NFL Fallout Week 5: The Eagles Aren't Contenders — And Should Start Rebuilding

The NFC East belonged to the Philadelphia Eagles for most of the past four seasons, but their reign of terror is over. It’s clear that this season just isn’t going to turn out the way they wanted.

So it’s time for the organization to start focusing on rebuilding for next year.

In fact, the first signs that they might be willing to raise a white flag on 2026 came last week with their bizarre decision to trade guard Cam Jurgens while they can barely piece together an offensive line of their own. But if that wasn’t a sign of surrender, they should really consider it now, after their soul-crushing 19-17 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on Sunday.

It was a game they deserved to lose by a lot more than that, yet still could’ve won if they hadn’t become so inept at just about everything. They lost it when head coach Nick Sirianni failed to run the clock down on what would’ve been a game-winning field goal, then chose to kick off to the Jaguars instead of ordering the ball kicked through the end zone or even out of bounds with eight seconds remaining. Doing neither opened the door for a long kickoff return and a long field goal, which is precisely what the Jaguars pulled off to win at the buzzer.

Sirianni’s brain freeze and the ensuing comedy of errors were only part of the Eagles’ many mounting problems, though. Their offense, under first-year, first-time coordinator Sean Mannion continues to be a mess. Philly had just 232 yards, bringing its average up to 217.3 over the past three weeks. And that slog has taken a toll on a defense that has given up 47 fourth-quarter points through five games.

Meanwhile, the injuries are becoming insurmountable. The Eagles are currently down to their fourth running back, after injuries to Saquon Barkley, Tank Bigsby and Will Shipley. Their receiving corps is missing DeVonta Smith and Hollywood Brown. They’ve lost Jonathan Greenard and now Jalyx Hunt from their pass rush. And that’s before you get to a once-powerful offensive line that has lost Lane Johnson (retired), Landon Dickerson (IR), Jurgens (traded) and now center Drew Kendall and guard Tyler Steen, too.

The Eagles are almost literally a shell of their former selves. The only thing keeping them afloat right now is that the NFC East still stinks. Neither the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys nor the Washington Commanders have shown any signs of being capable of pulling away. 

But staying afloat in muddy waters shouldn’t be enough for Philadelphia. That’s not the standard this franchise has set. The team brass has to face the painful truth that this year's Eagles just aren't nearly as good as they used to be. And they can’t be OK with that.

But Philly could be good again soon, if GM Howie Roseman and Co. continues to be shrewd and forward thinking between now and the trading deadline on Nov. 10. They should try for more deals like the one with Jurgens, trading players that don’t fit for valuable draft picks. They should dump some bloated contracts if they can. They should even consider adding some young, affordable talent, if the price is right.

Because they’re going to be doing that all offseason anyway, when everything will be on the table — from the job security of Sirianni to the long-term future of quarterback Jalen Hurts. Owner Jeffrey Lurie, who insisted with a straight face this week that he still has his sights set on the Super Bowl this season, has obviously set a high bar for his Eagles over the years. To him, there is championship-caliber, and there is not, and there is really nothing much in between.

To get back to being championship-caliber, he has to know these Eagles will look a lot different next season. Their offensive line is heading into what could be a multi-year process of being completely rebuilt. Saquon Barkley is 29 and already showing signs of slowing (not to mention mounting injuries). They need help at receiver and in the pass rush. It’s even been a while since Hurts has looked like the dangerous, dual-threat weapon he once was.

Jalen Hurts has rushed for just 107 yards through five games, including only 2 yards in the Eagles' narrow loss to the Jaguars. (Photo by Vince Mignott/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)

In other words, change is going to come, so why wait? The ceiling for the current Eagles is mediocrity. They’re too depleted and too flawed to be much more than that. Building a better future should be the Eagles' priority now, over a few more meaningless wins.

It’s just too late for this season. It can’t be what the Eagles hoped. But it’s not too early to start thinking about what comes next.

The NFL world focused its offseason attention on Southern California, where it looked like the Los Angeles Rams were assembling a "Dream Team" destined for a Super Bowl run. But it turns out we were all off by about 400 miles.

The 49ers are the ones living the dream.

It really shouldn’t be a surprise anymore that they are 5-0 and looking like the best team in the NFL, because that’s exactly what they are. They cemented that on Sunday when they beat the defending champion Seattle Seahawks, 32-29. They pounded the superteam Rams back in Week 1, too.

The 49ers didn’t do as much cosmetic surgery as the Rams did this past offseason, but they did add Mike Evans, who, at 33 years old, is reminding everyone why he’s the best receiver of this generation. He had another seven catches for 113 yards and a touchdown on Sunday, and now has a 24-326-3 stat line through the first five games.

That added a dimension that the 49ers didn’t have last year. And really, they already have everything else. Christian McCaffrey remains the NFL’s best two-way running back. Brock Purdy isn’t flashy, but there isn’t a quarterback more efficient. George Kittle, at age 33, is still a dangerous tight end. And behind 38-year-old left tackle Trent Williams, the Niners’ offensive line is one of the best in the league.

And as they showed on Sunday, holding the Seahawks to 251 yards and forcing three turnovers, they might have the NFL’s best defense, too.

Add in Kyle Shanahan, easily one of the top three coaches in the league, and the 49ers are the complete package. All that they’ve been missing the past few seasons is good health. If they finally have that, the path to Super Bowl LXI is indeed going to run through California.

Just not the part of California that we all thought.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton dishonorably discharged offensive coordinator Davis Webb from his playcalling duties last week, hoping to use his own elite skills to fix the problems with the Broncos’ offense. But it turns out the problems run a lot deeper than plays.

Quarterback Bo Nix is regressing. And the 3-2 Broncos have no running game at all.

That’s not a playcalling problem as much as a personnel problem. And Nix is the most mysterious one. Maybe he’s still recovering from the broken ankle he suffered this past January, but he’s basically turned himself into a relative statue in the pocket, incapable of making plays on the run like he did in the past.

Worse, he’s become a game-manager — and not a very good one. In the past three games, he’s completed just 56.3% of his passes. He was 16 of 27 (59.3%) for 123 yards as Denver squeaked by the 0-5 Chargers.

It doesn’t help that the Broncos can’t run the ball. They weren’t great in that department last season, either, but the duo of J.K. Dobbins (229 yards in five games) and R.J. Harvey (56 yards) aren’t packing much of a punch.

The Broncos rallied to beat the Chargers in Week 5, but their issues on offense are as evident as ever. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Normally, when an offense is struggling, a playcaller will keep it simple: Lean on the run and make the quarterback throw high-percentage passes. But what exactly is the coach supposed to do when neither of those two things work?

The running game may truly be unfixable at this point, but Payton has to figure out a way to get Nix going. If not, his offense isn’t going to get going at all, and the Broncos won’t be the Super Bowl contenders they thought they were going to be.

Kevin O’Connell looks like he’s done it again.

The Vikings coach with the well-earned reputation as a quarterback whisperer may have created another monster in new quarterback Kyler Murray. And if he has — if Murray really turns out to be his latest successful reclamation project — Minnesota will be tough to beat in the NFC.

Murray finally looked a lot like his old self on Sunday versus New Orleans, completing 24 of 30 passes for 229 yards and a touchdown, while running seven times for 54 yards (before game-ending kneel-downs). It was by far the best of his four starts for the 5-0 Vikings. And it was the first time he really looked like the dangerous, dual-threat quarterback he was years ago before injuries began to derail his career.

It’s just one game, but Murray does have history on his side, since O’Connell has done this before. This could be reminiscent of 2024, when the Vikings coach took another left-for-dead quarterback in Sam Darnold and turned him into a viable starter and more. 

It took a long time for everyone to start believing in that Vikings team, too, despite a 5-0 start to their season. But they finished 14-3 and came within a season-ending loss in Detroit of being the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

There’s a long way to go before Murray becomes the next Darnold. But he’s only 29, and on Sunday it looked as though knee and foot injuries over the years haven’t sapped him of all his elusiveness. He also now has WR Justin Jefferson on his side — the best receiver he’s played with in his eight NFL seasons — and a coach who has long been one of the NFL’s best offensive minds.

So it’s all there for him and the Vikings, if Murray can stay healthy. There’s no doubt their defense is championship-caliber. They just need Murray to give them a little help along the way.

Jayden Daniels’ return is the best thing that’s happened to Commanders coach Dan Quinn. Unless it turns out to be the worst.

Daniels returned to the Commanders on Sunday, just three weeks since dislocating his left elbow, and completed 17 of 25 passes for 199 yards on a wet day in Washington, while running nine times for 103 yards and two long touchdowns. He looked like his old self and was basically the reason why the Commanders led the Giants by 14 points with 11 minutes to go. It was a reminder of how far the quarterback is capable of carrying a very flawed team.

But it was also a reminder that if Quinn can’t find a way to win with him, he’s going to end up fired — maybe soon.

Because for all of Daniels’ heroics, Washington ended up in a 27-27 tie with the Giants, after Daniels inexplicably let the clock run out in overtime with the offense well within field goal range. It doesn’t matter that Daniels should’ve known better. His coach can’t let that happen. Quinn had to have his team better prepared in that situation and know exactly what to do.

The time bungle was bad enough (even Commanders part-owner Magic Johnson said he was "in total disbelief" on social media). But Quinn’s issues went deeper than that. The Commanders (1-3-1) were up two scores before their defense, which Quinn built and now is calling again, failed to stop a Giants team with Jameis Winston at quarterback. Daniels gave the Commanders almost everything they needed to win, but Quinn couldn’t ensure that they hung on.

Daniels carried Quinn and the Commanders to the NFC Championship Game just two seasons ago. But with Daniels out with injuries for half of last season, the Commanders went 5-12. And the absence of Daniels was a convenient excuse, and surely a huge reason why Quinn was brought back.

But he’s out of excuses now. With Daniels in the lineup again, Quinn’s seat is hotter than ever. He has a chance to win a lot of games with his dazzling young quarterback at the helm. And he better. If he can’t, he’ll soon be out of a job.

Final Thoughts From Sunday ...

• The Texans showed their first signs of life on Sunday, blowing out the Titans. And now they've acquired WR Marvin Harrison Jr. from the Cardinals. Maybe he’ll prove to be worth the high cost (essentially a second-round pick), but don’t expect his presence to suddenly make the Texans contenders. Defense was their primary issue in their 0-4 start. DeMeco Ryans took back the playcalling and maybe that will help. But more likely, the hole they’ve dug is just way too deep. Even with the win, they're three games behind the Jaguars in the AFC South.
• This is why teams don’t panic, even when everyone else does: Drake Maye had one touchdown pass and six interceptions and was averaging 195 passing yards through the Patriots’ 0-3 start. In the past two weeks — both wins — he’s thrown seven touchdowns with just one interception while averaging 321.5 passing yards. New England’s schedule is still a lot tougher than it was last season. But if Maye can keep playing like the near-MVP he was last season, it’ll prove everyone was wrong to count him and the 2-3 Patriots out.
• The Dallas Cowboys' loss at home this past Thursday to the previously winless Buccaneers was embarrassing, but it should be a wake-up call that whatever new coordinator Christian Parker is doing on defense isn’t working. Maybe it’s too early to take the playcalling away from the first-time coordinator, but they may have to think about it soon. Jerry Jones, as he’s pointed out, has pumped way too much money into that defense for it to be this bad.

In NFL Fallout, Ralph Vacchiano breaks down the impact of the biggest events every Sunday.