Making Sense Of The Wackiest Early Afternoon Slate So Far This NFL Season
My goodness. What just happened?! I'll never understand the NFL's decision to put nine games on at the same time when they have the option to push more games into the late window. But that's what fans got on Sunday afternoon.
Because of that, a lot of craziness went down simultaneously. We're going to do our best to help fans who only have one set of eyes and ears figure out what in the world went down...
Chicago Bears do Chicago Bears things in inexplicable loss to Denver Broncos
For three quarters, Justin Fields actually looked like that MVP candidate that everyone (but me) thought he might be this season. That had a lot to do with facing the Denver Broncos defense, which allowed 70 points to the Miami Dolphins last week. Fields completely picked apart the Broncos and led Chicago to a 28-7 lead.
From there, everything unraveled. The Broncos scored touchdowns on back-to-back drives sandwiched around a Bears punt to get within one touchdown. That's when the real Justin Fields finally showed up.
Lest people think the loss is all on Fields, head coach Matt Eberflus deserves some major second-guessing. After surrendering the lead, the Bears managed to get into field goal range with just under three minutes remaining. They faced a fourth-and-one.
After attempting to draw the Broncos offsides, the Bears took a timeout. Everyone expected the field goal unit to come onto the field to kick a go-ahead field go. Nope, Eberflus decided to keep the offense on the field.
Is Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus in trouble following another disastrous NFL Sunday? (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Generally, I'm in favor of coaches making the aggressive choice and going for the first down. Brandon Staley, for example, made the right call in Week 3. However, the Bears decision didn't make sense given the circumstances.
They failed on fourth down and Denver took over. The Broncos drove down the field and kicked a field goal. The Bears had a final chance but ... Justin Fields.
There are going to be A LOT of questions in Chicago. For Sean Payton ... well, he got lucky. Still overrated.
Buffalo Bills give Miami Dolphins taste of their own medicine
As mentioned, the Miami Dolphins hung a 70-spot on Denver last week. This week, their defense is the one that took a beating. Josh Allen, who many questioned following a disastrous Week 1, obliterated the Dolphins all day long.
Allen threw only 25 passes but completed 21 of them for over 300 yards and four touchdowns. He ran for a score, too. Buffalo took its foot off the gas or they might have scored 50+.
Still, the game serves as a reminder not to overreact to small samples. We warned you about the Dolphins.
This is not to say the Dolphins aren't good -- they are -- but they're not suddenly the best team in the NFL.
Plus, it's apparently hard to win after historic offensive performances. This stat came from prior to the Bills-Dolphins game:
Make it 1-7 straight-up and 0-8 against-the-spread with an average fail to cover by 14.3 points.
Los Angeles Rams blow MASSIVE lead, still manage to eek out a victory
As someone who bet on the Rams to cover against the Indianapolis Colts, I felt GREAT for almost this entire game. The Rams dominated the Colts, jumping out to a 23-0 lead. They led 23-8 heading into the fourth quarter.
But rookie Anthony Richardson -- who struggled throwing the ball all game -- showed up when it mattered most. Plus, Matthew Stafford limped around for most of the second half, clearly not 100%. The injury to Stafford -- who never left the game -- and the clutch play by Richardson flipped the script.
Richardson led the Colts on two fourth-quarter touchdown drives and Indianapolis went 2-2 on two-point conversions to tie the game.
But the Rams got the ball to start overtime and Richardson, unfortunately, never saw the field again. Los Angeles drove the entire length of the field and eventually rookie sensation Puka Nacua saved the Rams from disaster.
Speaking of averting disaster in OT, Philadelphia Eagles survive Commanders upset bid
Whoa, boy. The NFL nearly saw another massive upset, although not quite to the level of the Arizona Cardinals beating the Dallas Cowboys. What is it about the NFC East playing down to their competition?
The Commanders led the game, 17-10, at halftime. However, the Eagles scored the next 10 points to take the lead and everyone though, "well that was fun while it lasted!" Except, the Commanders had a few more punches to throw.
They tied the game at 24 before giving up a touchdown to Philadelphia. But, on that touchdown, referees flagged AJ Brown for a taunting penalty. That moved the kickoff back 15 yards, which helped the Commanders gain field position.
They used that field position to their advantage and managed to score a touchdown with no time left on the clock.
Commanders head coach Ron Rivera, nicknamed "Riverboat Ron," decided not to go for a two-point conversion to win the game. Instead, he kicked and sent the game to overtime.
Washington got the ball first, but had to punt. Philadelphia reached long field goal range and Jake Elliott sent the Philly fans home happy.
Speaking of averting disaster ... the Minnesota Vikings barely managed to get off the schneid against Carolina, one of two winless NFL teams
Kirk Cousins opened the Vikings attempt for their first win of the season with a 99-yard pick-six on the team's first drive. Minnesota trailed for the entire first half and into the second. But, thankfully for them, rookie quarterback Bryce Young made a very similar mistake to Cousins.
These two teams combined for four touchdowns and half came from the defenses. The other half happened because Justin Jefferson is really good at football. Jefferson had a touchdown called back on penalty (on an offensive lineman) just before the Cousins pick-six, or he might have had three scores in the game.
The Panthers had a chance late, but they stopped the Panthers on a goal-to-go opportunity with two sacks of Young to thwart the comeback.
The Vikings absolutely could not afford to lose this game, and luckily for them, they didn't.
Quick hits from the less-exciting NFL games involving the AFC North teams, who forgot how to play offense
Those five games featured incredible drama, even the game between the Bills and Dolphins just for the sheer excitement of seeing those offenses face one another. Even if the Bills showed out much more than the Dolphins.
But there were four other games that didn't have the same intrigue. Though, one of them might have some serious ramifications moving forward...
Good for CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans who have won games in back-to-back weeks and he looks every bit the real deal so far.
The Bengals continue to struggle and Sunday's performance was dreadful. The Titans beat the hell out of the Bengals, 27-3, as Cincinnati's high-flying offense is completely grounded.
For the second time this season, the Bengals scored just three points in an NFL game. They're averaging fewer than 13 points per game and Tee Higgins left the game with an injury. Cincinnati doesn't appear to be in the same league with the Bills, Dolphins and Chiefs in the AFC. But, there's still a lot of season left.
Something is wrong with Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals offense and this NFL season is not looking great for them through four weeks. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
On the other side, the result might be bad news for the New York Jets. The two teams they might have hoped to trade with to get a quarterback -- Tennessee and Minnesota -- both won. Tennessee, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and Houston are all tied for the AFC South lead at 2-2, which is pretty wild.
The Cleveland Browns ruled Deshaun Watson out with an injury prior to kickoff against the Baltimore Ravens and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson started. He looked ... like a rookie drafted in the fifth round making his first career start.
DTR threw three interceptions, fumbled (though the Browns recovered), and threw for just 121 yards on 36 attempts. The game was never close and the Ravens seized control of the AFC North.
And, yeah, the AFC North didn't play very good football on Sunday. Except the Ravens. The Browns, Steelers and Bengals combined to score 12 points. Yikes.
Finally, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won again. Another game that didn't have much drama, the New Orleans Saints -- much like the entire AFC North -- just couldn't get anything going on offense.
The Bucs won 26-9 and took over sole possession of the NFC South. Without Tom Brady. With Baker Mayfield.
What a time to be alive.