Week 5 brought chaos in London and clarity at the top. Two teams still stand without a loss. Everyone else spent Sunday sorting into contenders and question marks.
Start in London, where Jacksonville beat Philadelphia 19-17 on the weekend’s strangest finish. Cam Little drilled a 57-yard field goal as time expired. The Eagles had just taken a one-point lead with eight seconds left. Then Jake Elliott’s line-drive kickoff forced a return instead of a touchback. Ameer Abdullah sprinted to the Philadelphia 39 with one second showing. Little did the rest.
The game was sloppy from the opening kick. A Jacksonville return touchdown came back on offsetting penalties. Two players got ejected after a first-quarter fight. The Jaguars committed 13 fouls for 100 yards and still won. Per NFL.com, that made them the first team since the 2011 Seahawks to win back-to-back games with 13-plus penalties each. Jacksonville also stalled twice at the 1-yard line, so the margin stayed razor thin.
For Philadelphia, the loss was a third straight and the injuries kept stacking. The Eagles entered without Saquon Barkley and DeVonta Smith, then lost more bodies during the game. Their patchwork offensive line still held Jalen Hurts upright on most dropbacks. NFL Research noted the Eagles managed just 22 rushing yards, their fewest since 2015. A healthy version of this roster can contend. This was not that version.
Two teams still perfect
San Francisco survived an NFC West street fight in Seattle, 32-29, to reach 5-0. The defenses ran the first three quarters, forcing turnover after turnover. Then Brock Purdy found Mike Evans when it mattered. Evans caught seven passes for 113 yards and a score, five of them in tight windows, according to Next Gen Stats. Purdy marched the Niners 95 yards for the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.
The San Francisco secondary set the tone. Renardo Green jumped two Sam Darnold passes for interceptions. Even without Nick Bosa, the front recorded five sacks. Seattle turned the ball over four times and came up half a yard short on its final possession. Jaxon Smith-Njigba could not corral a late catch that might have set up a tying kick. Small margins, big consequences.
Minnesota stayed unbeaten at 5-0 by handling New Orleans 23-13. The win mattered, but the development underneath it mattered more. Kyler Murray delivered his cleanest game yet under Kevin O’Connell. He completed his first 12 throws and finished 24 of 30 for 229 yards with no giveaways. Justin Jefferson returned from an ankle injury and caught a highlight touchdown. Aaron Jones ground out 113 yards on the ground.
Brian Flores kept doing Brian Flores things on the other side. His defense blitzed on 61.5% of snaps and bottled up Tyler Shough all afternoon. The Saints finished with 142 total yards, their lowest output since 2021. Kicker Will Reichard stayed perfect on the year and has now connected on 34 straight field goals.
The quarterbacks writing the storylines
Aaron Rodgers turned back the clock in Pittsburgh’s 34-22 win over Indianapolis. The 42-year-old threw three touchdown passes for a third straight game. Per the NFL, Rodgers passed Peyton Manning on the all-time touchdown list during the victory. He leaned on Jaylen Warren, who became the first player since Herschel Walker in 1986 with an 80-yard receiving score and a 50-yard rushing score in one game.
Drake Maye has buried his rough September. After throwing seven interceptions over three and a half games, he has flipped to a 6-to-0 touchdown-to-pick ratio since. He accounted for five scores in New England’s 45-17 rout of Las Vegas. The Patriots have won two in a row and dropped 45 points, their most in five years.
Green Bay turned Jordan Love loose against Chicago and the Bears had no answer. Love hit six passes of 30-plus yards in a 31-7 win. Two of them went to Christian Watson for touchdowns of 53 and 43 yards. Love finished with a career-high 137.5 passer rating. The Packers defense piled on with five takeaways, snapping a 156-game streak without reaching that number.
Cincinnati avoided a third straight loss by beating Miami 31-24. Joe Burrow threw four touchdown passes, three of them while under pressure. His latest long score to Ja’Marr Chase was their 18th connection of 40-plus yards, third-most by any quarterback-receiver duo over the last 40 seasons. Miami fell to 0-5 despite a strong ground game.
The rest of the board
Houston finally broke through, blanking Tennessee’s offense in a 26-3 win for its first victory. Will Anderson Jr. logged three sacks and DeMeco Ryans’ defense held the Titans to 187 yards. Detroit found its defense at last and routed Arizona 45-21 behind Jahmyr Gibbs. Jared Goff reached 12 touchdown passes with zero giveaways through five games, a first in league history.
Denver leaned on its fourth-quarter formula again, outscoring the winless Chargers down the stretch for a 23-17 result. Los Angeles started four rookies on the offensive line and ran out of healthy receivers. Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and the Jets all climbed back into playoff math. Baltimore’s 30-23 overtime win over Atlanta leaned on backup Tyler Huntley, who went 11 of 11 across the tying drive and the extra period.
The Jets snapped out of their funk with a 17-12 defensive win over Cleveland. Rookie David Bailey recorded three sacks as New York dropped Deshaun Watson eight times. The Giants and Commanders played to a 27-27 tie after Washington botched the end of overtime. Jayden Daniels ran for 109 yards in his return, then watched the clock expire before his offense could spike the ball.
Here is how Sunday’s slate shook out.
| Game | Result |
|---|---|
| Jaguars at Eagles (London) | JAX 19, PHI 17 |
| Bengals at Dolphins | CIN 31, MIA 24 |
| Raiders at Patriots | NE 45, LV 17 |
| Vikings at Saints | MIN 23, NO 13 |
| Browns at Jets | NYJ 17, CLE 12 |
| Colts at Steelers | PIT 34, IND 22 |
| Texans at Titans | HOU 26, TEN 3 |
| Giants at Commanders | NYG 27, WAS 27 (OT) |
| Bears at Packers | GB 31, CHI 7 |
| Broncos at Chargers | DEN 23, LAC 17 |
| Cardinals at Lions | DET 45, ARI 21 |
| Seahawks at 49ers | SF 32, SEA 29 |
| Falcons at Ravens | BAL 30, ATL 23 (OT) |
Five weeks in, the picture sharpens. San Francisco and Minnesota set the pace, and both got there the same way. Each wins with defense first and timely offense second, which tends to travel into January. Neither needs to be spectacular to keep rolling.
The AFC remains a traffic jam. Jacksonville owns the South, yet the penalty habit is a real ceiling. Teams that beat themselves rarely survive a playoff bracket. The quarterback stories are redrawing division races, too. Maye in New England, Murray in Minnesota, and the ageless Rodgers in Pittsburgh have each shifted the math for their teams.
At the bottom, the clock is already loud. Miami, the Chargers, and Tennessee sit winless, and the schedule offers little mercy ahead. Week 6 will start separating the teams fixing problems from the teams running out of runway.
