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Have you looked at the NFL standings this week? Take note that no team has an unbeaten record through seven games of this season.
The 1972 Miami Dolphins were the last team to accomplish that feat for an entire season.
Teammates from that special Super Bowl winner annually break out the bubbly and raise a toast during the weekend when the final NFL unbeaten team bites the dust.
Can you believe that happened in Week #5 this season? The Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles both lost on the same weekend after racing to a 4-0 start.
On the negative side, the lowly New York Jets are still without a win.
They are 0-7 through last weekend’s games. The J-E-T-S can set a new NFL record for futility this season if they should finish 0-17. That previous record of 0-16 was last accomplished by the 2017 Cleveland Browns before the league added an additional game beginning in 2021.
My New Orleans Saints are right behind at 1-6.
The team is playing hard (we’ll call it “competing”) every week but losing nonetheless. Bumbling General Manager Mickey Loomis has (somehow) managed to keep his job. Former Saints coach Sean Payton left the Crescent City and has already turned around the formerly lame Denver Broncos.
Saints fans are painfully aware that Coach Payton’s Denver Broncos are 5-2 this season and leading the AFC West. Geaux Broncos!
Most of the NFL’s marquis teams are playing quite well in 2025
You couldn’t write a better script for this year’s NFL second half of the season. Some of the well known football teams in this list will keep rolling. Others (pay attention, Dallas Cowboys fans) will fade down the stretch.
Let’s start with the NFC and note how some of these iconic teams are faring:
Philadelphia Eagles – Last season’s Super Bowl champions started 4-0, but the wheels started to come off with two straight losses. Philly just rediscovered its passing game. The Eagles are now 5-2 and lead the NFC East – again.
Dallas Cowboys – America’s team (love ’em or loathe them) have a porous defense. However, the Dallas offense is capable of scoring 35 points every time they take the field.
A 3-3-1 Dallas Cowboys team has kept their enormous fan base energized. Many (perhaps delusionally) wish/hope/believe that the Cowboys could reach their first NFC championship game in 30 years!
Tampa Bay Buccaneers – The gritty Bucs are 5-2 and are willing to pillage and plunder any and all NFC South opponents. Tampa Bay’s success will keep the fast-growing Florida market happy – especially if the Bucs can mount a playoff run this season.
Green Bay Packers – The only NFC team with just one loss (including that weird 40-40 tie at Dallas) is meeting early-season expectations.
The 4-1-1 Packers from the NFC North are not dominating opponents, but Green Bay’s improving defense keeps them close most every week.
Detroit Lions – America’s favorite NFL underdog team is winning again this season. Could the 5-2 Lions finally break through and make their first-ever Super Bowl?
What do you think, Charlie Brown?
Chicago Bears – Don’t forget about the 4-2 Chicago Bears! Rookie head coach Ben Johnson (former offensive coordinator for NFC North rival Detroit) has da’ Bears and their fans believing. The city of Chicago is starved for a winner. Are the Bears going to make some noise in the second half of the NFL season and reach the playoffs for the first time since 2018?
Los Angeles Rams – Quarterback Matthew Stafford is playing in his 17th NFL season and, as of this week, remains in good form and health. Lest we forget, the NFC West Rams won a Super Bowl only three seasons ago. This well-coached 5-2 Rams team helps to keep millions of southern California fans interested in the NFL during the fall.
San Francisco 49ers – The Rams’ nemesis from northern California is also 5-2. The 49ers have lost key player after player to injury but keep coming back like “The Black Knight” from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Seattle Seahawks – Don’t forget about the darlings of the Pacific Northwest! The under-the-radar Seahawks are off to a 5-2 start and part of a three-way tie for first in the NFC West. This race to the finish line should keep Pacific Coast NFL owners and TV partners quite happy for the next two months.
The AFC’s midpoint features more big name teams with intriguing story lines
New England Patriots – Be honest. Did anyone predict the Patriots to be 5-2 and ½ game ahead of Buffalo in the AFC East at this point in the season? Former Patriots player-turned-coach Mike Vrabel and second-year quarterback Drake Maye have millions of New Englanders happy about their football team once again.
Buffalo Bills – We were supposed to pencil-in the Bills into next February’s Super Bowl, right?
Buffalo’s 4-2 start has shown that this team is capable of great play at times, but the Bills can look as if they weren’t prepared to play in some games, too. That suggests a coaching issue. Like Detroit in the NFC, Buffalo is one of the AFC underdogs which fans would love to see make it into a Super Bowl.
Pittsburgh Steelers – The 4-2 Steelers have been able to keep 41-year old quarterback Aaron Rodgers upright and relatively healthy thus far. Pittsburgh’s fast start was expected based on a relatively weak early season schedule.
The bigger surprise comes from their AFC North nemesis Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore is just 1-5 and has given Terrible Towel waving Steelers fans reason to be optimistic – at least for now.
Indianapolis Colts – The team with the best record in the entire NFL (6-1) is…Indianapolis? Much like the Detroit Lions of the NFC, the surprising AFC South (?) Colts have captured the imagination of fans who love a good underdog story. Can Indianapolis maintain this pace for the second half of the season? Doubtful.
Denver Broncos – Last week’s incredible 33-point scoring outburst in the fourth quarter helped Denver beat the New York Giants 33-32.
Perhaps the 5-2 AFC West Broncos have the right mojo this season and could make a deep playoff run. Second year quarterback Bo Nix has become a great field general for Denver’s Coach Sean Payton. It doesn’t hurt that Denver’s defense has been stellar.
Kansas City Chiefs – The only 4-3 team which I am listing in this story is also one of America’s favorite teams – the Kansas City Chiefs. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes just added wide receiver Rashee Rice to his increasingly dangerous wide receiving corps. The Chiefs started 0-2 but have won four of their last five games. Watch out, AFC West!
“I (don’t) want to be a part of it – New York, New York!”
The two pro football teams from singer Frank Sinatra’s legendary “city that never sleeps” have not played well in recent years. Perhaps the football players on Gotham’s two NFL franchises are in need of MORE sleep!
Unfortunately, the nation’s number one television market features two NFL teams which are unlikely to mount a significant second half turnaround.
Fans of the improving 2-5 New York Giants and the woeful 0-7 New York J-E-T-S hope that their favorite team might, perhaps, play a spoiler role during the November and December home stretch.
It must be incredibly tough for New York City football fans to be (literally) surrounded by good NFL franchises this season.
Check out the records of the NFL teams located closest to “The Big Apple” thus far:
Upstate Buffalo clocks in at 4-2. Nearby New England leads the AFC East at 5-2. Less than one hundred miles to the south via I-95, Philly is leading the NFC East at 5-2.
Each of those teams has a good chance to make the NFL playoffs in January.
The last time the New York Jets qualified for the NFL playoffs was the year 2010. They are on track to post their 10th consecutive losing season.
The New York Giants last qualified for the NFC Playoffs in 2022 (losing in the first round). Since then, the Giants sank to 6-11 in 2023 and bottomed at 3-14 last year.
No wonder many New Yorkers seem to be so crusty!
The NFL’s “cards” are showing a full-house
This deck is, indeed, stacked.
NFL teams featuring some of the league’s best players like Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Buffalo’s Josh Allen are positioned for a possible playoff run. Some of the NFL’s most fervent fans (Dallas, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, and Denver) are giddy about their playoff chances.
Some of the NFL’s biggest TV markets (Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia) and biggest underdogs (Indianapolis and New England) are excited about their chances to see possible post-season action, too.
It all makes for a winning hand for the NFL’s franchise owners and its numerous TV partners who have paid billions for the media rights to these weekly games.
Television ratings for the NFL continue to obliterate every other network or cable television show every week.
Don’t forget about those influential Las Vegas and online gambling interests. The action is going to be hotter than normal coming down the stretch as the NFL’s thoroughbred teams race toward the 2025 playoffs.
Yes, it’s good to be the (NFL) King!