What is going on in the NFL?

Every year, the NFL has a surprise or two up its sleeve. A team that looked like a sure bet to win it all during the preseason will get decimated with injuries — or, out of nowhere, a team will go from bottom of the league to playoff contender.

This year, it feels like the league has turned upside down.  

If you told any NFL fan two years ago that Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco, at the combined age of 81 would play each other in 2025, they would be skeptical. If you told fans that Rodgers would be the quarterback for the Steelers and Flacco would be the third starting quarterback for the Bengals this year, their heads would explode.

So far this year, multiple teams have been decimated by injuries, yet it only seems to be negatively affecting the Baltimore Ravens. Sitting at 1-5, Baltimore looks completely lost with its roster missing many key pieces due to injury.

Meanwhile, the Buccaneers and 49ers are atop their respective divisions despite their many injuries. In particular, Baker Mayfield has led the Bucs to the top spot in the NFC despite losing multiple offensive linemen, his starting running back and his starting wide receivers over the course of six weeks.

If Mayfield continues to play at this level with the lack of depth his team is stuck with due to injury, there will be no one more deserving of MVP at the end of the season.

Beyond teams overperforming despite their injuries, some teams have flat-out overperformed.

No one took the Indianapolis Colts seriously heading into this year — myself included. Who seriously thought that Daniel Jones would play serviceable football? Now, six weeks in, Jones looks like a completely different player following his mediocre stint with the Giants.

The Steelers are also playing above where many people expected them to so far. Fans were unsure if Aaron Rodgers would be able to run an offense that didn’t feature much receiving talent.

With a weaker division this year, they look to cap off a solid start to the season with just enough wins to preserve head coach Mike Tomlin’s consecutive winning season record.

The Patriots also are wildly outperforming what many had predicted for their season. While I am eternally pessimistic about whether this team can maintain its brief windows of success, surprisingly, it may be able to fend off the Bills from the top spot in their division if it continues to play this well.

Alternatively, the Bills are one of many teams that are on shaky ground and trending toward underperforming. Two straight losses heading into their bye week bring serious concerns about whether  this supposedly dominant unit was really beating up on weaker teams to start the year off.

The Chiefs’ unexpected start to the season has been talked to death, but it’s unlikely they will continue to lose games at the rate they have.
Expect them to start putting together wins and somehow finish the regular season atop their division.

Despite appearing to have fallen from grace after three straight Super Bowl appearances, you can never count them out until the playoffs are set and they’re not in them.

The Eagles, who also played in the Super Bowl last year — and dominantly won — are also starting to show signs of possible collapse. The team has lost two games straight at the time of writing, with its second loss being a demoralizing beatdown at the hands of the lowly Giants.

Playing one good half of football isn’t enough to win in this league, and if the Eagles want to start winning games again, they need to figure out how to play a full 60 minutes.