Three teams have run the table through four weeks: the Kansas City Chiefs, the Minnesota Vikings, and the San Francisco 49ers. Minnesota has been the surprise story of the league, with defensive coordinator Brian Flores running an assault-style scheme that leads the NFL in blitz rate and total pressure. The Chiefs are the Chiefs — methodical, relentless, and making every opponent look beatable while barely breaking a sweat. All three have legitimate Super Bowl credentials, and at least one of them is going to face a serious test in the next four weeks.

It has been an apocalyptic start for a handful of teams that entered 2026 with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations. The Houston Texans and Miami Dolphins have both bottomed out at 0-4, with Houston’s offense stagnating completely and Miami’s identity disappearing due to depth limitations. The Los Angeles Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers round out the winless group. All four are facing real questions about whether the issues are structural or correctable, and the answers are looking more structural by the week.

In Denver, head coach Sean Payton has officially stripped offensive coordinator Davis Webb of play-calling duties, expanding his own role to a fully collaborative and centralized approach starting this week. The Broncos’ low-scoring passing attack needed intervention, and Payton decided the moment for waiting was over. When a head coach of Payton’s pedigree takes back the controls, the offense tends to look very different within two to three weeks. Denver’s opponents should take note.

Off the field, the NFL filed a major amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant states the power to regulate prediction markets tied to sports outcomes. The league cited that on opening weekend alone, over $1.8 billion was traded on NFL game outcomes through largely unregulated prediction market platforms. The NFL’s position is that without clear state-level gambling guardrails, the integrity of the sport itself is at risk. The Supreme Court has not yet indicated whether it will take up the issue, but the league’s formal involvement signals how seriously the front office views unregulated sports betting infrastructure as an existential threat.