Week 7 in the NFL proved no fourth-quarter lead is safe. Just ask the New York Giants.
It reminded us that high-priced starting quarterbacks — no matter how much they’re making — can still be benched. Just ask Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Fields.
It solidified an MVP campaign for one running back, the Indianapolis Colts’ Jonathan Taylor, and furthered impressive early-season turnarounds for the Chicago Bears, who are now riding their longest win streak since 2018, and the Carolina Panthers, who are above .500 for the first time in four long years.
The game of the day came in Denver, where the Broncos staged a historic comeback that included 33 fourth-quarter points in a 33-32 win over the Giants. Once trailing 19-0, Denver got four touchdowns from Bo Nix in the final frame — two through the air, two on the ground — and used a Wil Lutz 39-yard field goal with no time left to escape with the win. Those 33 points were the most ever scored in the fourth quarter by a team that was shut out in the first three, and the Broncos became the first team since 1970 to overcome a deficit of 18 or more with six minutes remaining and win without needing overtime
The Giants — a few plays away from a 3-1 start under rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart — were left stunned. A missed extra point from kicker Jude McAtamney with 37 seconds left, his second of the game, opened the door for the Broncos to win it with a field goal. “Right now, it’s just really frustrating, man,” said Dart, who threw a costly fourth-quarter interception to aid the Broncos’ comeback. “I’m trying to put it all together. Had chances to win the game. Didn’t do it.”
New York is 2-5, the Broncos 5-2.
The only comforting news for the Giants? They’re not the worst team in their own city. The Jets benched Fields in Sunday’s 13-6 loss to the Carolina Panthers, a week after coach Aaron Glenn brushed off the possibility — and seven months after the team signed Fields to a two-year, $40 million deal. But after the struggling quarterback went 6-for-12 for just 46 yards — and missed a few snaps due to injury — Glenn yanked him for Tyrod Taylor. The NFL’s worst team is now 0-7.
For the Panthers, the immediate concern will be Bryce Young’s right ankle, which caused the quarterback to leave the game in the third quarter.
Another quarterback went down in Dallas. For the second time this season, Washington Commanders star Jayden Daniels exited with an injury, and this time it’s a right hamstring; Daniels missed two games earlier this season with a left knee injury. The Cowboys welcomed back CeeDee Lamb (110 receiving yards and a touchdown) in a resounding NFC East win, 44-22. Dak Prescott has thrown 16 touchdowns already this season.
In windy and rainy Cleveland, the Miami Dolphins benched Tagovailoa 15 months after signing him to a $212 million contract and a week after Tagovailoa publicly aired some of the team’s dirty laundry. He later apologized, but the damage was done. Now, it seems, the season is lost. Mike McDaniel’s team is 1-6 after Sunday’s 31-6 rout in Cleveland, one of the worst losses by any team this year.
In Minneapolis, the Philadelphia Eagles shrugged off their two-game losing streak and caught fire in the passing game in a 28-22 win over the Vikings. Devonta Smith (183 receiving yards and a touchdown) and A.J. Brown (121 receiving yards and two scores) roasted the Minnesota secondary for most of the game. For all the drama in Philly this season, the Eagles are 5-2 and in front in the NFC East.
In Kansas City, the Chiefs rolled the Las Vegas Raiders 31-0 in the first regular-season shutout win of Andy Reid’s 27-year coaching career. Rashee Rice is back — he had two touchdowns in his 2025 debut — and the three-time defending AFC champs are starting to look whole again, which is bad news for the rest of the conference. Consider: Kansas City finished with 30 first downs Sunday. Las Vegas finished with three. Patrick Mahomes has thrown six touchdowns across his last two games, and the Chiefs are 4-3 and playing like one of the best teams in the league.
In Arizona, the Green Bay Packers used two fourth-quarter touchdowns to escape the desert with a 27-23 win over the Cardinals. Once again stepping in for Kyler Murray, Jacoby Brissett was an efficient 25-for-36 for 279 yards and two touchdowns, but Jordan Love and the Packers had just enough answers, including on a critical fourth-and-2 completion late to Tucker Kraft. Green Bay is 4-1-1. Arizona has lost five in a row and is 2-5.
In London, Los Angeles Rams wideout Davante Adams had his first three-touchdown game since 2020 in a 35-7 rout of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Matthew Stafford threw for five scores, and the Rams’ defense — led by Jared Verse and Byron Young — suffocated Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars, who’ve now dropped two straight and are 4-3. Sean McVay’s Rams are 5-2 heading into their bye.
In Nashville, Mike Vrabel’s former employer — namely Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk — got a good look at how quickly the coach has turned things around in New England. Vrabel’s Patriots powered their way past the Titans, 31-13, behind a wildly efficient day from Drake Maye, who finished 21-for-23 for 222 yards and two touchdowns. That’s four wins in a row for New England, which is 5-2 after winning four games each of the last two seasons. Tennessee, now 1-6, is 4-20 since firing Vrabel after the 2023 season.
Here’s what we learned across the NFL in Week 7:
For now, Colts are for real
It might’ve been easy to dismiss the Colts’ hot start. They were beating up on bad teams, with lopsided wins over the Dolphins, Titans and Raiders. They escaped with a narrow victory over the Cardinals last week and only inched past the Broncos in Week 2 because a leverage penalty afforded Indianapolis a second chance at a game-winning field goal.
But now?
It’s impossible to overlook how well this team is playing, particularly on offense, following Sunday’s 38-24 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Shane Steichen is the hottest play caller in the league. Taylor is running like a legitimate MVP candidate. And Daniel Jones, believe it or not, has been reborn.
“They just don’t have a weakness right now,” analyst J.J. Watt said on the CBS broadcast.
Sure they do — the 6-1 Colts are banged up at cornerback, could use some help at pass rush and lost their kicker for the year to injury. But so far, the offense has been enough to carry them. A unit that entered Sunday’s game leading the league in points per game, yards per play and offensive success rate torched the Los Angeles defense all game long, piling up 401 yards. Indy scored touchdowns on its first three possessions, and L.A. never got closer than 13 after halftime. The 232 points the Colts have scored through seven games are the third most in franchise history, more than the Peyton Manning teams ever put up and trailing only two led by the great Johnny Unitas.
Taylor has three games with three rushing touchdowns already this season, a first in franchise history. He leads the league with 10.
The only issue lingering from Sunday’s win was that leaky secondary: Justin Herbert finished with a career-high 421 passing yards and the Chargers actually outgained the Colts by 44 yards.
Mac Jones: 49ers’ savior
Mac Jones was supposed to be a San Francisco 49er. That was the plan, heading into the 2021 draft, after the QB-needy 49ers traded up to the third spot with their eyes squarely on Jones. Instead, they took Trey Lance, who started just four games for the team before being traded a few years later. The arrival and unexpected ascent of Brock Purdy covered over the franchise’s worst miss of the John Lynch era.
Jones, meanwhile, lost his job in New England, then went 2-5 in fill-in duty for Trevor Lawrence last year in Jacksonville. He arrived in San Francisco this year as Purdy’s backup.
Somehow, seven games into the season, it’s been Jones who has kept the 49ers afloat amid a rash of devastating injuries. Purdy’s started just twice. Edge rusher Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner were both lost for the year. Tight end George Kittle returned Sunday for the first time since Week 1.
Thanks to Sunday night’s 20-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons, Jones is now 4-1 as San Francisco’s starter. And in what’s been one of the best coaching jobs of his career, Kyle Shanahan has his team 5-2 and tied with the Rams atop the NFC West.
Sunday wasn’t Jones’ best outing, but he had help: Christian McCaffrey piled up 201 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, including the icing score late in the fourth — thanks to a massive push from his offensive line. Credit Robert Saleh’s young defense, too, which limited a Falcons team that piled up 443 total yards in a win over the Bills last week to a single touchdown in this one.
The Falcons are 3-3.
Are Bears NFC North players?
A month ago, Ben Johnson’s Chicago Bears were 0-2 and fresh off an embarrassing 31-point loss in Detroit.
The first-year coach called out his team’s effort. “You’ve got to be all-out every single snap, and that was just not the case,” Johnson fumed. He also questioned the Bears’ practice habits, conceding they had “yet to reflect a championship-caliber team.” They were stern words from a fed-up Johnson, who was clearly tired of watching sloppy football. It looked and sounded like the start of another long year in Chicago.
Five weeks later, Johnson’s team is 4-2 thanks to steadier quarterback play, a revived run game and a defense that won’t stop turning the football over. Behind 124 yards from running back D’Andre Swift, plus four sacks and four turnovers from Dennis Allen’s defense, the Bears downed the Saints 26-14 Sunday at Soldier Field. Quarterback Caleb Williams finished 15-for-26 for 172 yards with no touchdowns and an interception.
That’s four in a row for the Bears, who are keeping pace in a crowded NFC North. Chicago (4-2) is tied with Detroit (which plays Monday night) and just a half-game behind Green Bay. In a raucous postgame locker room, Johnson handed out one game ball. It went to Allen, who was fired as the Saints’ coach nine games into last season.
Speaking of turnarounds out of nowhere, don’t overlook the job Dave Canales has done in Carolina: the Panthers have won four of five after starting o-2.
Dolphins hit new depths
For a brief moment, it felt like a marriage that might rewrite football in South Florida. Mike McDaniel, fresh after being hired as the coach of the Dolphins in January 2022, called Tua Tagovailoa on his flight to Miami and told him, “I’m gonna make damn sure that when you look back on this day, you’re gonna say, ‘Damn, that was one of the best days of my career.’”
For the better part of two seasons, McDaniel’s words rang true. Tagovailoa made the Pro Bowl and started to live up to his lofty draft status. The Dolphins played fast and lit up the scoreboard, including a 70-point eruption in a memorable win over the Broncos early in the 2023 season. Miami made back-to-back playoff trips for the first time since the early 2000s.
But it has slowly crumbled since, and the wheels have come off this season. Tagovailoa’s comments after last week’s loss — that some teammates had been late to players-only meetings, while others skipped them altogether — prompted an apology later in the week. All of it pointed to a season that was slipping away.
McDaniel hasn’t found any answers, and Sunday offered a stunning new low: A Browns team that hadn’t scored more than 17 all season dropped 31 on the Dolphins. McDaniel benched Tagovailoa after back-to-back interceptions in the second half; all told, the quarterback finished with three picks.
Over his last two games, Tagovailoa has thrown just one touchdown to go with six interceptions. He carries a $55 million salary cap hit next year that is fully guaranteed.
In Miami, the story has become less about football and more about McDaniel’s uncertain future.
“I find it very offensive to all parties involved if I’m thinking about having a job,” the coach told reporters after the game. “I need to be doing my job. As long as I coach for the Miami Dolphins and this organization, they’ll get everything from me, and I refuse to spend my time thinking about something. …
“You have a job, you do your job, and you do it to the best of your ability. That’s where my concern lies.”
