It’s seemingly impossible to get a read on the NFL these days, and that certainly proved to be correct in the Cleveland Browns‘ 27-24 last-second home win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on “Thursday Night Football.”   

The Browns are now 3-1 and in sole possession of first place in the AFC North for the first time with Deshaun Watson as their quarterback, and they traded for him four years ago. The last time they were in first place in the division was Sept. 22, 2022, when Watson was still suspended by the NFL for his off-field legal issues. How miraculous has their 3-1 start been this season? They have won three consecutive games, all as an underdog for the first time since 2001, per CBS Sports Research, and Watson is now just the second Browns quarterback with a game-winning drive in three straight weeks since 1950. Only he and Brian Sipe in 1979 have done so as Cleveland quarterbacks in that span. 

So what other insane events could happen in Week 4? Let’s take a look at five bold predictions.   

The Raiders upset the Chiefs to make NFL history

The Kansas City Chiefs (3-0) at the Las Vegas Raiders (3-0) in Week 4 marks the renewal of a classic division rivalry. However, there are a few new twists to a series that has been dominated by Kansas City since three-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes came on the scene. The Chiefs are 13-2 in Mahomes’ 15 starts against the Raiders, with Mahomes averaging nearly 300 yards passing per game (295.1) to go along with 36 touchdown passes and only five interceptions. 

What are these twists you ask? Sunday marks the first game in series history where both teams are 3-0 or better. Yes, the Raiders, who drafted first overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, are 3-0 despite top overall pick Fernando Mendoza not yet having taken a regular-season snap. That’s because 38-year-old Kirk Cousins co-leads the league in touchdown passes with nine through three games. That makes Cousins the second quarterback 38 or older in NFL history with at least nine touchdown passes in the first three games of a season, along with Tom Brady in 2015 and 2021. 

While Las Vegas has cultivated its 3-0 record off the easiest schedule in the league (the Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints have a combined record of 1-8), they’ve done so in dominant fashion. The Raiders lead the NFL in turnover margin (+5), takeaways (9) and opponent fumbles recovered (5). 

The Raiders will upset Mahomes and the Chiefs to take sole possession of first place in the AFC West entering Week 5. Everyone knows Mahomes is a late-game wizard, but Las Vegas’ defense can say the same this season. They are the first team with no points allowed and seven-plus takeaways in the fourth quarter through three games since the 1992 Pittsburgh Steelers, a team that started 3-0 under rookie head coach Bill Cowher. 

While Las Vegas’ Klint Kubiak is also a first-year head coach, the Raiders’ five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby is no stranger to taking down Mahomes: his 6.0 sacks of the Chiefs’ quarterback are the most by any player. 

Crosby and the surprisingly frisky Raiders will shock the world on Sunday with an upset victory over the Chiefs to become the first team in NFL history to start a season 4-0 after back-to-back 13-loss seasons. 

Kyler Murray sets Vikings’ single-game completion percentage record vs. Dolphins 

The Miami Dolphins’ (0-3) defense is historically bad. They’re the only team on record (since team sacks became an officially tracked stat in 1963) to allow a completion percentage of 70% or higher (80.3%) and have no sacks through the first three games of a season, per CBS Sports Research. 

That’s not entirely surprising, given they have the least-experienced roster —608 career starts —by any team to begin a season in history (this data goes back to 2000). An NFL-record 61% of their salary cap is comprised of dead money as they are paying more for players not on their roster ($184 million) than players on their active 53-man roster ($103 million).

Such a horrific defense will lead to a historic afternoon for Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray. Despite Murray’s 52.9% completion percentage ranking 35th out of 37 quarterbacks to throw at least 30 passes this season, he will set Minnesota’s single-game completion percentage on Sunday against the Dolphins. That record is currently 84.4%, set back in Week 1 of the 2017 season when then-Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford lit up the New Orleans Saints for 346 yards and three passing touchdowns on 27-of-32 passing. 

Murray has it in him to pull off such a feat. In Week 10 of the 2024 season, Murray shredded the New York Jets for 266 passing yards and a touchdown while completing 91.7% of his throws (22-of-24). He’ll complete at least 85% of his passes on Sunday in a cruise control victory against the Dolphins to rewrite the Vikings’ single-game record book. 

Aaron Glenn’s Jets end 20-game streak without an INT against Ben Johnson’s Bears

It’s a battle of Dan Campbell’s ex-Detroit Lions coordinators in Week 4! Former offensive coordinator and now Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson takes on and former defensive coordinator and now New York Jets head coach Aaron Glen. These two know each other’s tendencies incredibly well after working together on Campbell’s Detroit staff for four seasons (2021 to 2024). 

That’s why it will be shocking when Glenn’s Jets end their 20-game streak without an interception against Johnson’s Bears, the longest such streak by a team in NFL history. With Caleb Williams sidelined, veteran Case Keenum shredded the Philadelphia Eagles‘ defense for 247 passing yards and two passing touchdowns on a 70.6% completion percentage (24-of-34). 

However, New York will end their interceptionless streak on Sunday. The Jets turned nearly their entire defense over this offseason, with an NFL-most 85% of their defensive snaps this season from players in either their first or second year on the team, per CBS Sports Research. Glenn will hit Keenum (or Tyson Bagent) and Johnson with an unexpected counter on Sunday, baiting the offense into putting the football into a Jets defender’s hands. 

Patriots RB TreVeyon Henderson breaks free for 35-plus-yard rush TD on a zone run 

Defending zone runs in 2025 was the Buffalo Bills defense’s Achilles heel. They allowed 4.9 yards per carry on zone runs last season, which was the second-most in the NFL. In 2026, under new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, Buffalo is allowing just 3.0 yards per carry on zone runs, the fourth-fewest in the league per Next Gen Stats. It is stuffing a third of those runs, 33.3% to be exact, for no gain or a loss (the best rate in the NFL), with league sacks leader Greg Rousseau racking up a team-best three of those stuffs. 

That won’t matter for New England Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson. He has five career rushing touchdowns of 35-plus yards, the second-most in a player’s first 20 career games. Despite New England utilizing zone runs at a league-low 28.4% rate, per TruMedia, Henderson will break free for a rushing touchdown on a zone run against the Bills of at least 35 yards. 

Colts force Commanders’ Marcus Mariota into first two interceptions of 2026 

Marcus Mariota is fresh off his best game in ages after the Washington Commanders‘ 33-31 victory against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. He threw for 183 yards and three touchdowns on 19-of-31 passing, and he sealed the game with a read-option keeper that harkened back to his Heisman glory days at Oregon. Week 3 was Mariota’s first game with at least three passing touchdowns and no interceptions since 2019, when he was still a Tennessee Titan.  

That’s not great news for an Indianapolis Colts defense that ranks as the NFL’s third-worst scoring defense, allowing an average of 30.3 points per game, and the league’s worst total defense, surrendering an average of 417.3 yards per game through three weeks. With that said, they’re going to be the first defense to intercept Mariota in 2026, and they’re going to do so twice. Through two weeks, the Colts didn’t have any interceptions. In Week 3, they picked off Seahawks Pro Bowl quarterback Sam Darnold twice, including a fourth-quarter pick-six. 

Mariota has been the NFL’s fifth-most pressured quarterback through five weeks, having people in his grill on 44.2% of his dropbacks. He’ll succumb to that pressure, led by Colts three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, and toss his first two interceptions of 2026 against one of the NFL’s worst defenses.