NFC Hierarchy/Obituary: Week 4 edition

Week 3 of the 2026 NFL season is in the books, and it was wild, with the Cowboys and Rams suffering brutal late-game losses, and the Eagles looking very much like a team on the decline in front of a national audience. We have no new obituaries yet, but we’re getting closer.

16) Buccaneers (0-3): The Buccaneers were 2 for 17 (!) on third downs on Sunday against the Vikings, partly because Baker Mayfield was sacked 6 times. Mayfield also dislocated his thumb and is going to miss some time.

When quarterbacks get hurt, my brain immediately moves to, “Who’s their backup?” In this case, I didn’t know. It’s Jalon Daniels, an undrafted free agent rookie who made their team out of training camp. Anyway, the Bucs’ season is going to go from bad to worse.

They’re the only winless team in the NFC, but that doesn’t matter much in the perpetually awful NFC South, when the Saints, Falcons, and Panthers are all 1-2. Combined NFC South records: 3-9.

A lot of quarterbacks have missed at least one start (or soon will) this season — Jaxson Dart, Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams, Sam Darnold, Kyler Murray, and now Mayfield.

Last week: 13

15) Cardinals (1-2): The Bucs may be the only team in the NFC with an 0-3 record, but the Cardinals are probably the most likely team to be killed off in the Hierarchy this year, simply because they play in a division with the 49ers, Rams, and Seahawks.

The Cardinals last made the playoffs in 2021. Since then they are 4-22 within the NFC West:

That would be a combined point differential of -248 in those 26 games.

Last week: 14

14) Packers (1-2): Here was the Packers’ offensive line on Thursday night against the Falcons, with their two best starters — RT Zach Bako-Bewele (formerly Zach Tom) and Aaron Banks — out: 

• LT: Jordan Morgan
• LG: Jager Burton
• C: Sean Rhyan
• RG: Jacob Monk
• RT: Anthony Belton

Or perhaps better stated: 

And, well, they were awful, even against a Falcons team that famously hasn’t had a pass rush in, like, ever.

The Packers own the worst point differential in the NFC, at -35. I’m gonna say it all year, like I have since Week 1. The Packers are frauds.

Last week: 10

14) Falcons (1-2): The Falcons’ blowout of the Packers on Thursday night doesn’t change that they’re a bad football team, but holy crap do they have a great player in Bijan Robinson. He big, he’s fast, he accelerates to top speed in a blink, he’s elusive, and he breaks tackles. But he also runs with patience, tempo, and vision. Video via Nate Tice: 

This probably isn’t the worst team in the NFC, simply because they employ Robinson. They’re going to win a handful of games (like, six, maybe?) just because they have him, a decent run-blocking offensive line, and Drake London.

Last week: 16

12) Commanders (1-2): In one of the biggest upsets of this young NFL season, the Marcus Mariota-led Commanders handed the reigning champion Seahawks their first loss of the season. Mariota and Jayden Daniels have each started nine games since 2025. Their stats are very similar:

If we’re ignoring Daniels’ stellar rookie season, it’s really not that much differently on the eye test, either.

Last week: 15

11) Giants (2-1): In Week 2 the Giants lost their most important player in Jaxson Dart for the season. In Week 3 they lost their best defensive player in Brian Burns for the season with a torn ACL.

The Giants beat the Titans, but they only gained 238 yards and didn’t get into the end zone while also damaging their draft positioning in another lost season. 

And then they traded for J.J. McCarthy (lol).

Last week: 12

10) Panthers (1-2): On what looked like the Panthers’ last chance to get into field goal range to tie their game against the Browns, Bryce Young threw a checkdown on 4th and 16.

But also, why are there even two checkdown options on this play call?

Just when you think a team might be turning the corner and showing real offensive promise, they prove otherwise.

Last week: 11

9) Cowboys (1-2): The Cowboys have had a lot of hilarious losses, but Sunday’s loss to the Ravens in Brazil was an all-timer. Let’s just recap everything that happened, shall we?

The laughable pass interference call

While driving to try to win the game, down 3, Dak Prescott took a deep shot to CeeDee Lamb who was covered closely by Nate Wiggins. Wiggins had better positioning, and had a chance to make an INT, but Lamb yanked his arm and the pass fell incomplete. Clear offensive pass interference. But, nope. They called the penalty on Wiggins, giving the Cowboys 1st and Goal from the 2, when it should have been 1st and 20 from the 32.

The officials gift-wrapped this game for the Cowboys, but that’s when the series of mistakes began.

Dumb play call

On first down, the Cowboys tried a fade to the short side of the field to George Pickens against Wiggins, who was playing at a high level. Wiggins was all over it and the pass never had a chance.

False start

Luke Schoonmaker moved early. Now it’s 2nd and Goal from the 7.

Time management mistake

On second down, the Cowboys had 20 seconds to work with and one timeout. With nothing open, Dak Prescott scrambled for 2 yards to the Ravens’ 5, and the Cowboys then immediately called a timeout with 14 seconds left. They probably should have let the clock run a little more, since they were only going to have time for one last shot into the end zone on third down, and then a field goal attempt to take the game to overtime on fourth down if they were unable to score.

Dak’s throwaway

On third down, the Cowboys tried the Pickens-Wiggins matchup again. Pickens created separation by pushing off on Wiggins (another uncalled offensive pass interference), but Prescott threw the ball away.

Oops!

So, they kicked the field goal. 7 seconds left.

Touchback?!

On the ensuing kickoff, the Cowboys had kicker Brandon Aubrey boot the ball through the back of the end zone. The Ravens were absolutely thrilled by that decision, as it gave them the ball at the 35 yard line. Postgame, Ravens head coach Jesse Minter was basically like, “Thanks, Cowboys!”

If the Cowboys had lofted a kick to land around the 5 yard line, at least four or five seconds would have been eaten up on the return. Assuming the Cowboys made a tackle short of any reasonable Hail Mary spot, the Ravens likely would’ve taken a knee and gone to OT.

Awful defense

Because the Ravens had a timeout in their pocket, they had the entire field to work with, and Lamar Jackson was able to connect with Zay Flowers in the middle of the field for a 27 yard gain. What in the world is this defensive call by Christian Parker? Watch No. 11, S Alijah Clark, who was only in the game because the Cowboys have a lot of injuries in their defensive backfield. Where is this guy retreating to? Lol.

So that play takes six seconds, the Ravens call their final timeout, and kick the game winner:

That kick reminds me a little of when the Packers beat the Cowboys in the 2016 playoffs with a long walk-off field. It started left, gave Cowboys fans fleeting hope, then faded to the right and through. 

Ironically, the Packers got a long pass play (to Jared Cook) to set up the game-winning kick in that game, too.

Last week: 9

8) Saints (1-2): The Saints lit up the scoreboard in the fourth quarter in each of the first two games. In Week 3, here were their fourth quarter possessions: 

1. Fumble
2. INT
3. Fumble
4. Fumble

There are teams that become hipster picks a year too early. That’s the Saints this year. You can definitely see that they have talent and are heading in the right direction, but they aren’t there yet. Maybe in 2027 if they hit on some free agents and draft well.

Last week: 8

7) Eagles (2-1): On the morning after the Eagles’ embarrassing loss to the Bears in front of a national audience, the one play that I can’t get over was the screen to DeVonta Smith at the end of the first half. It’s a play that will largely be forgotten, because the end result was a touchdown, but to me it screamed incompetence. 

You know the play, right? It was the one right before the Eagles had to quickly line up for a spike to stop the clock, but sensing that there was no way they were going to be able to execute a spike in time, Jalen Hurts ran an impromptu quarterback sneak for the score, barely — and I mean BARELY — beating the game clock.

So let’s re-set the situation. It was 1st and Goal from the 9, with 19 second left in the half. Typically in that kind of situation you’re going to get three shots into the end zone, and if none of them are successful you kick the field goal. Instead, what the Eagles did was forego those three shots in favor of a screen to Smith.

That is particularly insane, given that the Eagles to that point in the season had been atrocious on screens and other passes behind the line of scrimmage. This a hilarious stat:

And that doesn’t even include a loss of 5 in the Titans game on a pass to Makai Lemon in the flat that was an accidental lateral and thus counted as a run play. So really it was more like -11 yards on 9 pass attempts.

And as you can see in the video above, the Eagles actually executed it as well as they have any screen so far this season. Makai Lemon had a great block on the corner, and Jordan Mailata leveled the slot corner. And despite the overall solid execution overall, it still wasn’t a good enough play call to get in the end zone.

So what the coaching staff essentially did there was trade an opportunity for three shots into the end zone for one bite at the apple on a type of play that (a) hadn’t worked all season, (b) didn’t really even work when they got a favorable look for it and finally executed it well, and (c) was a risky call that had a high likelihood of burning the rest of the clock if it failed.

“We had 19 seconds,” Nick Sirianni said. “We had plenty of time to get it clocked or do what we did in that particular case. They were bringing a certain type of pressure there, and that screen was built into the call, and it worked out to be able to get the touchdown there. But with 19 seconds left you should be able to get another play off.”

What?! They were flat out unable to get their next intended play off, which was a spike to stop the clock. They never would have been able to execute that in time, or even come close, and really, they came within hundredths of a second within getting the snap off on the impromptu sneak.

If Smith had been tackled, at, saaay, the 3 yard line instead of the 1, there’s a pretty good chance that Hurts would not have made the split-second decision to sneak it from that far away, even if the result of the play showed that he got in easily from the 1. 

Like, what would that scenario have looked like? My guess is that Hurts’ best bet would have been to take the snap and try to run around hoping a receiver got open in some kind of back yard improv play. Honestly, I’m almost kind of bummed that we didn’t get to see it.

Even though it ultimately worked, there is really no good argument for that screen call in that situation, and it’s alarming to me that any 12 year old playing Madden would also recognize that.

Last week: 4

6) Vikings (3-0): The Vikings haven’t gained 250 yards in a game yet this season. They’re dead last in the NFL in yards per game (238.3), and first downs per game (13.0). Somehow this team is 3-0.

Nick Sirianni is jealous.

Last week: 5

5) Lions (2-1): Jahmyr Gibbs is only in his fourth season, and has only played in 56 career games. He already has 60 (!) TDs. 

The Lions have given up the most points (95) in the NFL. They’ve also scored the third-most (92).

Last week: 7

4) Rams (1-2): The Rams got royally screwed on Sunday night:

It’s weird that all plays aren’t reviewable.

Last week: 3

3) Bears (2-1): Credit Case Keenum for the incredible performance Monday night after not having attempted a pass in real game since 2023. But also, Ben Johnson is an elite head coach, and the Bears are going to be contenders for as long as he is around.

Last week: 6

2) Seahawks (2-1): The Seahawks made a handful of big mistakes in their loss to the Commanders Week 3, including losing the turnover battle 0-3. Blip in the road. They’ll be fine.

Last week: 1

1) 49ers (3-0): The 49ers beat up on the Dolphins and Cardinals the last two weeks, after a highly impressive Week 1 win over the Rams. They still lead the NFL in point differential, at +48. 

The Niners’ schedule gets harder the next two games with the Broncos at home followed by a trip to Seattle against a Seahawks team that owned them in two late-season games last year.

If this is the team that’s in the top spot after the first three games, the NFC is wide open.

Last week: 2

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