What we learned in NFL Week 7: Chiefs flip the script, Steelers’ bet pays off

After the Patriots lost their sixth in a row, first-year coach Jerod Mayo called his team soft.

After the boos rained down on Saquon Barkley in his return to MetLife Stadium — one sign even read “TRAITOR” — the Eagles’ star running back torched his old team.

And after another tumultuous week in the unending soap opera that is the New York Jets, the end result — a 37-15 loss to the Steelers on Sunday night — looked and felt familiar. At 2-5, this team can’t get out of its own way, and the season feels lost before the calendar flips to November.

In a rematch of February’s Super Bowl, the champs flipped the script, and the Chiefs showed they can win without the lethal passing game they’ve built their dynasty on.

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NFL Week 7 takeaways: Are the 49ers in too deep a hole? Who are kings of the NFC North?

In Washington, rookie standout Jayden Daniels played just 12 snaps before leaving with a rib injury. No matter. The Commanders rolled 40-7 over a Panthers team that’s once again making a compelling case for the title of worst team in football.

In an NFC North clash between two of the best teams in the league, the Lions handed the Vikings their first loss of the season, 31-29, after Jake Bates converted a 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds left. It was a game of runs — the Vikings scored the first 10 points, the Lions responded with 21 straight, then Minnesota ripped off nine more in the fourth quarter before Jared Goff led Detroit 44 yards in eight plays to set up Bates’ game-winner.

Both of these teams are 5-1, and both are for real. The next time they see each other — Week 18 — could very well come with a division title and home field advantage hanging in the balance. Goff is quietly playing some of the most efficient football of his career: he’s now the fourth QB in NFL history with a passer rating of 140 or higher in three straight starts, joining Aaron Rodgers (2011), Kurt Warner (1999) and Roger Staubach (1971).

But it’s far from a two-team race in the NFC North. The Packers are 5-2 after edging the Texans at home, 24-22, despite turning the ball over three times. Green Bay has been excellent on defense of late and held Texans QB C.J. Stroud to just 86 passing yards on Sunday. Brandon McManus, whom the Packers signed on Tuesday, drilled the 45-yard game-winner with three seconds left.

Another Super Bowl contender, the Buffalo Bills, somehow found themselves trailing 10-0 early to a Titans team that was playing backup quarterback Mason Rudolph. By game’s end it was a 34-10 victory for the Bills, who welcomed new addition Amari Cooper with a second-half touchdown. Buffalo is now 5-2, tied with Houston and Pittsburgh for the second-best record in the AFC.

In Atlanta, the Seahawks won for the first time in nearly a month, routing the Falcons 34-14 to improve to 4-3 and stay in front of all others in the NFC West. And in Indianapolis, the Colts slogged out a 16-10 win over the Dolphins despite Anthony Richardson completing just 10 of 24 passes for 129 yards.

The Rams earned their second win of the year by beating a reeling Raiders team that’s dropped three straight and four of five.

Here’s what we learned across Week 7 in the NFL:

Steelers’ bet pays off, Jets’ doesn’t

Across 11 days in October, the Jets have fired their head coach, demoted their offensive play-caller, traded for six-time Pro Bowl receiver Davante Adams, ended a seven-month holdout with Haason Reddick and dropped a pair of nationally televised games.

This is a franchise in constant chaos, and it shows. New York is a poorly run, poorly coached football team. The Jets are 2-5 for the season, trailing a Miami team in their own division that has been without Tua Tagovailoa since Week 3.

Maybe the Super Bowl hype was a bit much, but the Jets absolutely had their sights set on a playoff berth this season. Instead, they’ve been a massive disappointment.

Adams’ much-discussed arrival netted little in Sunday night’s loss. He finished with three catches on nine targets for 30 yards. Outside of Breece Hall, who had 141 all-purpose yards and a touchdown, the Jets couldn’t sustain anything on offense. An early 15-6 lead disappeared quickly as the Steelers scored 31 unanswered points, taking control of the game late in the second quarter and never looking back.

As for Pittsburgh, Mike Tomlin’s bold gamble paid off, at least for one week. He slid Justin Fields to the bench despite Fields leading the team to a 4-2 start, and Russell Wilson, making his first start since Christmas Eve — when he was still with the Broncos — got his chance. The 12-year veteran delivered, throwing two touchdowns and giving the Steelers’ offense the downfield threat that Tomlin felt had been missing.

Pittsburgh’s defense was excellent after halftime, and the special teams unit blocked a field goal attempt for the third straight game. With the win, the Steelers (5-2) inch ahead of the Ravens in the AFC North.

Chiefs are last unbeaten

Seven weeks into the season and there’s just one undefeated team remaining, and it’s the same team that’s hoisted the Lombardi Trophy each of the last two years. No matter how unimpressive the Chiefs have looked at times this season, they’re still the team everyone’s chasing.

Sunday’s 28-18 victory over the 49ers spoke to why. Patrick Mahomes threw for just 154 passing yards — the third-fewest total of his career — and tossed two interceptions, and Kansas City still beat the defending NFC champs by double-digits. The Chiefs (6-0) have shown they can scratch out wins despite a mediocre passing game, strange as that sounds, because this is such a well-constructed, veteran roster and because Andy Reid remains as good as any other coach in football at giving his team the best chance to win every Sunday.

Kansas City’s run game carried the load, finishing with 184 yards (a 4.7-per-carry average) and four rushing touchdowns, the most for the team since the 2019 season opener. Sunday’s onslaught included one by Mahomes, who trucked 49ers safety Malik Mustapha at the goal line. Steve Spagnuolo’s defense was stellar, intercepting 49ers QB Brock Purdy three times and stifling the 49ers offense all game long.

It didn’t help San Francisco that its roster wasn’t close to full strength. Already down Christian McCaffrey and Jauan Jennings, the 49ers lost Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel during the game. It’s been the story of their season. The injuries keep piling up, and San Francisco (3-4) hasn’t found its typical rhythm. Without all of his top-tier weapons healthy, Purdy hasn’t looked like the same player. Up next: a Dallas team coming off a bye after being embarrassed the last time out.

Deshaun Watson ran onto the field Sunday in Cleveland to a smattering of boos, an indication of where the beleaguered quarterback stood with disgruntled Browns fans. He left it on a cart before halftime with tears in his eyes.

And with one non-contact injury — Watson’s right leg buckled during the second quarter of the Browns’ 21-14 loss to the Bengals — the league’s messiest quarterback situation got a whole lot messier.

No longer is Watson merely a struggling, overpaid QB. Now he’s a struggling, overpaid quarterback who’ll be coming off a major injury whenever he’s able to return in 2025, due a whopping $92 million over the next two seasons. Reminder: that’s a fully guaranteed $92 million.

The fear is that Watson ruptured his Achilles tendon, which would sideline him for the rest of the season and perhaps into 2025. It’d be the third time in five years Watson has had a season end prematurely due to injury.

“Let’s get the tests first, but that’s what it looks like,” coach Kevin Stefanski acknowledged.

The Browns have time before making a decision, but no option at this point looks promising: cutting Watson before June 1 would incur a seismic $172.7 million cap hit, an unprecedented figure in NFL history. A post-June 1 release would mean only $72.9 million against the cap in 2025, still the second-highest ever for a player who wouldn’t even be on the roster. Another route would be a trade, but it’s hard to fathom another team taking on this contract, no matter the draft capital Cleveland might be willing to part with to get Watson off its books.

Remember the original haul: the Browns sent the Texans three first-round picks, a third-rounder and two fourth-rounders for Watson in 2022, then signed him to a $230 million fully guaranteed deal. If this injury spells the end of Watson’s time in Cleveland — and it very well could — it’d be hard to consider that trade as anything short of the worst in NFL history.

Barkley runs roughshod in return to MetLife

The now-infamous quote, caught by HBO’s “Hard Knocks” cameras, felt prescient Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium. “I’m going to have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia, I’ll tell you that,” Giants owner John Mara said last spring, adding that “he’s our most popular player by far.”

No word yet on how much sleep he lost after what he saw Sunday. Saquon Barkley, the No. 2 pick in the 2018 draft who piled up 7,311 yards and 47 touchdowns in six seasons in New York, had been the best player in a bad era of Giants football. Losing him was one thing. But losing him to a divisional rival? Akin to pouring salt in the wound of a damaged, at times directionless franchise.

Such was Barkley’s performance Sunday, his first at MetLife Stadium since signing with the Eagles in the offseason: 187 all-purpose yards and a touchdown in the Eagles’ dominant 28-3 win. Barkley was at his best, a brutal reminder for Giants fans of just how much talent the organization let leave: he accounted for three of Philly’s four longest plays, runs of 55, 41 and 38 yards.

In fact, Barkley’s 761 scrimmage yards this season are the most of any player in his first six games with a team since … Barkley’s rookie season with the Giants back in 2018.

The Giants, meanwhile, pulled starter Daniel Jones in the fourth quarter. He finished with fewer than 100 yards passing on 21 attempts and was sacked seven times. New York is 2-5 and another season feels like it’s slipping away. It’s fair to wonder how long coach Brian Daboll will stick with him.

“Daniel will be the quarterback going forward,” Daboll said after the loss. But for 2025? That’s looking less and less likely.

Early race for No. 1 pick

It’s still early, but we’re starting to get a sense of which teams will be in the running for the top pick in April’s draft.

So far, no one’s looked worse on a week-to-week basis than the Panthers. The roster’s thin, the offense is devoid of playmakers and the defense is being forced to spend far too much time on the field. One has to wonder if they’re willing to trade Bryce Young, the 2023 No. 1 draft pick, before next month’s deadline.

This is going to get even uglier as we inch into winter. Will the David Tepper era ever look any different in Carolina? So far, Panthers fans have little reason for optimism. Since the hedge fund billionaire bought the team in 2018, Carolina is 32-74 and headed for a seventh straight losing season.

The Patriots have dropped six straight and, like the Panthers, are 1-6. But at least with Drake Maye, there is hope at the quarterback position.

The Browns are also 1-6 and will either turn to Jameis Winston or Dorian Thompson-Robinson to replace Watson.

The Titans are 1-5 and their young quarterback, Will Levis, has turned the ball over 10 times in five starts before sitting out with a shoulder injury.

The Saints, who lost to the Broncos 33-10 on Thursday night, have dropped five straight after scoring 91 points the first two weeks of the season in a pair of eye-popping wins over the Panthers and Cowboys. New Orleans’ season has turned and turned fast.

(Top photo: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)