in Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson getting sacked and turning the ball over for a defensive Jets touchdown that iced New York’s win.

Wilson and Hackett both joined the Broncos for their disastrous 2022 campaign and shared the blame for the disappointment that ensued. Hackett took particular notice of Wilson’s turnover on Sunday after receiving the game ball.

“Just want you to know that it’s an honor to be with you guys,” Hackett said. “Watching that defense go out there, sack him, get turnovers. It’s absolutely beautiful.”

Hackett wasn’t the only one taking a victory lap Sunday.

Jets social media responded by trolling Payton, who accused the Jets this summer of “trying to win the offseason.”

Hall, meanwhile, stood up for his coaching staff and took his own shot at Payton while speaking with reporters.

“Better coach with the better team won.”

– – –

Albert Breer of SI.com sees hope for the now 2-3 Jets:

The rest of us looked at the performance—a week ago against the Chiefs—when the Jets were supposed to be a metaphorical movie set for the world champions, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and, of course, Taylor Swift, as a moral victory.

The rest of us thought it sure looked like something the team could build on. Maybe Zach Wilson wasn’t broken. Maybe a fast, aggressive defense was as good as we thought it was before Aaron Rodgers got hurt, an injury that, come to think of it, probably shouldn’t affect it much. Maybe Breece Hall would be where he was before tearing his ACL as a rookie, and Garrett Wilson would have his breakthrough season, even without Rodgers, after all.

Of course, that’s just the rest of us.

The people who matter in this equation weren’t really thinking that way at all.

Jets coach Robert Saleh has his team still in playoff contention without Aaron Rodgers.

Saleh on his team’s win over the Broncos: “I think everyone is happy that we won, but we know that we lost a lot of points on the board.”

“I don’t know. There’s a whole lot of season left,” Jets coach Robert Saleh told me Sunday night, as the team pulled through metro Denver. “I think everyone’s more upset that we didn’t get the opportunity to go win that game at the end of it—that we played our hearts out and that the end was the end. But I think this team knows that it’s capable of so much more. And I think this game is an example of it.”

Indeed, the Jets didn’t see the 31–21 win over the Broncos they were riding off with as the sort of revelation that the rest of us might have—somehow validating that the team going toe to toe with the Super Bowl champs a week ago was real. It was, to Saleh and others on that bus to the airport, more confirmation of what they knew coming out of a disappointing crash landing to the 2022 season, and what Rodgers knew when he chose to pursue a career reset with the star-crossed franchise.

After all the group’s been through already, there remained a lot of talent aboard that bus.

And the way all those talented guys feel about it, no one should be stunned with what we’re all seeing now, or what we saw specifically in Denver on Sunday, where the biggest plays were made by guys such as Wilson and Wilson and Hall and Jermaine Johnson and Quincy Williams proving that the well of talent in Florham Park runs far deeper than one player, as important as that one player might’ve been. Which is why Saleh kept setting the bar high.

“I think everyone is happy that we won, but we know that we lost a lot of points on the board,” he says. “I know that everybody knows we can play even better. And that’s encouraging. Just talking to our guys, it was for us. It felt like it was business as usual.”

The Jets, it turns out, after a really rough September that started with Rodgers’s injury and ended with lifeless losses to the Cowboys and Patriots, still are a pretty good team.

They knew that. Now the rest of us do, too.

THIS AND THAT

NFL RANKS

Peter King ranks them 1 to 32:

The 2023 season is 28 percent complete (77 games played out of 272), and the oddity, to me, is that the NFL has only three teams at the extremes. Niners and Eagles, unbeaten. Panthers, winless. The 29 other teams have zero zeroes next to their names.

Ranking teams always has a bit of silliness attached. This week, for instance, you might ask: The Bills just beat Miami by 28 eight days ago, so how can you have the Bills behind the Dolphins? I would answer this way: Eight days ago, at the start of Miami-Buffalo, the two most important players on their defense were healthy—Tre’Davious White for three quarters, Matt Milano for the entire game. Now they’re both gone, likely for the season. So the Bills are a different team this morning, and not in a good way.

(And some people want an 18-game regular season.)

As we’ve finished the first quartile of the season, here’s my ranking of the teams:

1 San Francisco (5-0). Not much doubt they deserve this spot after Sunday night. We knew the defense would be premier, to be sure. But who knew Brock Purdy would be this good?

2 Philadelphia (5-0). We should start appreciating this team—19-3 in the regular season since the start of last year—instead of saying, “Imagine what happens when they really start clicking on all cylinders.” Um, averaging 28.2 points, rushing for 4.6 a pop and holding foes to 309 yards a game is sort of okay.

3 Miami (4-1). Allow this to sink in: The Dolphins are averaging 111 yards per game more than any team in the league.

4 Kansas City (4-1). See team 2, Philadelphia. We got spoiled by the Kansas City steamroller, and assumed that even by losing Tyreek Hill, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman over two off-seasons that Patrick Mahomes would just get the Valdez-Scantlings and Toneys up and running at classic levels in no time. Trust the process. In the last 13 months, including playoffs, KC’s 21-4.

5 Detroit (4-1). Nothing fluky about the Lions, who’ve won by 14, 14 and 18 the last three weeks. What I like a lot about Detroit is the defense (293 yards allowed, 3.3 yards per rush allowed), which will keep the Lions in every game.

6 Dallas (3-2). Jekyll and Hyde.

7 Buffalo (3-2). Losing to the Jags was bad enough. Losing nerve-center-of-the-defense Milano—likely for the year—with a fractured leg was worse. Five games into the season, the Bills’ best cover guy, White, and best defensive player, Milano, are lost for the year. That goes into my decision to drop the Bills lower than I’d like to.

8 Baltimore (3-2). Blew a chance to complete a huge trifecta—beating all three division foes on the road in the first five weeks—with a big egg-laying in Pittsburgh. Maybe I’m giving the Ravens too much of the benefit of the doubt, but I doubt their receivers will drop 37 passes in a game again this year.

9 Seattle (3-1, on the bye). Two important points: Geno Smith has proven the efficient 2022 season wasn’t an outlier; Seattle’s averaging 28 points per game. And the run defense, abominable last year at 4.9 yards per carry allowed, has been shaved to 3.2.

10 Tampa Bay (3-1, on the bye). Really got the Bucs wrong before the season. Big bad by me. They’ve built an outstanding offensive line—Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke have played superbly as the bookend tackles—and Baker Mayfield has been strikingly efficient. The Bucs are clearly in the driver’s seat for the NFC’s fourth seed.

11 Jacksonville (3-2). Not as impressive as I thought the Jags would be. Their offensive output in the last four games: 9, 17, 23 and 25 points. But maybe there was a big over-reliance on Trevor Lawrence entering the season, and the explosion of Travis Etienne in London Sunday (30 touches, 184 yards, two TDs) should tell Doug Pederson something.

12 New Orleans (3-2). No idea what obliterating the Patriots means, because this looks like the worst New England team since the 5-11 edition of 2000. Pre-Pats, this team was scoring 15 points a game, and that’s not a playoff offense.

13 L.A. Rams (2-3). Sometimes you watch a team and just think it’s better than the record. That’s what I think about the Rams. Feisty and physical, reinvented on the fly.

14 Indianapolis (3-2). Such a strange first quarter of the season. Road wins against Houston and Baltimore in the middle of a QB job-share, while managing a beat-up savior quarterback. With Jonathan Taylor in-house and signed (such a surprise), the Colts should be in play for the AFC South. Don’t we say that every year, though?

15 Houston (2-3). DeMeco Ryans turned a bad team into an immediately competitive one. What I love is the fight in his team. As C.J. Stroud told me after the Texans routed Jacksonville: “We’re grown men. We’re NFL players. Why can’t we win any game we show up to play? That Jacksonville team’s a top 10 team in the NFL, but we knew we could play with them. I’m nobody’s fish.” Wish I knew what that meant, but it sure sounds good.

16 Pittsburgh (3-2). Big mystery team. Rose up to survive the Ravens after losing to the Texans by 24. Need to run it better. Need Kenny Pickett to be more efficient. Need to not rely on the defense to play perfect games. But it’s all about the wins, and you know what they say about Mike Tomlin and losing seasons: oxymoron.

17 Tennessee (2-3). As I’m writing this, I think, Too high. Not enough to like about the Titans. Well, there’s the 24-point rout of the Bengals, and there’s Mike Vrabel, and there’s Derrick Henry, and, well, I’m still dubious about their playoff chances because I don’t trust the passing game.

18 Cincinnati (2-3.) Breath of life in Arizona Sunday, with Burrow looking like Burrow for the first time in 10 months. Next five: Seahawks, Niners, Bills, Texans and Ravens.

19 Atlanta (3-2). I’d feel a lot better about the Falcons if I felt even a smidge of confidence in Desmond Ridder.

20 Los Angeles Chargers (2-2, on the bye). I have no idea about the fate of this team as the Chargers took the early bye. Every game’s been a one-score outcome, and Dallas, KC, Detroit and Baltimore are on the slate between now and Thanksgiving weekend. All is possible, as long as Justin Herbert can keep winning scoring contests.

21 Cleveland (2-2, on the bye). The defense was premier till being strafed by Lamar Jackson last week. Now a bum shoulder adds to the uncertainty of Deshaun Watson, and no Nick Chubb is a major downer. Most right-on stat for the Browns might be their average points per game: 19.0.

22 Minnesota (1-4). Three of their next four are on the road, and the only home game is with the Niners. Yikes. Why are the Vikings here, in the equatorial zone of quarter-pole rankings? Mainly because I don’t love the teams below them.

23 Green Bay (2-2). As Jordan Love goes, so go the Packers. He needs to be more efficient, with better accuracy, starting tonight in Vegas. The run game’s not doing him any favors.

24 Washington (2-3). All the feels from the great day in Philadelphia last week got wiped out by getting dominated by the Bears. I like Sam Howell. I just hope he’s in one piece by January.

25 Arizona (1-4). Feel-good story. More competitive than we thought. But this league is about winning, and I don’t see the Cards doing much of it. Next three: Rams, Seahawks, Ravens. Three of last four: Niners, Eagles, Seahawks.

26 New York Jets (2-3). The Jets will stay in it if they can consistently hold teams under 20. Problem is, they’ve done it in two of five games. The margin for error just seems too tiny for this team.

27 New England (1-4). Belichick weeps. Kraft gnashes teeth. Mac forces throws. Season in the toilet.

28 Las Vegas (1-3). Drive-thru guy at In-N-Out Burger on Willie Stargell Avenue in Oakland recognized me Friday: “Mr. King, can I ask you a question? Why won’t Mark Davis fire McDaniels?” I said, “You want Josh McDaniels fired four games into year two? You guys get in trouble all the time because you fire coaches all the time.” Guy still said yes. Tonight’s a big game for the team—and particularly for the coach.

29 Denver (1-4). Pretty big rebuild here, particularly on defense. Broncos have no one on the front seven who’s a consistent playmaker. And Sean Payton sure seemed unhappy with Russell Wilson Sunday in that dispiriting loss to the Jets.

30 Chicago (1-4). Weeks 4 and 5 showed the Bears are not hapless—granted, they played the two worst scoring defenses in football—but there are signs of life when we were sure there’d be none. Coincidence that Justin Fields has led the Bears to 12 scoring drives (including eight TD throws) since Chase Claypool was banished? I think not.

31 New York Giants (1-4). Making the playoffs wasn’t a fluke last year, but they still had huge holes entering this season—the biggest being on the offensive line, which is a sieve. Evan Neal, the seventh overall pick in ’22, has been a disaster at right tackle. A team in the playoffs one year. The same team has trailed by 40, 20, 18, 21 and 18 in their first five games the next year. Now that’s hard to do.

32 Carolina (0-5). Way, way too early to say they made the wrong call at quarterback. Forgot how well C.J. Stroud has played in Houston through five weeks—I can’t shake the feeling of how small Bryce Young looks. He can make that go away with a couple of big games, but he hasn’t had one yet.

Does Bill Barnwell’s bottom six match up with King’s (much edited):

Who is currently the worst team in the National Football League?

By record, that’s the 0-5 Panthers, but there’s more to their situations than looking at the standings. Carolina is bad, of course, but has it been as awful as Denver looked during its 70-20 defeat to Miami? As the Bears did during the beginning of the season on offense? As the Patriots have over the past two weeks? Stink is in the nose of the beholder, and some might prefer a less-than-competitive Panthers team to a hopelessly overmatched Patriots or Broncos team, even if the latter two organizations have a win to their name.

Let’s sort through six of the worst teams in football and what has gone wrong for them through five games. I’m leaving out the Cardinals (who have been extremely competitive before an ugly performance against the Bengals on Sunday) and the Raiders (who haven’t yet played in Week 5), but with those two included, we’d be breaking down the bottom quarter of the NFL.

I’ll get to which team sits in the basement at the end, but let’s begin with a (relatively) optimistic look at a team that seems hell-bent on proving a core tenet of my analysis for more than a decade now. We’ll go from the (relatively) best to worst, starting with the league’s No. 27 team and ending at No. 32:

27. Minnesota Vikings (1-4)

Their case as the worst team in football: While I’m going to give you some of the numbers about being unlucky later in this column, nobody can deny how aesthetically unappealing it has been to watch them play this season. It feels like they’re stuck in the same game every week, where their style of play and limitations lead them to the same frustrating results.

How do you concoct a Vikings game? Start with a defense intent on banging its head against the wall. The move from Ed Donatell to Brian Flores at coordinator successfully shifted Minnesota from a passive, Vic Fangio-style defense to a wildly aggressive one. The Vikings are blitzing on an unreal 54% of opposing dropbacks so far. No other team is over 40%. Just two teams over the past 15 seasons have blitzed more than 50% of the time over a full campaign, and they’re both coaches who lived and died with pressure: Rex Ryan’s 2009 Jets and Gregg Williams’ 2011 Saints.

The Vikings don’t have the personnel in their secondary to hold up behind those blitzes. They are young and inexperienced in the secondary around veterans Harrison Smith and Byron Murphy, and those young players deserve time to develop, but they don’t have guys who can reliably hold up in man coverage. Andrew Booth and Lewis Cine, this organization’s top two picks from last year’s draft, have combined to play a total of four defensive snaps all season.

The offense, meanwhile, can throw the ball efficiently and effectively before shooting itself in the foot with sloppy play.

What needs to improve: The Vikings need to execute in the red zone. Some of that is turnovers, as they have a league-high three inside the 20, but a lot of it is the running game falling apart.

Have they been unlucky? With Jefferson’s fumble through the end zone against the Eagles as the most memorable example, the Vikings have simply been unable to hold onto the football. They’ve fumbled 10 times in five games. That’s not an extraordinary figure, as the Jags have fumbled 13 times on 30 fewer plays on offense, but they have felt the full effect of failing to recover most of those fumbles. They’ve recovered just 2 of 10 fumbles on offense and 4 of 17 across offense and defense.

What happens if they don’t turn things around? The Vikings get the Bears, 49ers and Packers before the Oct. 31 trade deadline. The only one of those games they’ll play at home is the one against San Francisco. If they lose all three of those games and start 1-6, would the Vikings give up on 2023? Kirk Cousins has a no-trade clause, but if they are out of contention and building for 2024, would Cousins be willing to waive it for that oft-rumored deal with the Jets as a half-season rental?

28. Chicago Bears (1-4)

Their case as the worst team in football: Well, you watched as Chicago showed up for each of its first three games looking like it had been roused unexpectedly out of a deep sleep to unexpectedly play football. The offensive line couldn’t block, the receivers seemed to not know the plays, and Justin Fields made sitting ducks look mobile. The defense turned Jordan Love and Baker Mayfield into franchise quarterbacks and ceded its airtime to Taylor Swift amid a Chiefs blowout in Week 3.

On the other hand, the Bears are the only team on this list coming off a victory, as they rolled through Washington on Thursday night and dominated en route to a 40-20 victory. With two impressive performances in a row, the offense feels like it’s back on track, as it ranks third in the NFL in EPA per play over the past two games.

– –

As bad as the offense was during the first three weeks of the season, there just aren’t many teams on this list who can boast a top-five anything over a two-week span this season. While the Bears would have been an easy pick for football’s worst team two weeks ago, they’ve improved enough to get out of the basement over the two ensuing games. And with the Raiders to come next Sunday with a significant rest advantage for Eberflus’ team, they should have no trouble continuing their offensive turnaround in Week 6.

Their most embarrassing moment: Chase Claypool getting manhandled on a dismal block attempt before his defender suplexed Darnell Mooney comes to mind. Claypool was traded to Miami last week.

What needs to improve: The defense needs to get better, especially in terms of generating a pass rush. The Bears finally got going there Thursday by sacking Sam Howell five times in 56 dropbacks, but even that represents a below-average rate against a quarterback who had been sacked on nearly 15% of snaps before Week 5. Chicago’s 3.5% sack rate ranks 30th in the NFL.

Have they been unlucky? In some ways. This isn’t a defense that projects to be dominant inside the red zone, but the Bears have allowed opposing offenses to score 14 touchdowns on 18 trips inside the 20.

What happens if they don’t turn things around? If the offense settles somewhere between the disaster of the first three games and the positive signs of the most recent two and the defense doesn’t get on track, there will be serious questions about the focal points of this Bears regime. Eberflus’ defense doesn’t look any closer to where it needs to be, especially given the lofty standards of Chicago fans on this side of the ball. General manager Ryan Poles’ trade for Claypool will go down as one of the worst deals in recent memory, and the returns on his 2022 draft class and free agent signings aren’t great.

29. Denver Broncos (1-4)

Their case as the worst team in football: The Giants, as we’ll get to in a minute, have been one of the worst offenses in recent league history outside of one half against the Cardinals. The Broncos can say the same thing about their efforts on the defensive side of the ball, leaving aside one quarter of football against the Bears. Trailing 28-21 against Chicago, Vance Joseph’s defense came up with a strip sack of Justin Fields for a touchdown, a fourth-and-1 stop of Khalil Herbert in the red zone and an interception of Fields to seal up a comeback victory.

The 70-20 loss to the Dolphins has understandably drawn the most attention, but it’s hardly the only example of flailing on the big stage. The defense blew fourth-quarter leads to the Raiders in Week 1 and Commanders in Week 2. It allowed a Bears offense that had been a national punchline to get back on track by scoring 28 points on its first six drives in Week 4 before coming up with those game-saving plays in the fourth quarter.

–

It’s difficult to imagine a less disciplined defense. The 2020 Cowboys and their ill-fated season under one-and-done defensive coordinator Mike Nolan come to mind. Defenders overrun plays and fall susceptible to cutbacks. Anyone who isn’t Surtain or Justin Simmons, who has missed time with a hip injury, looks overmatched and too eager in coverage. The tackling is simply atrocious; the Broncos don’t get in good positions to tackle, but even when they do, it’s been too easy for running backs and receivers to slip through arm tackles or shake defenders in even the tiniest crevices of open space.

I’m not sure there has been a more frustrating player in the league this season than veteran safety Kareem Jackson. In Week 1, a late hit from Jackson on Jakobi Meyers handed the Raiders turned a fourth-and-1 into a first down with 2:54 to go in a one-point game. In Week 2, he was ejected for a dirty hit on an exposed Logan Thomas. He was one of the many Denver players embarrassed in Week 3, and while he came up with the game-sealing interception of Fields in Week 4, he was the last line of defense when Hall broke through the line of scrimmage Sunday. Bringing down a player like Hall in the open field is tough, but Hall ran right by the 35-year-old safety without even needing to slow down or juke him.

Given that Denver was one of the league’s best defenses for the first three months of last season, it’s hard to believe Joseph is getting the most out of his personnel.

– –

Payton’s offense isn’t exactly firing on all cylinders, either

Something always looks disjointed in this offense.

What needs to improve: The defense isn’t going to get great overnight, but something needs to change. The Broncos can’t be this bad at tackling week after week and hope to have any prayer of surviving a full season. Payton announced after the Gregory trade that he wanted to play the younger guys on defense, and I would encourage the Broncos to commit there. It’s difficult to imagine them being much worse without Jackson on the field, as an example.

Integrating some of the rookies into the offense also seems like it could offer a much-needed boost.

Have they been unlucky: Fumble luck might have cost the Broncos a much-needed win against the Jets.

What happens if they don’t turn things around? Joseph has been a coordinator for many years in this league and has generally done good work, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was let go before the season ended. This just isn’t working, and there’s a veteran coordinator on staff in Greg Manusky who spent last season coaching on a Fangio-style defense in Minnesota. Michael Wilhoite coached under Brandon Staley with the Chargers. Something has to give.

30. New England Patriots (1-4)

Their case as the worst team in football: The Patriots have been embarrassed in back-to-back losses by a combined 69 points. Losing by 35 points to the Cowboys in Dallas is ugly but understandable given a rough start and the nature of how both teams are built.

Losing 34-0 at home to a Saints team coming off a double-digit loss to the Buccaneers is another story. A New England team that looked plucky in competitive losses to the Eagles and Dolphins to begin the season has simply collapsed amid adversity and self-inflicted errors over the past two games. Injuries are hurting the Patriots, but injuries don’t make a team toss a third-and-1 pitch a step behind the running back at full speed, as Mac Jones did when the Patriots attempted to run a twist on the “tush push” in the third quarter.

Jones has been benched late in each of the past two games for Bailey Zappe, and while that has been chalked up to the noncompetitive nature of those contests, it would be naive to pretend Jones is holding up his end of the bargain right now.

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Without the running game, without the takeaways on defense, without the manageable third downs … what do the Patriots have? What’s their formula for winning? What could you say they do well? Rookie kicker Chad Ryland is even 4-for-8 on field goals. It looked better before the past two weeks, but the Patriots look utterly broken right now.

What needs to improve: The Patriots don’t have any hope of building a competent offense if they can’t run the football. Stevenson has been worse than Elliott, but their highest-ceiling option is the incumbent who looked so impressive a year ago. Stevenson was on the injury report this week with a thigh injury, and it’s possible he’s not 100%, but the Patriots have no choice but to lean on him and hope he starts breaking longer runs.

Belichick and offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien need to land on an O-line combination they trust and stick with it, too. Injuries have forced the Patriots to move players around at times, but they also seem to experiment with different lineups and groupings more often than most other teams. On Sunday, Mike Onwenu was limited to 42% of the snaps by an ankle injury, while Riley Reiff made his season debut and rotated in with Onwenu and rookie Atonio Mafi. The Pats need a healthy Onwenu given how dominant he was last season. Cole Strange, a first-rounder last year, has been in and out of the lineup with injuries, but a settled starting five would go a long way for the Patriots.

What happens if they don’t turn things around? Gulp. There could be a serious offseason reckoning ahead for the Patriots, who have had one winning season since Tom Brady left town and haven’t won a playoff game since the Super Bowl LIII victory over the Rams during the 2018 season. Just eight players who suited up for the Patriots that day are on the current roster, and two of them (Jackson and Trent Brown) left the organization after the game before eventually returning.

New England’s schedule gets a little easier moving forward, but if the Patriots finish way out of the playoff picture, team owner Robert Kraft will have some tough choices to make. Belichick has been an excellent defensive coach for many years and hasn’t lost his touch there, but the Patriots have gotten too many of their offensive decisions wrong when it’s come to free agency and the draft over the past seven years, and those issues have compounded.

Would Kraft tell Belichick he’s hiring someone to take over more personnel responsibilities or insist that he bring in fresh coaching blood to expand the horizons of what has been a familiar coaching staff? And how would Belichick respond? Could Kraft conceivably fire arguably the greatest head coach in modern football history?

31. Carolina Panthers (0-5)

Their case as the worst team in football: The Panthers are the one winless team remaining after five games, and it’s tough to even argue they’ve been all that close to victory through five weeks. Their only game decided by seven points or fewer was a three-point loss to the Saints in Week 2, and that required a touchdown and a 2-pointer by Carolina with 1:21 to go to make the score look close before New Orleans ran the clock out. It has led in four of its five losses, but it hasn’t had a fourth-quarter lead at any point.

The coaching staff was going to need to hit the ground running for the Panthers to be good, and their young core was going to need to emerge as stars at key positions. They had too many holes covered over by short-term free-agent signings or replacement-level players to have hopes of being a great team, but their first-round picks on rookie deals had a chance to accelerate Carolina’s rebuild. Unfortunately, that hasn’t really happened.

That starts at cornerback, where Jaycee Horn hasn’t been able to stay healthy. The No. 8 pick in the 2021 missed most of his rookie season with a fractured foot, then excelled last season before going down in December with a wrist injury. Horn played just 20 snaps this season before going down with a hamstring injury and is currently on injured reserve. He’s not the only defensive building block to go down injured, either, as Shaq Thompson suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2. Donte Jackson and Xavier Woods, two other starters in the secondary, both missed Sunday’s loss to the Lions.

Up front, Brian Burns remains impressive, but the talented edge rusher hasn’t gotten much help. He has created six sacks for himself and his teammates, but no other player has generated more than two. There have been signs of life from Derrick Brown, a top-10 pick in 2020, whose 11 initial pressures are second on the team behind Burns, but Brown has settled in as more of a solid player than a consistent game-wrecker, albeit one who plays virtually every snap.

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All of that leads to rookie No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young, who was expected to be an immediate difference-maker after looking like a seasoned pro for most of his time at Alabama. Young has looked more like the frustrating version of predecessor Mac Jones than the guy Jones was as a rookie for the Patriots. He has missed a start and otherwise ranks last in the NFL in QBR at 28.9 through five games. He is averaging just 4.5 yards per dropback, which also ranks last among qualifying starters.

Whether it’s a lack of faith in the offensive line from the coaching staff, missing speed from the receiving corps or a preference from Young to check down, the Panthers simply aren’t pushing the football downfield. Young has attempted only five deep passes through four games, completing two of them for a total of 50 yards. He wasn’t expected to be Patrick Mahomes as a rookie, but no team can survive as an NFL offense throwing deep once per game. The only full-season starter who threw deep anywhere close to as rarely as Young did last season was Daniel Jones, and he was both efficient throwing underneath and added significant value with his legs.

Young is averaging 17 scramble yards per game, which isn’t enough to make this offense work. Just like the Patriots, the Panthers don’t have a player who scares opposing defenses into backing off and playing softer coverage, which allows defenders to squeeze shorter routes and crowd Young’s throwing lanes. Too many Carolina third downs involve Young dropping back, staring desperately for someone to get open and then either scrambling before throwing the ball away or taking a sack.

Just 42% of Young’s passes have gone to open receivers, a mark which ranks below the league-average. You can pin some of that on the quarterback, but when Andy Dalton has filled, just 33% of his passes have been to open targets, which is the worst mark in the league for a passer with 50 attempts or more this season.

Carolina brought in physical receivers this offseason in Adam Thielen, DJ Chark, Hayden Hurst and second-round pick Jonathan Mingo, but there just isn’t enough speed in this passing attack. In total, 110 wide receivers have run 50 routes or more this season. In terms of average max speed per route per NFL Next Gen Stats, Carolina’s leading wideouts rank 44th (Thielen), 78th (Chark), 85th (Terrace Marshall) and 88th (Mingo). Speed isn’t everything, but the Panthers don’t have the pass protection or the running game to survive when big plays haven’t been coming.

What needs to improve: They can’t let teams run all over them week after week on the ground. Bad news: They face the Dolphins in Week 6. Maybe we can put that improvement off until after the Week 7 bye.

Have they been unlucky? Injuries have hit the defense pretty hard. Losing Horn or Thompson would have been a crushing injury, but losing them both before the end of Week 2 was going to thrust the Panthers into a hopeless situation. Relying on replacement-level veterans such as CJ Henderson and Kamu Grugier-Hill just isn’t an easy way to win football games.

What happens if they don’t turn things around? Right now, it looks like they might have made a disastrous trade. Young was an exciting quarterback prospect, but to get him, the Panthers dealt away their top wideout (DJ Moore) and their first-round pick in the 2024 draft. The receiving corps sorely misses Moore, and the Panthers have the worst record in football, which would have given them the opportunity to draft Caleb Williams (or trade their pick for a franchise-altering haul of selections).

It’s still too early to judge Young as a whole, and there aren’t any guarantees the Panthers will actually finish with the worst record in football. (Remember that the Bears started 3-4 before collapsing last season.) But if Carolina missed out on Williams or even Drake Maye, the only way to justify its trade with Chicago is Young becoming a superstar. Right now, he’s struggling to play competent football, let alone approaching what C.J. Stroud is doing in Houston.

32. New York Giants (1-4)

Their case as the worst team in football: Outside of one half against a Cardinals team that just might be tanking on a personnel level this season, the Giants might be the worst offense in the history of the league through five games.

Again, leaving the second half of the Cardinals game aside, the Giants have run 46 possessions on offense. Exactly one of those possessions has produced a touchdown, and that came on a 37-yard field against the 49ers after a fair catch interference penalty. New York has more sacks allowed (27) than points scored (24) on those drives, including seven against the Dolphins on Sunday across just 39 dropbacks.

Those hits appear to have added up and worn down quarterback Daniel Jones, who left the game with a neck injury and did not return.

New York’s inability to protect Jones has become a national media story, in part because the Giants have played three prime-time games in four weeks.

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Oh, and the defense hasn’t been great, either. You hire Don Martindale so the former Ravens coordinator can create pressure with his various exotic blitz packages, but the Giants have turned only 3.3% of their blitzes into sacks, which is the fifth-worst mark in football. The pressure packages have also left gaping holes when they choose to run, as New York has allowed opposing backs to gain 3.7 yards before first contact, which is the third-worst mark.. There are only two other run defenses worse than the Giants by cumulative EPA, and they’re both on this list.

This defense can’t stop itself from giving up big plays. It has allowed 23 gains of 20 yards or more, which ranks fifth, and six gains of 40 yards or more, which ranks first. You might blame that on blitzing gone wrong, but the 69-yard touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill on Sunday came on a play in which the Giants rushed just three and still couldn’t cover the league’s fastest wide receiver.

The personnel the Giants have seems like a fundamental mismatch for what Martindale wants to do on defense. Their best players are up front in Dexter Lawrence, Kayvon Thibodeaux and (the injured) Azeez Ojulari. They’re weakest in the secondary, where Jason Pinnock (who did manage a pick-12 against the Dolphins), Tre Hawkins and Cor’Dale Flott are stretched in coverage. This is a team that would be best positioned to rush with four, drop seven players into coverage and trust its pass rush to get home. Instead, it’s blitzing with limited success.

What needs to improve: Whether it’s Jones or Tyrod Taylor under center next week, pass protection needs to be better. Getting Thomas back would be a huge boon, but this team needs to find their best five and develop some semblance of continuity up front.

Have they been unlucky? You could argue the Giants have been unlucky to lose Jones and Thomas while Saquon Barkley has been sidelined by a high-ankle sprain, but it was naive to believe Jones and Barkley would stay healthy for a full 17-game season; as I was saying all summer, the duo had never combined to play a single full season during their first four years in the league together.

What happens if they don’t turn things around? There’s no sense in making drastic changes after five games, especially for a team that felt like it was on the right track as recently as August. If the line continues to struggle, it would be fair to wonder whether offensive line coach Bobby Johnson returns for another season in 2024, and again, I’m not sure whether Martindale is a schematic fit for the personnel the Giants have on defense.

We’ve seen New York sour dramatically on coaches after an impressive first season and move on by the end of Year 2 in seasons past, but unless the Giants fail catastrophically over the remainder of the season, Brian Daboll isn’t going anywhere. Daboll’s job shouldn’t be in danger, but after the fan base fell in love with the former Bills offensive coordinator last season, the bloom is clearly off the rose in North Jersey. And after making the playoffs last season, they have fallen off enough to be recognized as the worst team in football through five games.