NFL: Overreactions From Week Five Of The 2025-26 Season

With Week Five behind us, most people are ready to look ahead to the start of Week Six, when the Philadelphia Eagles go on the road to take on the New York Giants on Thursday. Before we get to that game, though, let’s look back at the hottest takes that came from last week and determine what is a proper reaction vs. an overreaction.

The Lions are the best team in the NFL.

Proper reaction

I said it yesterday, and I stand by that statement today. Nobody is playing better football than Detroit at the moment. Since Week One, they’re 4-0 with an average margin of victory of 19 points per game. The Lions are first in offensive scoring (34.8 points per game) while ranking third in turnover differential (+6). Hell, they’ve allowed four sacks since Week One, and all of them came against the Bengals, who have the league’s reigning sack leader. The Eagles look limited on offense. The 49ers have countless injuries. The Bills just lost at home to a divisional opponent. The Jags needed a 99-yard interception return to beat the 2-3 Chiefs. The Buccaneers need game-winning drives every week. The Colts are the only team that has looked as good as the Lions, and Detroit appears to be much better coached than Indy (as proven by Adonai Mitchell). The Lions have made the strongest case to be looked at as the best team in the NFL.

Emeka Egbuka is the Offensive Player of the Year.

Overreaction

I love this kid and think that he is a superstar in the making, but we need to slow our roll when it comes to the praise we are giving Emeka Egbuka, who is a shoe-in to win the NFL Rookie of the Year award. It feels like seniority plays a factor when voters choose their award-winners, which is why a guy like Puka Nacua, Jonathan Taylor, or Christian McCaffrey seems like a more sensible pick to be OPOTY. Nacua is projected to break the single-season receiving yards and receptions records (1,999 yards on 177 receptions). Jonathan Taylor leads the league in rushing yards per game (96) and rushing touchdowns (six) while playing a massive role on the best offense in the NFL. McCaffrey leads the league in scrimmage yards (669). One of those guys will likely be taking home the hardware even though Egbuka looks like an All-Pro through his first five games.

Devin Lloyd will win the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Proper reaction

Right now, it feels like the competition is between Lloyd and the Denver Broncos’ Nik Bonitto, who leads the league in sacks. Though sacks are incredibly valuable, turnovers are more important. After all, the whole point of a defense is to get the ball back for the offense. Lloyd has 25 total tackles, 14 solo tackles, a fumble recovery, four interceptions, and a touchdown. Nik Bonitto has 17 total tackles, 12 solo tackles, and seven sacks. Unfortunately, Bonitto’s candidacy will be hurt by the fact that he doesn’t have any takeaways this season. Devin Lloyd can increase his sack total significantly. The same can’t be said for Bonitto, who will need to start diving on loose fumbles or picking off opposing quarterbacks if he wants any shot at winning this award. With those gaudy interception numbers and more tackles, Lloyd looks like the current favorite to win the 2025-26 Defensive Player of the Year award.

Joe Flacco will turn the Bengals around.

Overreaction

Jake Browning was a terrible quarterback who was losing games for the Bengals due to his inability to lead an offense. Joe Flacco is not much better than Browning and is actually statistically the worst QB in the NFL this season. Both of these statements can be true at the same time. Out of 33 quarterbacks, Joe Flacco ranks 33rd in quarterback rating this season. He’s also 31st in QBR, two spots behind Jake Browning. Flacco has the second-lowest completion percentage in the NFL and the fewest passing yards per attempt. And, to top it all off, he was putting up those numbers with the Cleveland Browns, who actually have a better offensive line than the Cincinnati Bengals. A 40-year-old immobile quarterback is not going to fix Cincy’s problems. Now that he’s starting, Flacco will just give the fans a new person to blame for the Bengals’ shortcomings.

The Eagles and Chiefs are in trouble.

Proper reaction

These squads have not looked like the 2024 version of themselves. The Chiefs once set the record for consecutive wins in one-score games with 17. This year, they’re already 0-3 in one-score games. Meanwhile, the Eagles have one of the worst offenses in the NFL statistically. They’re 30th in yards (261.6 per game) and aren’t that great at putting up points (14th). Neither of these teams excels at anything really, outside of the Eagles and red zone scoring, which relates more to the tush push than anything. Neither of these squads feels like they’re an actual threat to win the Super Bowl. It just feels they’re both coasting their way through the regular season with the expectation that they’ll both make the playoffs because “they’re the Chiefs and Eagles.” Though they have the talent to beat up on the crap teams they’re set to face, I don’t believe either one of these squads will waltz into Super Bowl LX.

The Broncos will win the AFC West.

Overreaction

That win against the Philadelphia Eagles was important, but let’s temper our expectations a little bit. Bo Nix has not yet put together a complete-game performance, which would explain why he is 19th in QBR and 24th in passer rating. The defense is arguably the NFL’s best. They’re second in scoring (16.8 points per game) and lead the league in sacks (21). However, this unit does have a fatal flaw: they have not forced many turnovers with just four takeaways on the season. They’re already at a disadvantage in their division because they lost a game against the Chargers that they were leading in the fourth quarter. Again, beating the Eagles was a huge moment for this team and this coaching staff, but they still have had their issues against two of the better squads in the AFC. The Broncos should win their next few games, but then they have a gauntlet of a schedule that features the Texans, Packers, Chargers, Chiefs twice, and the Jaguars. It’ll be hard for Denver to win the AFC West, considering they’re winless in their division through five weeks.

The Cardinals should blow it up and start over.

Proper reaction

Their quarterback looks apathetic, they don’t have any meaningful wins, and that loss to the Tennessee Titans was one of the worst I have seen in my lifetime. They should go into a full rebuild after the regular season ends because there is no way this group is making the playoffs. Whenever you lose to the Titans, you have to re-evaluate everything! Is Jonathan Gannon the guy you want leading your team when he is hitting players for making mistakes, even if they’re huge, season-altering mistakes? It’s not like they have taken a huge leap forward this season anyway. In fact, one could make the argument that they’re worse now than they were last year. With a schedule coming up that includes games against the Colts, Packers, Jaguars, Seahawks, Rams, and 49ers, it’s a realistic possibility that Arizona could be 3-10 through the second week of December. Trade away Kyler Murray for draft capital, fire the head coach, fire the general manager, and start over. That might be the only way forward for this franchise after that embarrassing loss last weekend.