WHAT WE LEARNED: NFL WEEK 6

BY ADAM GREENE

A lot of NFL happened in Week 6. Here’s what we learned.

THERE ARE NO UNDEFEATED TEAMS LEFT IN THE NFL

We’re entering Week 7 of the NFL season and there are no undefeated teams left in the NFL as the San Francisco 49ers lost a shocking 19-17 defensive struggle with the Cleveland Browns who were starting a guy from their practice squad, PJ Walker, at quarterback. The Philadelphia Eagles were the lone undefeated team for all of three-ish hours before falling on the road to the New York Jets, 20-14. The two best teams in the league, that we all recognized as such (outside of the new Swifties, who are convinced the Kansas City Chiefs are unbeatable — and, honestly, with Patrick Mahomes and your boy Travis Kelce, they might not be in the playoffs in spite of the rosters on the Niners and Eagles), all took a bad loss on Sunday. By the time a very crappy New York Giants at Buffalo Bills game kicked off on Sunday Night, the NFL was without a lossless team.

We made if five weeks and, according to Wikipedia, that’s the first time we’ve lost our undefeated team(s) this early since 2017 when the Chiefs lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 19-13.

This isn’t the quickest we’ve lost our undefeated teams since the NFL/AFL merger since 1970. That year we had three teams, the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions all opened 3-0 and all lost in Week 4. We had a 4-0 team, the Washington (what they were used to be called) football team made it to 4-0 and no further in 1982 in a strike-shortened season. In 1987, the Chicago Bears were the final undefeated team at 4-0 and lost in another strike-shortened season.

The fact is, we’ve had plenty of “undefeated” runs ruined in Week 5 or earlier, from the 1993 New Orleans Saints to the 1995 St. Lous Rams, Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins to the 1996 Kansas City Chiefs, Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings. The 2002 Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers. We had undefeated seasons end in Week 4 in 2010 with the Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears  It happened again in 2014 with the Cincinnati Bengals, Eagles and Arizona Cardinals. So., you know, Week 6 is a more solid run than you think in NFL history. Just not recent NFL history.

So, while it feels odd that we have no undefeated teams left in the league heading into Week 7, it’s not strange. I’ve written it many times, it’s just as hard to go undefeated in the NFL as it is to go winless. Every team is drafting from the same talent pool. Every team not only has the same salary cap, there is a salary cap floor. So, the NFL has forced every franchise to at least attempt to win. Not only that, we have a worst to first draft and while front offices, owners and general managers might want to tank, the coaches and players involved do not want to do that. This is the problem right now with the Arizona Cardinals and Washington Commanders. Both those teams actively put together rosters to get the No. 1 overall pick. As of right now, the Cards are the only team even vying for it and they still attempt to actively screw it up every game.

The irony is, the New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, New York Giants, Chicago Bears, Carolina Panthers and Cardinals are all in the mix for the No. 1 overall pick and all of them, other than the Cards, wanted to be in that conversation. The Bears could, because they own the Panthers first round pick, have the top two picks in the draft.

If the draft was held today, that’s exactly what would happen and it doesn’t matter how well Justin Fields plays out the rest of the year, if Chicago has the No. 1 overall pick, they’re taking Caleb Williams. And they’re trading Fields. That’s just happening. And I don’t care what happened against Notre Dame. Williams is the guy and if you have the first pick, you’re taking him. And if they have the top two picks, they take Williams out of USC and Marvin Harrison, Jr. out of Ohio State and are super excited, especially after firing NFL’s Mitt Romney, aka. Matt Eberflus. And that’s not a political joke. The dude just looks like Mitt Romney. It’s a solid observation.

PLAYOFFS? DON’T TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

The Jim Mora quote rings as true today as it did in  entering Week 7 of the 2023-24 season as it did two  decades ago, but we all know that is the minimum goal for every single NFL organization on the planet. So, here’s what it looks like as we enter Week 7, with just a handful of teams enjoying a bye.

In the AFC, the Chiefs are currently your No. 1 seed, with the Miami Dolphins at two, the Baltimore Ravens at three and the Jacksonville Jaguars are four. The Wild Cards are the Buffalo Bills at five, the Pittsburgh Steelers (what???) at six and the Cleveland Browns (what, part 2???) at seven.

In the NFC. The Eagles are No. 1 as they were last season. The 49ers, you will not be surprised, are No.2. The Detroit Lions, who are leaning into being a contender hard and I am all for it, are No. 3 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are No. 4. Which is a gift for every team vying for the No. 5 seed as a Wild Card.

At five, we have the Seattle Seahawks who will not stay there. At six, you’ve got the Dallas Cowboys thanks to their big win on Monday Night Football and, at seven, you have the Los Angeles Rams. A team many (not me) wrote off in the offseason.

Will that ranking hold on to the end of the season? No. Not at least in that order. The New Orleans Saints can sneak past the Bucs and the Seahawks could, easily, fall right into the dirt.

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.

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