The 32 things we learned from Week 4 of the 2026 NFL season:
0(-4): The 1992 San Diego Chargers are the patron saints of 0-4 NFL teams (of which there are five in 2026), still the only squad in league history to reach the playoffs after such a ghastly start. So, for the Los Angeles Chargers, Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers
, hope remains … if only the slightest glimmer.1. As in the first interception by the New York Jets defense over the past two seasons. It came courtesy of veteran S Minkah Fitzpatrick, who pilfered the Chicago Bears’ Tyson Bagent for the NYJ’s first pick since Week 18 of the 2024 season. Last year, the Jets became the first NFL team to play a full season without recording a single defensive
interception.
.@nyjets' first INT in 637 days comes on Minkah Fitzpatrick's catch 💪
— NFL+ (@NFLPlus) October 4, 2026
NYJvsCHI on FOX/FOX One
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/MSOR0SXWpU
(QB)2. Bucs QB Jalon Daniels, an undrafted free agent out of Kansas who received a $25,000 signing bonus, lost his first NFL start on Sunday while filling in for injured Baker Mayfield. Daniels, who passed for 148 yards (with 1 TD and 2 INTs), became the first quarterback this season – among the seven who weren’t in their teams’ Week 1 lineups – to lose his first start.
(QB)3. The Washington Commanders are already the third team league-wide this season that’s had to drill down to its third-string quarterback. Seventh-round rookie Athan Kaliakmanis was pressed into service Sunday in London after Marcus Mariota – filling in for starter Jayden Daniels himself – was lost to an MCL injury in the first quarter. Elsewhere, the Bears have already had to use QB3 Case Keenum – to spectacular results in Week 3, but he reverted to the bench (mostly) Sunday – and the Atlanta Falcons suffered through two disastrous games with third-stringer Cooper Rush. If that No. 3 QB can get you one win in a season if his number is called, then he’s probably earned his entire salary for the year.
4. Oddly, Keenum was actually credited with Sunday’s 23-12 win over the Jets by taking the Bears’ first snap, a handoff to D'Andre Swift. Any quarterback who starts an NFL game, no matter how long he plays in it, becomes the player of record from a win-loss perspective.
5. But Chicago looked decent otherwise in Bagent’s most extensive action since his rookie year in 2023 – the offense posting 492 yards against a New York D that entered the game ranked second overall in the NFL. The Bears held the ball for nearly 43 minutes, ran 89 plays and racked up 34 first downs (compared to the Jets' 32 plays) – just an extraordinary display of ball control that belied their 11-point margin of victory … which can largely be attributed by failure to find the end zone on five of their seven red-zone visits.
6. Still, the Bears are now 3-1, despite being without QB1 Caleb Williams for two full games and part of another, making Chicago – despite its challenges – one of this season’s few would-be contenders to live up to their advance billing.
7. Why is that? There’s almost never a one-size-fits-all explanation for anything that occurs in the NFL, particularly from a trend perspective. But what seems like a growing unwillingness of teams to use key players in August has seemingly rendered the first four or so games of regular season as a de facto preseason anymore.
8. Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay has always been loathe to play his starters in preseason, and the league’s perceived super team is off to a rocky 2-2 start – and LA is fortunate to be at .500 following the undermanned Philadelphia Eagles’ collapse Sunday. The Rams started 3-6 in 2023 and 1-4 in 2024 and wound up in the postseason both times. And maybe the current struggles should be forgiven given their injuries, trip to Australia, and the new players they’re trying to integrate.
9. But you can bet the panic button would have lit up Sunday had they failed to win at Philly. And despite whatever excuses could be made for the Rams, QB Matthew Stafford serving up six interceptions this season (he had 8 as the league MVP in 2025) or the 21 penalties (for nearly 200 yards) the team has committed over the past two weeks aren’t among them.
10. Yet the Eagles, a perennial contender – albeit one that fell out of a first-place tie in the NFC East on Sunday – couldn’t sufficiently exploit the Rams’ mistakes. Philadelphia also couldn’t stop Stafford and Co. on two lengthy fourth-quarter TD drives, to say nothing of another pitiful showing by QB Jalen Hurts in his team’s new offensive system.
11. Yes, Philly was unexpectedly without RT Lane Johnson on a day when RB Saquon Barkley joined WR DeVonta Smith, TE Dallas Goedert and LB Zach Baun among the injured. But that doesn’t excuse a no-show against the Keenum-led Bears or Sunday afternoon’s disappearing act after they took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter.
(0-)12. The Eagles’ historically bad conversion rate on third downs on Sunday – worst for the franchise since at least 1991.
To hold a lead... extending possessions helps.
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) October 4, 2026
Philadelphia struggled with that Sunday, finishing 0-12 on 3rd down opportunities.
That's the most 3rd down attempts without a conversion by any team in a game since 2023 (Chargers 0-12 in Week 14 vs DEN) 👀 pic.twitter.com/DHKth3cCEk
13. Philadelphia is now 18-30 all time when Johnson, who was drafted in 2013, doesn’t play.
14. Read or hear anything this summer that might suggest the Dallas Cowboys, who last reached the Super Bowl more than three decades ago, were a legitimate threat to capture the Lombardi Trophy? (Yep, I heard it, too, and am also guilty or writing it.) “America’s Team” almost failed to emerge as Texas’ team on Sunday, barely squeaking past winless Houston to salvage a 2-2 start of their own.
15. But same ol’ Cowboys seems apropos as their disastrous defense remains in the gutter, with Dallas surrendering at least 28 points for the third time already this season after giving up the most points in the league in 2025.
16. And that’s despite newly acquired CB Joey Porter Jr. not allowing a reception in his Dallas debut, during which he played nearly half of the defensive snaps.
17. The number of catches Sunday by Dallas WR CeeDee Lamb, tied for the seventh most in a game in NFL history. It’s also the most ever in a game by a Cowboys wide receiver, though former TE Jason Witten actually holds the team record (18).
17 CATCHES. IN ONE GAME?! 😮
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) October 4, 2026
CeeDee Lamb had himself a month in Week 4, recording a career-high 17 receptions, including the game-winning TD.
He also finished with his 7th career game with 150+ receiving yards, tied for 2nd-most in Cowboys history. Only Michael Irvin had more… pic.twitter.com/yURD5HZEQH
18. Lamb, who finished with 189 yards in a valiant individual effort, scored the game-winning TD on his final catch of the day, a 12-yarder with 40 seconds left to play that might have saved Dallas’ season while effectively ending Houston’s.
WHO ELSE BUTE CEEDEE?!?!@DALvsHOU on FOX/FOX One
— NFL (@NFL) October 4, 2026
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/ODeK70fSFH
19. Ah, Houston. I actually thought the Texans had a legit shot at being the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed before the season started. I also never would have guessed their vaunted defense would be ceding 30 points per game at home. Some very interesting decisions lie ahead for a team built to win now, namely the future of QB C.J. Stroud.
20. The Cincinnati Bengals? They have the only holdover coach in the AFC North and are finally in possession of a functional defense. Yet QB Joe Burrow, by his own lofty standards, has been Joe Blow this season. Burrow fumbled on Cincy’s final offensive snap in Week 3’s loss at Pittsburgh before being picked off twice in Sunday’s 22-17 home loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
21. As in the worst 21-game record for a quarterback picked No. 1 overall during the common draft era (since 1967). That sad distinction is shared by the Tennessee Titans’ Cam Ward, who’s now lost 18 of his 21 career starts, and Troy Aikman who had an ignominious start to his career in Dallas. Ward can only hope he finishes out like the eventual Hall of Famer did.
22. And what to make of the Buffalo Bills, who kinda (currently) look like they peaked in Week 1? Their defense is increasingly projecting as their chief vulnerability – allowing 29 points Sunday for the third time this season, too much to beat even a struggling New England Patriots squad.
23. The Patriots, you ask? The defending AFC champs became the first team to knock off Buffalo this year, QB Drake Maye showing signs of life with his best game of this season (269 yards and 3 TDs passing, team-high 54 yards rushing). Still, the 2025 runner-up for NFL MVP also committed two more turnovers, giving him a league-high nine through four weeks.
24. The Denver Broncos, who barely missed out on a berth in Super Bowl 60 last season, have unsurprisingly shown flashes of being a force this season. They have surprisingly scored 13 first-half points – total – through four weeks under rookie OC Davis Webb and couldn’t overcome their typical spot behind the eight ball in Sunday’s 24-14 setback to the San Francisco 49ers.
25. With his team now sitting in third place in the AFC West, Denver coach Sean Payton is surely mulling anew whether to take the call sheet away from Webb.
26. Did you think at some point the NFL script might have the Rams and Chargers meeting in an all-LA Super Bowl – in suburban Los Angeles – on Valentine’s Day? Welp. Bolts QB Justin Herbert’s regression under new OC Mike McDaniel remains one of the season’s most stunning subplots.
27. As Lamar Jackson goes, so go the Baltimore Ravens. Sunday’s ankle injury is certainly a concern for a player who’s historically done so much damage with his legs – and who faces a flight for a road game three of the next four weeks.
28. Whenever – whenever? – the NFL expands into or relocates a team to Europe, Indianapolis Colts RB Jonathan Taylor should be on that club's roster. Sunday was his third international appearance, after two previous ones in Germany, and he was once again stellar in his team’s 30-13 victory over the Washington Commanders in London. In three international games, Taylor has rushed for 408 yards and six touchdowns – both overseas league records.
"That's a crazy stat... It's awesome though."#Colts running back Jonathan Taylor on breaking the record for most touchdowns in international games in NFL history: pic.twitter.com/WhAGItYR9K
— WRTV Indianapolis (@wrtv) October 4, 2026
29. Not that Taylor is ultimately going to do the Colts much good … unless they flip him at some point for the rebuilding assets they need.
30. The number of aggregate penalties (for 280 yards!) in the Seattle Seahawks 30-23 defeat of the still-winless Chargers.
31. Congratulations to the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan, who surpassed the legendary Bill Walsh for the most games coached in franchise history – Shanahan getting the win Sunday in his 167th appearance (including playoffs). Walsh still has those three Lombardi Trophies on his résumé, but Shanahan, who’s lost two Super Bowls with San Francisco, still has time to catch up – maybe starting this year amid a 4-0 start.
32. What do you know – a projected contender that’s actually excelling – even with half the 49ers' roster seemingly on injured reserve!
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 32 things we learned in NFL Week 4: Nearly every projected contender showing fatal flaw
