And then there were three. Four weeks into the NFL season, three undefeated teams remain: the Kansas City Chiefs, the San Francisco 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings, who are among this year's biggest surprises. Week 4 was another barn burner, with nine one-score games heading into Monday’s contest between the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints.
The comeback kids, the Denver Broncos, could not overcome an 11-point, second-half deficit, losing to the 49ers 24-14. Sean Payton’s Broncos must work on avoiding slow starts, scoring just 13 points in the first half through four games. And Kenneth Walker III remains the best offseason acquisition, totaling 177 rushing yards and two scores in the Chiefs' road win over the previously undefeated Las Vegas Raiders.
Now, let's overreact to Sunday's Week 4 action. The Los Angeles Rams came back from a 10-point deficit against the Philadelphia Eagles behind the strength of running back Kyren Williams on offense and edge rusher Byron Young on defense en route to a 24-20 victory on Sunday. Williams finished with 146 scrimmage yards and the final two touchdowns of the game for Los Angeles, including the game-winner — a gutsy 7-yard run where he broke a handful of tackles and dove in for the score.
Defensively, Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald were not available for the Rams due to injury, and Young was up for the task. He finished with 2.5 sacks, including a strip-sack of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts to help close out the game. And Rams head coach Sean McVay earned his first victory over Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni as L.A. moved to 2-2.
However, McVay's team still has issues. Special teams remain a work in progress. The Rams gave up a 41-yard punt return by Britain Covey that set up a Philadelphia score.
Kicker Harrison Mevis missed a 48-yard field goal and kicked the ball out of bounds on a kickoff late in the game. That might not be the biggest problem the Rams face, though. Stafford’s two interceptions in the first half had the Rams down early.
The 38-year-old's miscues have been a disturbing trend for the Rams this season. Conclusion: Not an overreaction At the center of L.A.’s issues on offense have been the struggles of Stafford. While Stafford is third in the league in passing (1,189), he’s also tied for second in interceptions (6) and has a pedestrian passer rating (80.1).
As my colleague Ralph Vacchiano pointed out, Stafford was 20 for 36 for 177 yards and two picks with 7.5 minutes left in Sunday's game. Then, he heated up on the final two drives, finishing 12 of 15 for 140 yards. That’s Stafford this season in a nutshell.
He’s played terribly for long stretches, sometimes too long. When the Rams need him to play well, though, Stafford has mostly heated up enough to make them competitive. But Stafford just has not been the elite, consistent performer he was last season, when he won MVP.
For the Rams to truly reach Dream Team status, they need the prime Stafford from last season. The Patriots finally looked like the team that reached the Super Bowl last season on Sunday, defeating one of the best teams in the NFL and their AFC East rivals, the Buffalo Bills, 29-26. Drake Maye looked like the guy who competed for an MVP as well, finishing with 269 passing yards, three touchdown passes and an interception as he led New England to a game-winning touchdown in the final minutes.
Maye also used his legs, leading his team with 54 rushing yards. Defensively, the Patriots forced two Buffalo turnovers and held the Bills to 340 total yards, keeping Josh Allen in check. Conclusion: Overreaction After taking advantage of playing one of the easiest schedules in the league last year, the Patriots still have some tough games ahead, including the much-improved Las Vegas Raiders next week at home and the Chicago Bears on the road in Week 7.
And while it was good to see Maye play well, the Patriots are still missing No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown on offense and have yet to consistently run the ball effectively.
We’re not sounding the alarm on the Patriots anymore, but we're in wait-and-see mode for now. New Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion hasn't been able to figure things out yet in Philadelphia. The Eagles' offense hasn't been explosive enough or effective enough so far under Mannion.
Philadelphia is averaging just 18.3 points per game (down from 22.3 points per game last season) and quarterback Jalen Hurts finished with only 93 passing yards as Philadelphia was 0-for-12 on third down in its loss to Los Angeles. Even worse, Mannion has been unable to get Philadelphia’s potent running game going. Yes, Saquon Barkley had to leave the game with a hamstring injury, but even when the star running back's been healthy, Philadelphia’s running game has been inconsistent.
The Eagles finished with 104 rushing yards and are averaging just 4.16 per carry, ranking toward the bottom of the league. Conclusion: Not an overreaction Hurts still doesn’t look totally comfortable in the offense, and the Eagles are even having trouble converting traditional plays they are usually effective at, like the Tush Push. Hurts is averaging just 206 passing yards a contest and has just five passing touchdowns on the year.
The Eagles are battling through injuries to key players like receiver DeVonta Smith, tight ends Dallas Goedert and Eli Stowers and right tackle Lane Johnson. But the bottom line is that the Eagles are no longer dangerous on offense. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been in every game, but are now 0-4 after losing Sunday's game to the Green Bay Packers, 17-14.
The loss is an extension of the skid Tampa went on to end last season, when it lost seven of nine. Quarterback. Baker Mayfield has regressed (although he missed Sunday's game) and the Buccaneers have struggled to keep healthy players on the field.
In a winnable NFC South that the Bucs were expected to compete in, the season feels like it's over, and we just began October. Conclusion: Overreaction While the Bucs are scuffling, it wasn't that long ago that Bowles made the Buccaneers a model of consistency in the NFL. Just two years ago, Bowles coached the Buccaneers to their fourth straight NFC South title and fifth straight playoff appearance.
Those streaks were only a game short of being extended last season, but his success has gone hand-in-hand with Mayfield's career resurgence, which recently landed the quarterback a three-year, $165 million contract extension. There are things that the defensive-minded Bowles needs to fix. Their defense entered Sunday 24th in points allowed, but did look a bit better against the Packers as they were able to force multiple turnovers in the red zone.
They only have six sacks, though, as they didn't sack Packers quarterback Jordan Love once on Sunday. Still, there's a path for the Buccaneers to compete in the NFC South. They're only two games behind the division-leading Carolina Panthers, and they've yet to play a divisional game.
The Raiders played the Kansas City Chiefs tight and gave them a tough battle before Kenneth Walker III took over the game and the most clutch player in the league, Patrick Mahomes, did Patrick Mahomes things. But give Las Vegas credit, it gave Kansas City a good scare and appeared ready to compete with the top teams in the NFL in its 30-27 loss. Specifically, what’s been impressive about the Raiders has been the play of their defense.
Linebackers Nakobe Dean and Quay Waker have given Las Vegas a strong presence inside, while young defensive backs Hezekiah Masses and Treydan Stukes have shown that the moment hasn’t been too big for them. Maxx Crosby is still one of the top pass rushers in the league. Conclusion: Not an overreaction Kirk Cousins has been an efficient game manager on offense, keeping the Raiders in games by helping to move the chains.
He threw for 365 yards on Sunday, making several big throws to help the Raiders battle for all 60 minutes. More importantly, head coach Klint Kubiak has the Raiders believing. He exuded confidence in his halftime interview with CBS' broadcast of Sunday's game, confidently saying that the Raiders would win the game.
That didn't come to fruition, but it's evident that the Raiders can hang around with some of the NFL's best. If Las Vegas keeps this going, maybe Fernando Mendoza doesn’t play this season. Entering a season with high expectations after a disappointing 2025 campaign, the Commanders sit at the bottom of the NFC East at 1-3 following their loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
And the start of 2026 unfortunately looks a lot like last season for Quinn and the Commanders. With dynamic star quarterback Jayden Daniels out again with a dislocated elbow, Quinn also lost his backup Marcus Mariota to a knee injury early in Sunday's loss. That meant the Commanders were down to Athan Kaliakmanis, a seventh-round rookie out of Rutgers.
Injuries continue to be the downfall of this team, with foundational players in receiver Terry McLaurin, guard Sam Cosmi, tackle Laremy Tunsil and Daniels all out on offense. Conclusion: Overreaction Quinn is still two years removed from leading this group to the NFC Championship Game and had success at his last head coaching spot with the Atlanta Falcons, leading them to a Super Bowl during his tenure there. Quinn deserves some time to see if he can turn things around.
Specifically, Quinn should get an opportunity to lead this team for an extended period with a healthy Daniels to see if he can compete in an improved NFC East. Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh gave Mike McDaniel a nod of approval after their 30-23 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, saying his offensive coordinator isn’t going anywhere. But the fact that Harbaugh even had to say that publicly speaks to how badly this year has started for the Chargers, who fell to 0-4 with Sunday's loss.
Los Angeles has lost seven straight games dating back to last season, with an offseason of heightened expectations in the middle of all that thanks to the arrival of McDaniel. The weight of those losses falls mostly on the offense, though. Quarterback Justin Herbert continues to play the worst football in his seven-year NFL career, throwing a pair of woeful interceptions in Sunday's loss.
Herbert finally got some things going in the second half, and we’ll see if that can serve as a spark as the Bolts host the Denver Broncos at SoFi Stadium next week. Conclusion: Not an overreaction It’s hard to believe the McDaniel-led Chargers’ offense is one of the worst in the NFL right now, but that’s where they are at. Herbert went 5 of 14 for 36 passing yards and two picks in the first half before turning things around in the second half, allowing the Chargers to tie (or potentially win) the game in the final minutes.
However, Los Angeles' drive ended with Herbert getting strip-sacked. Hebert has thrown a league-high six interceptions trying to throw the ball over 20 yards down the field, per Next Gen Stats. The Bolts are averaging just 14.7 points per game, No.
28 in the league. Herbert only has four touchdown passes to go with a 70.6 passer rating. Atrocious.
McDaniel needs to turn things around quickly if it isn't already too late. Bryce Young is certainly playing like one of the top quarterbacks in the league, and he showed why in the Carolina Panthers' 32-26 win over the Detroit Lions. Young finished 29 of 41 for 329 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions for a 110.7 passer rating.
It’s the second time Young has thrown for over 300 yards this season. Young leads the league in passing yards (1,268), is tied for third in passing touchdowns (9) and has an impressive 100.0 passer rating. He's also tops in the league in some of advanced metrics, including yards under pressure (411), touchdowns under pressure (4), deep passing yards (321) and touchdowns outside the numbers (7), per Next Gen Stats.
Conclusion: Not an overreaction Despite his diminutive stature, Young has played big for the Panthers, putting them in contention to defend their NFC South title by guiding one of the most explosive offenses in the league. And Young has been buoyed by the play of second-year pro receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who finished with 14 catches for 192 yards and two touchdowns in Sunday's win.
