1. The Brian Daboll firing drills this eternal point home: NFL teams have to stop letting a coach they’re leaning toward firing stay on the job longer than he should, let that coach draft a potential franchise
quarterback, then fire that coach immediately, forcing said rookie QB to learn a new offense going into Year 2. We see it year after year across the league, including with the Bears last season. (In Chicago’s case, Eberflus should never have sniffed the chance to coach Williams.) The worst part: Daboll’s actually done a very nice job with Jaxson Dart, who looks like the best rookie QB of this past class so far.
2. Caleb Williams’s four game-winning drives just tied him for the most in a Chicago Bears season with Jay Cutler, who did it three times, Bob Avellini, and Billy Wade. The cool part: there’s still half a season left for him to surpass that record. Of course, it would be great if the Bears could have stomped a few of these teams.
3. Might we be witnessing one of those “once-in-15-years” defenses in the Denver Broncos? Not just because they’re first in overall EPA/play and dropback EPA/play, first in team sacks by a mile, and second in overall defensive DVOA, but because they’re dragging the middest of mid quarterbacks (Bo Nix) to an 8-2 record and the top of the AFC West. You can’t tell me that guy is playing better than Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert right now, and that that’s why they’re atop this division. If this team wins a playoff game, we need to have a conversation about this defense being among the best we’ve seen in the modern era.
4. I simply cannot make sense of Jordan Love. On one hand, he’s clearly not playing with anything near an elite pass-catching unit. But it seems like he makes one or two throws a week that make you wonder how this guy isn’t getting cooked more. The numbers do say he’s generally a top-10 QB in the league in terms of efficiency, yardage, and all that. But somehow, Love feels like exactly the kind of guy I’d want my team facing in the playoffs. Call me crazy.
5. The NFL screwed around and let the Baltimore Ravens back into the mix for the AFC North. Lamar Jackson is back and playing like he took no time off, which means the Ravens stand a good chance of winning four of the next five against the Browns, Jets, Steelers, and Bengals (2x). Wouldn’t it be funny if we got a Ravens-Chiefs AFC title game again after how bad both teams looked to begin the year? And by funny, I mean morosely predictable?
6. Dan Campbell’s admission that he showed Ben Johnson the ropes of offensive play-calling in 2021 in order to explain why he took play-calling duties back from young offensive coordinator John Morton was interesting. Campbell, of course, was a former tight end, so it’s not as if offensive football is foreign to him. But it perhaps reminds people that he’s not just a rah-rah, players’ coach type. Plus, if Morton learns from Campbell half as well as Johnson did, Campbell might have a longer shelf life with Detroit than some might have figured.
7. I’m not ready to call the Patriots a Super Bowl contender just yet. The defense is well-coached but simply lacks top talent aside from cornerback Christian Gonzalez (who deserves All-Pro consideration), and they’ll probably get exposed eventually. But Drake Maye is really that guy, and Trey Henderson’s explosive play in the run game might have added a new dimension to the offense. If New England doesn’t win a playoff game this year, they will in 2026.
8. Jonathan Taylor. That’s it.
9. Was Chris Grier the albatross hanging around the Dolphins’ neck? Because what in the world was that from Miami against the Buffalo Bills? Those division matchups really just hit different sometimes. Also, consider that the latest piece of evidence that this year might really be wide open.
10. The Jets traded away their two best defensive players and blew a chance at a tank loss even with Justin Fields doing his best to deliver one. Never change.
