With NFL Week 3 kicking off Thursday night, here are the storylines to watch, including the first trade of the regular season.
A quick look at the NFL Week 3 schedule shows parity is in full effect. There are no games on this week’s slate matching unbeaten teams and just one, the Los Angeles Chargers at the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, that pits a pair of winless clubs.
Only two teams in the AFC sport 2-0 records: the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins. In the NFC, the East and South each boast three 2-0 clubs while the San Francisco 49ers give the conference seven teams with unblemished records.
There are, however, varying degrees within those unbeaten teams. While the Dallas Cowboys have outscored their first two opponents by a combined 60 points, the New Orleans Saints got to 2-0 with a plus-four point differential.
Here are five top storylines to watch as Week 3 unfolds beginning Thursday night with the New York Giants visiting the 49ers and ends with the Los Angeles Rams heading east to take on the Cincinnati Bengals in Monday night’s second game.
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5. Once again we ask, who are the Detroit Lions?
After closing last season with seven wins in their last nine games, the Detroit Lions were tabbed an emerging contender in the NFC. In Week 1, the Lions delivered on that promise with a 21-20 road win over the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in the prime-time opener on Sept. 7.
For a fanbase that has seen one playoff win since the franchise’s last championship in 1957, it was nirvana. But Detroit did what it has done for much of the last 65 or so seasons; it fell short after building expectations through the roof.
After coming back from 10 points down in the final 8:04 of regulation to force overtime, the Lions lost their home opener to the Seattle Seahawks. Detroit couldn’t get the Seahawks off the field, allowing 28 first downs and nearly 400 yards of offense.
Against the 2-0 Atlanta Falcons at Ford Field on Sunday, the Lions will have to contend with rookie running back Bijon Robinson, who has 255 yards from scrimmage through two games and is averaging 6.2 yards on 29 carries and a team-high 10 receptions for 75 yards and a score.
4. Are the New Orleans Saints for real?
The Saints are a surprising member of the 2-0 club after eking out wins over the Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers. On Sunday, New Orleans heads to Lambeau Field to take on a Green Bay Packers team that blew a 12-point fourth-quarter lead in a loss at Atlanta.
First-year starter Jordan Love is cooking for the Packers with six touchdowns and no interceptions through two games, but is completing just 55.8% of his throws. David Carr hasn’t exactly been tearing it up for the Saints, completing 63.8% with two picks and one TD pass and offensive weapon Taysom Hill, an erstwhile quarterback, leads the team with 79 rushing yards.
The defense has done the heavy lifting so far, holding opponents to just 6-of-26 third-down conversions and one touchdown in six red-zone possessions. But that was against the Titans and Panthers; the Green Bay offense is a step up in weight class from those clubs.
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3. Last stand for Los Angeles Chargers coach Brandon Staley?
Brandon Staley has a young star quarterback in Justin Herbert, the Los Angeles Chargers haven’t turned the ball over, they’ve scored 58 points in two weeks on 775 yards of total offense … and they’re 0-2.
Coach Brandon Staley made his bones as a defensive coach but the Charger defense hasn’t been able to stop anything in losses to the Miami Dolphins and the Titans. The key to beating the Los Angeles defense appears to be getting the ball airborne; the Chargers are last in the league in passing defense, allowing 333.0 yards a game and are surrendering 10.3 yards per attempt in the air.
Staley got the Chargers to the playoffs last year, but even that came with a defense that ranked just in the middle of the pack and was dead last in rushing yards per attempt.
Sunday in Minneapolis is the desperation bowl – with the Chargers and Minnesota Vikings entering the season with high expectations and starting 0-2. If the Chargers defense gets mauled again, it could make for an interesting Monday in the Southland.
2. Can the Washington Commanders continue the feel-good story?
The Washington Commanders are off to a 2-0 start in the post-Daniel Snyder era with a pair of fourth-quarter comebacks and a scintillating stop on a potential game-tying two-point conversion with no time remaining at Denver last week.
The wins came over the Arizona Cardinals and the Denver Broncos, a combined 0-4 so far, but there are good vibes coming out of Washington (or Landover, to be precise) for the first time in a long time.
Sam Howell, a fifth-round pick out of North Carolina in 2022, is running the offense well, completing 65.7% of his passes to the tune of 7.2 yards per attempt and has two fourth-quarter comebacks under his belt. Defensively, the Commanders are in the top 10, allowing 304.5 yards per game.
Washington steps up in class this week, hosting the Buffalo Bills at suddenly joyous FedEx Field. But the franchise is looking for its first 3-0 start since 2005 and fans have something they haven’t experienced in many years: Hope.
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1. Will Cam Akers play on Sunday for the Minnesota Vikings?
The Minnesota Vikings made the first bold move of the season, acquiring running back Cam Akers on Wednesday from the Los Angeles Rams. The teams will swap conditional late-round picks in 2026, with a sixth-rounder headed to Los Angeles and a seventh-rounder going to Minnesota.
The Vikings averaged 2.7 yards per carry and 34.5 yards per game through the first two weeks with fifth-year veteran Alexander Mattison the featured back. Minnesota opted not to pay Dalvin Cook, who had four straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons, during the offseason.
Akers was inactive for the Rams last week after gaining 29 yards on 22 carries in the opener. The question will be whether he can pick up enough of the offense to get some snaps on Sunday against the Chargers.
Minnesota is 0-2 entering play on Sunday, but with the NFC North having no undefeated teams remaining, all is not lost for the Vikings. While it’s silly to declare a Week 3 game as a “must-win,” the matchup with the Chargers is important for the Vikes, just the same.
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