In many years, there is a team or two you can point to as the Goliath. The 2025 season doesn’t seem to have any separation at the top, however.
There is a dividing point in terms of which teams truly have a chance to win the Super Bowl and which teams don’t. However, the separation is spectacularly small because the flaws in these teams have been on display at various times. In some cases, teams have been able to mask the flaws by virtue of their strengths, but that hasn’t always been the case, as we’ve seen with the Buffalo Bills and the Green Bay Packers. Both teams have rosters that many expected to be truly championship caliber, yet both have had performances that would make you second-guess their ceilings.
That’s where we begin this week’s What’s Trending in the NFL.
Bonus five: Concerns for playoff contenders
For the sake of this discussion, we will narrow the pool of teams to choose from to teams above .500.
5. Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback: I’ve been hesitant to jump on the Colts’ bandwagon this season, primarily because of my doubts about Jones. For most of the season, Jones has defied the odds and performed well. However, after two fumbles in the first eight games, Jones has six fumbles in his last two. He still tossed some absolute dimes in crunch time last week against the Atlanta Falcons, but here comes the second-hardest schedule remaining in the NFL this season. Jonathan Taylor is a beast, so as long as he’s healthy, the Colts don’t need a ton from Jones. We’ll see if he can clean up the miscues and make the big throws in the big moments.
4. Philadelphia Eagles’ offense: The Eagles have rightfully earned the benefit of the doubt as the defending champions with arguably the best general manager in the sport. Still, it has been strange to watch a team with so many veteran offensive playmakers go dry for such an extended period. Philadelphia is No. 21 in rush yards per game and No. 25 in pass yards per game. The team is winning, so the panic alarms aren’t sounding, outside of A.J. Brown, but a team with Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, Brown and DeVonta Smith should be much better than this.
3. Green Bay Packers’ passing game: The concern here goes beyond the two consecutive losses in which the Packers have scored 13 and 7 points, respectively. With a banged-up offensive line, Tucker Kraft out for the season, lead receiver Romeo Doubs dealing with an injury and the return of Jayden Reed still at least a few weeks away, the outlook is not kind.
2. Pittsburgh Steelers’ path: Life was pretty good for the Steelers about a month ago. The team was 4-1 coming off a divisional win against the Cleveland Browns, who had just benched their starting quarterback. The Baltimore Ravens were 1-5 and without their starting quarterback, among a number of other key injuries, and the Cincinnati Bengals were 2-4 … and also without their starting quarterback. Since then, the Steelers are 1-3, the Ravens are 3-0 with Lamar Jackson back and the Bengals welcomed Joe Burrow back to practice. The Steelers and Ravens still have both head-to-head matchups remaining.
1. Buffalo Bills’ playmakers: There was some confusion last week when I ranked the Bills behind the Kansas City Chiefs, just days after the Bills beat the Chiefs. Buffalo’s 30-13 loss to the Miami Dolphins should help explain the logic a little bit. The Bills needed to make a move at the trade deadline for a playmaker around Josh Allen, yet they failed to do so. Now, as Tim Graham aptly pointed out, the team played like trash against a team that has fired their general manager and whose coach took a timeout before the first play of the game, among other Dolphins hilarities.
Allen is taking more blame than he deserves, and some are wondering if Brian Daboll — who has never directed a top-10 offense in the league, and has mostly been close to the worst — can help the offensive woes. The Bills have yet to win a game this season in which James Cook has less than 100 yards from scrimmage. After 13 targets in the passing game through the first four games, in which the Bills went 4-0, Cook has only been targeted seven times in the last five games, boosted largely by five targets against Miami. Oh, and Cook missed practice last week with foot and ankle injuries. Regardless, the entire offense revolving so heavily around one player is a recipe for disaster in the playoffs. Allen’s presence always gives the Bills a chance, but the lack of playmakers around him to help is concerning.
Not ranked: Denver Broncos — I wouldn’t say I have a glaring concern about the Broncos. It’s more so that I’m fascinated by who they are. They have an elite defense and are riding a seven-game winning streak into this weekend’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs. However, they are 1-2 this season against teams that currently have a winning record, but each of those losses was by a field goal or less. Five of their last seven games are against teams currently above .500, so we should learn plenty more about the Broncos heading into the postseason.
Zach Allen (left), John Franklin-Meyers (middle), Talanoa Hufanga and the Broncos defense have them looking dangerous. (Tyler Schank / Getty Images)
Road to Santa Clara
The five teams with the best chance at winning the Super Bowl.
5. New England Patriots: There are worthy teams that are going to be left out by virtue of only having five slots, but it’s becoming impossible to ignore what’s happening in New England. The Patriots are 8-2, and I’m not sure you can look at their schedule and point to more than two losses the rest of the way, if that. They’re way ahead of schedule, but they have a real chance at getting the top seed in the AFC.
4. Philadelphia Eagles: Three of the Eagles’ next four games are against the Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Chargers. That’s the No. 4, No. 2 and No. 11 offenses in the league right now, respectively. We’ll get a pretty good idea of how good this Eagles defense is, and if the offense can generate enough to keep up.
3. Kansas City Chiefs: I could make a case for the Chiefs to be a little higher on this list, just as I can make a case for them to fall off altogether. Kansas City is 1-4 this season against teams currently with a winning record, but three of those losses came in the first five weeks when the offensive cast around Patrick Mahomes was either banged up or suspended. Their 30-17 win over the Detroit Lions is hard to ignore, but so is their 28-21 loss to the Bills, which has the Chiefs sitting outside of the playoff picture — although The Athletic’s NFL playoff simulator still likes their chances. They’re a confusing team that is getting a lot of benefit of the doubt here based on having the best quarterback in the world and a proven playoff pedigree.
2. Detroit Lions: A win over the Washington Commanders doesn’t tell us much, but the next month will. The Lions will play the Eagles, Packers and Rams, with two of those games on the road. With the road conditions in Philadelphia and Seattle, locking up home-field advantage in the NFC would be a huge plus for the Lions, and that remains well within reach.
1. Los Angeles Rams: The league’s top offense also has the NFL’s second-best defense in terms of points allowed per game. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise because the main concern coming into the season wasn’t so much what was on the field, but more so if Matthew Stafford could stay on the field. He has not only done that, but is doing it at an MVP level.
Not ranked: Los Angeles Chargers — The Chargers lost some steam after an impressive 3-0 start to the season because they had a couple of duds against the New York Giants and the Commanders, as well as some key injuries. They have won three games in a row now, though none have been terribly impressive. What is interesting about this team is that the weapons around Justin Herbert are proving to be a problem for defenses, and there are plenty of them. Kimani Vidal has been solid at running back, but Omarion Hampton should be nearing a return, too.
Bottom five
The five teams with the best chance to land the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
5. Las Vegas Raiders: Watching that awful Thursday night game last week, you can’t help but feel for top-tier talents like Brock Bowers and Maxx Crosby just wasting away their prime years in the nothingness of the Raiders.
4. New Orleans Saints: Tight end Juwan Johnson came into the NFL as an undrafted player when COVID-19 began in 2020. Tyler Shough is a rookie quarterback with two NFL starts under his belt. Somehow, these two players were college teammates at Oregon in 2019. Two of Shough’s three touchdown passes this season have gone to Johnson.
3. New York Jets: Completing six of 11 pass attempts for 54 yards is considered a decent drive for many quarterbacks in the NFL. Having those numbers over the course of a game? That’s embarrassing. Losing to the team whose quarterback had those numbers, as the Browns (see below) did on Sunday? Even more embarrassing.
2. Cleveland Browns: There are two intriguing aspects left in this Browns’ season. First, they have games against the Raiders and Tennessee Titans, and both of them, especially the latter, may serve as the Super Bowl for the No. 1 pick. The other is the situation at quarterback. I’m not saying the Browns necessarily need to bench Dillon Gabriel and start Shedeur Sanders right now, but it has to be something that the front office and coaching staff have on their radar. This is a different situation than Cam Ward in Tennessee because Ward was obviously a No. 1 overall pick, so you’re hoping that being on the field provides him with learning experiences before they surround him with some competence. Gabriel and Sanders are each mid-round picks, and Gabriel has shown nothing to inspire confidence in his future. I don’t know that Sanders will either, but it would behoove the Browns to have an answer on that before they head into another offseason with a premium draft pick.
1. Tennessee Titans: Things have fallen so low, even the state of Tennessee apparently doesn’t care to watch the Titans.
Not ranked: New York Giants — They fired their head coach and were trending toward being bad if Jaxson Dart misses time. However, the Giants have now named Jameis Winston the backup to Dart over Russell Wilson, so at least we know they won’t be boring.