Week 5 overreactions: Vikings as Super Bowl…

The Minnesota Vikings have the longest active winning streak in the NFL.

Yes, those Minnesota Vikings, who just made the Saints the latest victim of the Brian Flores torture chamber defense. This is a team that’s now won 10 straight games dating back to last year. In Flores’ latest masterpiece, the Vikings held Tyler Shough to 96 passing yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. Minnesota basically doubled New Orleans in time of possession and owned a 364-142 yardage advantage.

In this column, I try not to get overboard too quickly — it’s still early, yada yada — but it’s time to really project forward, and the Vikings might be the least-talked-about 5-0 team in NFL history.

So let’s talk about them.

The Vikings are legit Super Bowl contenders

Overreaction or reality: Reality

Some numbers lie. These don’t:

• The Vikings lead the NFL in defensive success rate (66.5%). That would be the best number in the past decade.
• The Vikings lead the NFL in defensive EPA per play (0.22). That would be the second-best number in the past decade.
• The Vikings lead the NFL in sack rate (9.8%). That would be the fifth-best number in the past decade.
• And that sack rate isn’t a fluke. They had the fourth-best sack rate of the past decade last year.

Flores is the best coordinator in the NFL. We already knew this defense was excellent, but it was encouraging to see Kyler Murray play his best game with the Vikings yet. He completed 24 of 30 passes (80%) for 229 yards and a touchdown to Justin Jefferson, and he ran the ball seven times for another 54 yards, excluding three kneeldowns. They aren’t absurdly good numbers, but they don’t need to be if the defense is going to be this dominant.

Here’s the stuff Murray can do to take this team to another level. The Vikings were actually down 7-6 early in the third quarter before a touchdown drive where Murray scrambled for 18 yards on third-and-10 and then threw a beauty of a touchdown to Jefferson on third-and-6.

Later, with the score tied, Murray sparked what proved to be the game-winning drive with a 32-yard pass to Jeshaun Jones. This was by far his best performance in Minnesota, and it makes sense considering he suffered a concussion in Week 1. The Vikings’ ground game also had its best day, a byproduct of not only Murray’s running but the threat of his running.

Murray doesn’t have to be great. But if he can take care of the ball, find Jefferson — who made some spectacular catches — and make a few timely plays, this is a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

Texans can still make the playoffs

Overreaction or reality: Reality

Only one team — the 1992 Chargers — has made the playoffs after starting 0-4. Can the 2026 Texans join them? It shouldn’t be ruled out.

The Texans thumped the hapless Titans 26-3. With DeMeco Ryans taking over play-calling, the defense was at its very best, allowing just 187 yards and 3.2 yards per play. Will Anderson Jr., who is on track to not only win Defensive Player of the Year but potentially dominate the vote, sacked Cam Ward three times, and Houston forced two turnovers. C.J. Stroud threw for one touchdown and ran for another.

But this isn’t really about this game, because the Titans are hardly a good measuring stick. Rather, it’s about what the Texans still can do. Remember, this is an organization that made the playoffs after starting 0-3 last year. This year’s team isn’t last year’s team, but it can have similar success, especially because Stroud is playing really well when Nico Collins is on the field. Plus, look at the Texans’ upcoming schedule:

The Texans could be favored in all of those games, or at least the next five after the Jaguars game. If the defense is back to dominating, writing off the Texans simply because history says 0-4 teams don’t make the postseason would be a mistake.

The NFC East winner will have a losing record

Overreaction or reality: Overreaction

The NFC East did not have a banner week. The Cowboys dropped a home game to the previously winless Buccaneers, led by undrafted rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels, on Thursday. Sunday morning, the Eagles lost after taking a two-point lead with eight seconds and inexplicably giving the Jaguars a returnable kickoff. After a big return, Cam Little made a 57-yard field goal as time expired, and Nick Sirianni said, “I cost us that game.”

All of that paled in comparison to the utter disaster that was the end of the Commanders-Giants game. With no timeouts left and well within field goal range, Washington somehow ran out of time with a completely incompetent final sequence.

That means the 3-1-1 Giants are still in first place in the division, the Cowboys and Eagles are 2-3, and the Commanders are 1-3-1 and reeling.

It becomes really, really difficult to see any team in this division reaching 10 wins, simply because each team has major issues. The Cowboys can’t defend anyone. The Eagles can’t score. The Giants are putting their trust in Jameis Winston, and the Commanders can’t stop anyone and seem on the brink of collapsing completely.

Only once has the NFC East (as currently constructed) had a champion with a losing record. I won’t go that far yet, but no team reaching double-digit wins is very much on the table.

The Commanders should fire Dan Quinn … but they probably can’t right now

Overreaction or reality: Reality

I hate advocating for anyone to be fired, but the NFL is a results-driven business, and the results just aren’t good enough for the Commanders. As Quinn said, Sunday’s tie feels like a loss, and it feels like another lost season in the nation’s capital.

And that’s a bummer, because Jayden Daniels looked truly excellent in his return from a dislocated elbow. The chance for the Commanders to be right in the thick of things in such an underwhelming division was right there.

Quinn put all the blame for the debacle on his shoulders, as he should have. But the idea that it’s time for him to be fired goes deeper than Sunday. A week earlier, a poor fourth-and-1 decision using a third-string quarterback turned a winnable game against the Colts into a blowout loss. Sunday, he made another poor fourth-down decision, opting to punt from positive territory instead of going for it. The Giants’ offense was rolling with three touchdowns on three drives to force overtime, and then in overtime, New York had moved the ball again easily but missed a field goal.

Giving the Giants a possession in a next-score-win scenario, therefore, was a bad idea. Cam Skattebo actually bailed Quinn out with a horrible fumble with the Giants again in field goal range, only for Quinn to make his worst mistake yet. Washington has now won just three of its past 17 games.

Quinn’s performance has been fire-worthy. The thing is, the Commanders have two first-time coordinators. There is one former head coach on staff — running backs coach Anthony Lynn — but upending the staff would be a tough development in a season that’s quickly slipping from returning to the playoffs to simply hoping Daniels can stay healthy and continue to progress. Owner Josh Harris is known for being patient (he owns the “Trust the Process” 76ers), and, in his first year as Washington’s owner, he gave Ron Rivera an entire season.

Long story short, Quinn will likely keep his job at least through the end of the year, but that is more a product of circumstance than of deserving it.

The Dolphins need to replace Malik Willis

Overreaction or reality: Overreaction

Malik Willis was in the news this week when Bengals safety Jordan Battle told reporters he had a “tell” for when Willis would throw. And guess who picked off Willis twice Sunday? Jordan Battle.

I won’t sit here and say Willis was good Sunday. His second interception was awful. He was once again very inaccurate, and he has the highest off-target rate in the NFL this season by far.

But there are three reasons the Dolphins shouldn’t bench Willis:

1. They owe it to themselves to see this through. This was always going to be a really rough season, but they signed Willis to a three-year deal as a sort of in-between attempt at a solution. If Willis played well, he would be a cheap solution at the game’s most important position. If he doesn’t, he can easily be replaced after the season. It’s worth at least trying.
2. The passing numbers are ugly, but because Willis is such an effective runner, he was actually OK on Sunday. His -0.02 EPA per dropback is slightly below average, but nothing awful. The Dolphins rolled up 217 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Their most effective path to being in games is pounding the run and hoping to get some turnover luck. Willis is a huge part of the running game (he had 74 rushing yards and a score on Sunday).
3. Most importantly, if it’s not Malik Willis, who’s it going to be? Kyle McCord, who has never played in an NFL game, is the only other quarterback on the roster. Willis is a captain. The offense is designed around his mobility. For such a young team, the Dolphins demoting him would be a bad move.