October 13, 2026
Nathan Ray Seebeck/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
If I showed you this picture after the Eagles won the Super Bowl and said, "This will be the Eagles' offense in Week 5 of 2026," you wouldn't be able to name half these guys.
Week 5 of the 2026 NFL season was bizarre, as there were a whole lot of weird coaching decisions league-wide.
There are a lot of bad teams in the NFC, but we have no new obituaries this week because the bad teams play in a couple of very bad divisions, namely the NFC East and NFC South (as usual), and thus futilely remain in the hunt.
None.
15) Buccaneers (1-4): Even with the Bucs finally winning a game, it's hard not to nitpick Todd Bowles' decision to try to score a TD from the 1 yard line, up 24-10, with about 8:30 left in the game, instead of kicking the field goal to go up 17.
The Cowboys defense gets the goal line stop!@TBvsDAL on Prime Video
— NFL (@NFL) October 9, 2026
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/vHT1Kd5IXQ
Of course, the Bucs won with undrafted rookie QB Jalon Daniels starting in place of the injured Baker Mayfield. And he celebrated with mom.
"Ma, come here, Ma, come here." 💙
— NFL on Prime Video (@NFLonPrime) October 9, 2026
Jalon Daniels' mother, Star, joins the #TNFonPrime desk and shares how proud she is of her son 🫶 pic.twitter.com/TQmFYmsg8e
Last week: 15
14) Commanders (1-3-1): You've all seen this already, but for the sake of posterity:
The Commanders can't get the play off in time and this game ends in a tie pic.twitter.com/WmPp6q5hU0
— NFL (@NFL) October 11, 2026
Since their improbable trip to the NFC Championship Game in 2024, Dan Quinn has had some very questionable coaching moments. The one that stands out to me from last year was when he still had Daniels in the game mid-way through the fourth quarter when they were trailing the Seahawks 38-7.
Daniels proceeded to suffer a dislocated elbow, which he re-injured this season.
Quinn has to go.
Last week: 14
13) Saints (1-4): Tyler Shough had a brutal day against Brian Flores and the Vikings defense. He was 16 of 25 for 96 yards (55 net passing yards when factoring in sacks), 0 TDs, 2 INTs.
And oh hey, the NFC South has no teams with winning records:
I'd like to have killed off the Bucs or Saints by now, but that probably won't be for a while because this division consistently sucks so badly.
Last week: 12
12) Giants (3-1-1): With the ball in field goal range late in overtime in a "sudden death" situation, one of the only things the Giants absolutely could not do was fumble the football. And, well, Cam Skattebo did.
Cam Skattebo fumbles as the Giants were going in to win the game pic.twitter.com/LCBh3GoM59
— Talkin’ Giants (@TalkinGiants) October 11, 2026
He turned an almost sure win into what was almost a loss, but still an unfavorable tie.
Skattebo fumbled a game away last year, too.— PV2014 (@PV__2014) June 22, 2026
The Giants also wasted a 326-yard, 3-TD day by Jameis Winston. Winston will have games where he does that. He'll also have games where he throws 4 INTs. You can't waste the good ones.
Last week: 11
11) Eagles (2-3): "The Eagles are two plays away from being 4-1" is a true statement, I suppose, and a bit of a rallying cry for optimistic fans. Of course...
Last week: 10
10) Cowboys (2-3): All kinds of things were breaking right for the Cowboys.
• The Eagles look like an absolute mess. Can't run it. Can't block anyone. Defense underperforming (at least at the time the Cowboys played on Thursday night).
• The Commanders were off to a bad start as usual at 1-3.
• The Giants were 3-1, but missing Jaxson Dart and Brian Burns for the rest of the season.
• The Cowboys were getting star LG Tyler Smith back from injury.
• And oh hey, they were catching the then-winless Buccaneers at a perfect time, when they were starting an undrafted rookie quarterback. And they got to play them at home, on a short week, which, by the way, how do the Cowboys get ANY short week home games when they already get a Thanksgiving home game every year?
Anyway, it was all shaping up for the Boys to take control of the division, and then... (fart noise).
The Cowboys lost, and Dak Prescott ratted out a guy who said "Embarrassing" as he walked by in the tunnel after the game.
Dak Prescott wasn't about to let someone get away with calling him embarrassing
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) October 9, 2026
(via @SamGannon87, @1053thefan) pic.twitter.com/U9iaIWaU1w
We have seen three bad Cowboys losses so far this season.
Last week: 6
9) Falcons (2-3): The Falcons have to like what they have seen so far this season from Michael Penix when he has actually played this season. Unfortunately, he has significant durability concerns, and he got crunched late in the game against the Ravens.
— Follow @ZeroChillSports (@FollowZeroChill) October 12, 2026
The Falcons had to play Tua Tagovailoa in OT, and that went about as expected.
Tua Tagovailoa INT ends itpic.twitter.com/VFjQjKQ2CG
— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) October 12, 2026
To be determined if Penix will miss time.
I'm not sure I'd call the Falcons contenders. Maybe just "feisty," at least when they have Penix.
Last week: 7
8) Panthers (2-2): The Panthers had their bye this week, and they get to face a team coming back from Europe Week 6. That feels like a pretty nice scheduling advantage.
Last week: 8
7) Packers (3-2): Leading up to the Bears-Packers game, Bears WR Luther Burden said that the Bears wanted to make the Packers quit. Welp, that didn't go as planned, as the Packers blew out the Bears, 31-7.
Postgame, Packers LB Zaire Franklin said Burden hasn't done anything in the league, and that, "He quit today, by the way. He didn't want to play anymore."
Luther Burden said this week the Bears wanted to make the #Packers quit.
— Dominique Yates (@RealDYates) October 11, 2026
Zaire Franklin heard the comments.
"He quit today, by the way. He didn't want to play anymore." pic.twitter.com/aA34RXZoFw
Lol, Franklin is from Philly, and you can hear the Philly in that quote.
Last week: 13
6) Lions (3-2): The Lions are tied with the Bills for the most points scored in the NFL, at 32.8 points per game.
Defensively, Brian Branch is close to returning, and at some point they'll also get Kirby Joseph back. If they can trade for a good corner at the deadline, they could be a very dangerous, under-the-radar Super Bowl contender in the back half of the season, especially with a soft schedule.
Last week: 9
5) Rams (2-3): On Monday, we wrote that the Eagles should punt on the 2026 season and accumulate future assets for likely outgoing players. A lot of Eagles fans did not like that opinion, lol. (Many did.)
After the Rams lost on Monday night to the Bills, dropping them to 2-3, some of the folks who didn't like that article sarcastically questioned me on social media with something to the effect of, "Should the Rams punt on the season because they're 2-3?"
Lol. I'll address that question here.
The Rams have a functioning offense. They lead the league in yards per game. The Eagles do not have a functioning offense, and their issues aren't likely to drastically improve. I mean, the Rams are averaging 162 more yards per game than the Eagles. Are you watching each of these two teams play?
Last week: 4
4) Bears (3-2): Yes, the Bears got smoked on Sunday, but I don't want to overreact too harshly when they have won two games while Caleb Williams has been out. It was really only a matter of time before the duo of Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum got torn up.
Last week: 3
3) Vikings (5-0): Last season all four teams in the NFC North had winning records and in 2024 three NFC North teams won at least 11 games. That division is shaping up to be highly competitive again in 2026, with the Vikings out to a 5-0 start and the three other teams sitting at 3-2.
The Vikings are going to have to do more on offense if they're going to be taken seriously as Super Bowl contenders, though.
The 2026 Miami Dolphins have the worst offensive success rate for any team through Week 5 in the last five seasons -- 160th out of 160.
— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) October 12, 2026
The 2026 Vikings are 157th.
The 2026 Eagles are 156th.
Last week: 5
2) Seahawks (3-2): With Kenneth Walker leaving in free agency for Kansas City and Zach Charbonnet still recovering from a torn ACL suffered in the playoffs last season, the Seahawks' top two running backs are Emanuel Wilson and George Holani. Wilson and Holani combined for 24 carries for 68 yards and 2 lost fumbles against the 49ers.
Holani's fumble was particularly devastating:
George Holani fumbles in the end zone for a 49ers TD
— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) October 11, 2026
Emanuel Wilson also lost a fumble earlier in the first halfpic.twitter.com/U9Mnzvm9jw
The Seahawks were a classic "pound the run and play great defense" team during their Super Bowl season last year. They are not a good running team this season.
They should see what it would cost to pry Saquon Barkley from the Eagles.
I'm curious how many of my Eagles fan readers would trade Saquon to an NFC powerhouse today for a 2.
Last week: 2
1) 49ers (5-0): The Niners sure can avenge a blowout playoff loss by beating that team in a far lower stakes regular season game the following year.
But also, they are clearly the top team in the NFC early on this season.
Last week: 1
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