NFL Week 4 offers some compelling storylines, including all four winless teams playing each other and the Miami Dolphins seeking an encore.
In a scheduling quirk for the ages, the four remaining winless teams will match up in NFL Week 4. The 0-3 Minnesota Vikings visit the 0-3 Carolina Panthers while the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears tangle at Soldier Field. Barring a tie, that will leave two teams at 0-4, a serious danger zone when it comes to playoff contention.
The 1992 San Diego Chargers are the only team in NFL history to make the playoffs after an 0-4 start. That team won 11 of its final 12 games and won a wild-card playoff game before their season ended in the divisional round.
In terms of games below .500, the 1970 Cincinnati Bengals are the only team to recover from being five games underwater. In the first year after the NFL-AFL merger, Cincinnati caught fire in the second half, winning seven straight games to finish 8-6 and win the old AFC Central title.
So it’s not a stretch to say it’s a make-or-break for the four teams in danger of hitting the 0-4 mark. Here are the top five storylines to watch as NFL Week 4 kicks off on Thursday night when the Detroit Lions go to Lambeau Field to visit the Green Bay Packers.
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5. The battle for the NFC North lead at Lambeau
First-year starter Jordan Love has been inconsistent but directed his first fourth-quarter comeback and game-winning drive as the Packers erased a 17-0 deficit to stun the visiting Saints on Sunday, 18-17. Love threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Romeo Doubs with 2:56 remaining to cap a nine-play, 80-yard drive.
The Packers host the Lions with both teams sharing the NFC North lead at 3-1. Love was 22-of-44 last week for 259 yards, ran for a touchdown and directed three consecutive scoring drives in the fourth quarter.
Detroit has five turnovers in three games, giving the ball up about once every seven possessions. That needs to improve. The Lions swept Green Bay in 2022 and are 4-4 at Lambeau Field since 2015.
The winner of this game gets a leg up on the division title at 3-1, particularly if both the Vikings and Bears fall to 0-4.
4. How do the Miami Dolphins follow up a nearly perfect offensive performance?
The Miami Dolphins scored on 10 of their 13 drives last week in a 70-20 demolition of the Broncos. Running game? Check, to the tune of 350 yards and five touchdowns. Did they throw the ball? How does 25-of-28 for 376 yards and five TDs sound?
Now the Dolphins face some high expectations on Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, who are 2-1 after hammering the Las Vegas Raiders and Washington Commanders by a combined 75-13 the last two weeks. For all of Josh Allen’s turnover problems — he had four in the opener and has accounted for all five Buffalo giveaways thus far — the defense has nine takeaways.
Miami hasn’t won at the stadium of many names in Orchard Parh since 2016 and is 2-8 against the Bills over the last five seasons. If there is to be a changing of the AFC East guard, a road win at Buffalo would be a big step for the Dolphins.
They just can’t expect to hang another 70 spot in the process.
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3. The Jets’ unwavering confidence in Zach Wilson
New York Jets coach Robert Saleh continues to stand firmly behind quarterback Zach Wilson, who turned in a pedestrian performance in a loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday. Wilson was 18-of-36 for 157 yards and while he didn’t turn the ball over, he took three sacks, including one in the end zone with 2:19 left that sealed the Jets’ fate.
Saleh’s steadfast stance on Wilson may be borne from a lack of options. Backup Tim Boyle has three career starts, all with the Lions in 2021, and has thrown eight interceptions in 106 career attempts.
That’s what makes the move general manager Joe Douglas made this week more intriguing. On Tuesday, the Jets signed veteran free agent Trevor Siemien to the practice squad. Siemien was in camp with the Bengals before being among the final cuts and spent last season backing up Justin Fields in Chicago.
Siemien made 24 starts in 2016-17 as the replacement for Peyton Manning in Denver before bouncing to the Jets in 2019, the Saints in 2021 and the Bears last year.
New York players were visibly frustrated on the sidelines, prompting captain-in-absentia Aaron Rodgers to call them out for a lack of maturity. Gang Green still has time to turn things around, but a Sunday night national TV matchup with the Super Bowl champion Chiefs is a difficult place to start that turn.
2. How do the Dallas Cowboys bounce back?
After a dominant start, outscoring their first two opponents by a combined 70-10 during a 2-0 start, the Dallas Cowboys laid a big egg in the desert last week, dropping a 28-16 decision to the previously winless Arizona Cardinals.
The Cardinals put up 400 yards of total offense against a defense that had been hailed as generational while allowing 386 yards and forcing seven turnovers in its first two games. James Conner ran for 98 yards and Joshua Dobbs hit on 17-of-21 passes for 189 yards and a score. Solid efforts, but it’s not like Dallas was facing prime Peyton Manning and Edgerrin James.
The Cowboy offense scored just one touchdown and Dak Prescott’s interception into the end zone with 3:00 remaining effectively ended the game as the Cardinals were able to run out the clock.
The Cowboys host the Patriots, fresh off their first victory in a 15-10 decision over the Jets in New Jersey. Dallas, as has often been the case in recent years, built up the expectations only to deliver an inexplicably uneven performance against an inferior opponent. How it recovers against New England is worth watching.
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1. The Eagles are still the team to beat in the NFC East
The Philadelphia Eagles, after looking shaky through their first two wins, turned in a dominant performance on Monday night at Tampa Bay in a 25-11 win that was not that close. Philadelphia outgained the Bucs 472-174, rang up 27 first downs and had nearly a 2-1 edge in time of possession, running 80 offensive snaps to just 47 for the Bucs.
That said, Jalen Hurts was intercepted twice but threw for a score and ran for another while D’Andre Swift piled up 130 yards on the ground. The defense stymied the Tampa Bay run game and limited Baker Mayfield to underneath yardage with six pressures, two sacks, two hurries and two hits.
On Sunday, Philadelphia hosts Washington. The Commanders’ 2-0 start imploded with a 37-3 beatdown at the hands of the Bills at home. Washington turned the ball over five times last Sunday.
The Commanders won at Lincoln Financial Field last November, handing the Eagles their first loss of the season, a fact likely not lost on the Philadelphia locker room.
The Eagles are the defending NFC champions and the team to beat in the NFC East, a fact they may make with a lot of noise on Sunday against Washington.
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