NFL Week 5 features a matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers but the prime-time schedule also gives us the Chicago Bears.
There are several key games on the schedule as NFL Week 5 kicks off with its Thursday night game (which is decidedly not one of the key games). The headliner is on Sunday night when the 3-1 Dallas Cowboys visit the 4-0 San Francisco 49ers in a rematch of last season’s NFC Divisional Playoff matchup in which the 49ers eliminated Dallas with a 19-12 victory.
The NFL’s only other unbeaten team hits the road (sort of) when the Philadelphia Eagles visit the Los Angeles Rams at visiting-fan-friendly SoFi Stadium in a late-afternoon game on Sunday.
There are also some teams thought to be playoff-worthy that are playing for their seasons on Sunday. Those include the 1-3 Cincinnati Bengals, the 1-3 New York Jets and the 1-3 New York Giants.
Here are the top five storylines to watch in NFL Week 5.
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5. Because we haven’t suffered enough …
After being subjected to three Giants games in prime time over the first four weeks of the season, in which Big Blue has been outscored by a combined 94-15, the NFL schedule makers give us the winless Chicago Bears on Thursday night.
Chicago visits the 2-2 Washington Commanders in the Amazon Prime game of the week. The Bears blew a 28-7 lead over the final 15:14 of the game in a 31-28 loss to the visiting Denver Broncos on Sunday. The 28 points were a season-high (though that output translated to about two field goals against a legitimate NFL defense).
Justin Fields was 28-of-35 for 335 yards and four touchdowns for Chicago, but his interception on the Bears’ final drive sealed their fate. Wide receiver Chase Claypool, acquired from the Pittsburgh Steelers at last year’s trade deadline for this year’s No. 32 overall pick, is away from the team.
15 years ago, former Bears receiver Muhsin Muhammad said Chicago is “where receivers go to die.”
Now on Thursday night, the nation gets an opportunity to see Bears dysfunction up close and personal against a Commanders squad that took the unbeaten Eagles to overtime in Philadelphia last weekend.
4. The Kansas City Chiefs, swiftly becoming unwatchable, go to Minnesota
The Minnesota Vikings (1-3), who got a reprieve from oblivion with a comeback win at Carolina on Sunday, host the Kansas City Chiefs (3-1) on Sunday afternoon in one of CBS’ national broadcasts. The Chiefs have bounced back from a Week 1 loss to the Detroit Lions with three straight wins.
One might be unaware of that factoid, however, given the inordinate amount of attention focused on the are-they-or-aren’t-they love connection between Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and pop star Taylor Swift.
We get it. She’s, like, famous and stuff. He’s, like, famous and stuff. They might be two, like, famous people involved in a romantic thing.
Oh, by the way, Kansas City — the defending Super Bowl champions — is still a good football team. Now back to more on Travis and Taylor. Blech.
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3. Pretenders or still contenders? NFL Week 5 may provide clarity
The Bengals, Vikings, Jets and Giants entered the 2023 season with big dreams. NFL Week 5 finds all four of them with matching 1-3 records and facing virtual must-win scenarios.
Cincinnati visits the Arizona Cardinals, who handed Dallas its lone loss back in Week 3. The Bengals were curb-stomped at Tennessee last week. Joe Burrow essentially has the escapability of a deer in the headlights due to his calf injury and receiver Tee Higgins did not practice on Wednesday because of a rib injury. They’ve yet to find the end zone playing on the road, losing by a combined 51-6 at Cleveland and the Titans.
Minnesota eked out a 21-13 win at Carolina last week but still turned the ball over twice. Ten of its 42 drives this season have ended with giveaways, a 23.8% rate that is exceeded only by the Las Vegas Raiders’ 25.6% mark. The Vikings host the Chiefs on Sunday in a game that could define the rest of the season.
As for the Jets and Giants? New Jersey is a combined 2-6, with one newly rich quarterback playing as poorly as he has in his career (Daniel Jones) and another (Zach Wilson) hoping to build on a strong performance late in a loss to Kansas City last week.
The Giants visit a 3-1 Miami Dolphins club looking to bounce back from a blowout at Buffalo while Wilson and the Jets may have an opportunity to get on track offensively against the generous Broncos pylons that pose as a defense.
2. Baltimore Ravens have an opportunity to seize control in the AFC North
The Baltimore Ravens, banged up as they are, enter NFL Week 5 with a 3-1 record and a one-game lead in the AFC North. The Birds can complete a road sweep within the division on Sunday when they visit the Pittsburgh Steelers (2-2) at the former Ketchup Bottle.
Baltimore dominated the Browns at Cleveland last week in a 28-3 win, bouncing back from blowing a lead in the final two minutes of regulation in an overtime loss to the Colts in Week 3. The Ravens also have a win at Cincinnati in Week 2 and will play the remainder of their divisional games at M&T Bank Stadium.
Lamar Jackson has completed 74.3% of his throws for 794 yards and four touchdowns in his first season with new offensive coordinator Todd Monken, while still remaining a threat with his legs, leading the team with 220 rushing yards on 41 attempts with four scores.
The Steelers have been blown out in their two losses while picking up one-possession wins over the Browns and Raiders. If coach Mike Tomlin is to extend his streak of non-losing seasons to 18, defending home field against the hated Ravens is a good step.
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1. Showdown at Santa Clara
The 49ers are 4-0 and have the third-best scoring differential in the NFL through four games at plus-67. On Sunday night, San Francisco hosts one of the two teams ahead of them on that list. Dallas comes in with a plus-83 mark that includes a 40-point win over the Giants and last week’s 38-3 shellacking of the New England Patriots.
The Cowboy defense has already produced 10 turnovers and is plus-9 in the giveaway/takeaway department. But they also had a head-scratching loss at Arizona in Week 3 that raised more questions about Dak Prescott’s viability as a championship-level quarterback. His interception with 3:00 remaining ended any hopes of a comeback in the desert.
The 49ers haven’t been flashy, but they’ve been methodically effective, scoring at least 30 points in every game thus far and turning the ball over just once. San Francisco comes in with the second-ranked offense and fifth-ranked defense in the NFL.
Brock Purdy appears fully recovered from his elbow injury, averaging 10 air yards per attempt and completing 72.3% of his throws for 1,019 yards and five touchdowns without an interception. Christian McCaffrey is a cheat code, with 459 rushing yards, 600 yards from scrimmage and seven touchdowns already.
Dallas is ranked second in the league defensively combined with an 11th-ranked offense. And it is that offense that needs to step up if the Cowboys are to get the win at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
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