Debunking three of the NFL's biggest misconceptions through 11 weeks

We’ve seen some funky things in the NFL so far this season. We’ve seen the Indianapolis Colts have the hottest offense in the sport, we’ve seen the Chicago Bears become the kings of the NFC North and we’ve seen the Carolina Panthers become a force in the NFC South. 

But what about some of the juggernauts from the 2024 season? The Chiefs stink. Why don’t the Eagles throw their fastball? The Commanders' season has gone surprisingly terribly. And on and on.

There’s a reason behind all of those things. Let’s start with the death of a dynasty.

These Chiefs are worse than last year’s Chiefs

From a record standpoint, yes. At this point in 2024, Kansas City was sitting pretty with a 9-1 record. Right now, they are 5-5. The thing is, the 2025 Chiefs could probably beat the 2024 Chiefs.

Going into Week 12 in 2024, the Chiefs had a +49 point differential. Right now, they have a +73 point differential. In 2024, they averaged 327.6 yards per game (16th) on offense, and in 2025, that number has jumped up to 364.2 (7th). That’s a 36.6-yard increase. On defense, they went from 320.6 yards per game (9th) to 296.8 yards per game (7th). That’s a 23.8-yard decrease. They went from allowing 218.8 passing yards and 101.8 rushing yards to 196.8 passing yards and 100 rushing yards.

It’s even more significant when you get into the nerdy stats, and specifically with Expected Points Added (EPA) per game. In 2024, their offense had +0.03 EPA per play and +3.75 EPA per game. That’s up to +0.12 EPA per play and +9.25 EPA per game this season, a massive jump. In 2024, their defense allowed -0.04 EPA per play and +0.62 EPA per game. That’s down to -0.07 EPA per play and -0.96 EPA per game.

So if the 2025 Chiefs are better than the 2024 Chiefs, why do they have a worse record? Well … pretty much just bad luck. They’re 0-5 in one-score games this season. In 2024, they were 11-0 in the same spots. That was completely unsustainable, sure, but to be fair so is an 0-5 mark.

Think about Week 10 last season: The Broncos lined up for a game-winning 35-yard field goal as time expired, and Leo Chenal broke through and blocked the kick. Last week, the Broncos lined up for a game-winning 35-yard field goal as time expired, but this time it didn’t get blocked and Denver won. Sure, blocking a field goal isn’t completely luck-based, but there’s still a smidge of it. 

And that block was just one example of a handful of games that ended in fortunate ways for the Chiefs. That’s just not how everything is falling for them this season. If you’re a Chiefs hater, you love to see it. If you’re a Chiefs fan, you're scratching your head and wondering what part of your soul you sold for three Super Bowl wins in the past six years.

The Eagles just need to run the ball

The Eagles' offense feels broken right now, and that’s because it kind of is. It certainly doesn’t look pretty, or good, or functional, or fun to play in, or like a professional offense. And, well, that’s because it isn’t. 

The Eagles have an 8-2 record, are on the verge of being the first team to win the NFC East in back-to-back seasons in 20 years and are sitting at the top of the entire NFC as Super Bowl favorites. What they are doing on offense is objectively successful ... but it’s so unbelievably frustrating to watch game after game, drive after drive, and snap after snap.

They’re going three-and-out at the highest clip of any team in the NFL. They’ve scored 26 total points in the last two games. A.J. Brown is constantly disgruntled with his usage. And the route combinations look like something you would see in a third-grader's "super secret playbook".

It’s confusing because they returned 10 of their 11 offensive starters from last season, one in which they could seemingly run the ball whenever they wanted to, whenever they wanted to and on whoever they wanted to. So if that’s the case, why not just do that again? A.J. Brown’s not going to be happy with this offense, so why try to appease him? Why not just run the ball?

Because they can’t; because the Eagles are not a good running team this season. 

It’d be cool if it were a situation where you could just say, "Saquon’s burnt out from his 500-ish touches last season". That’d be so easy, except it’s not that at all. You can see Saquon’s explosiveness, his breakaway speed, his ability to make dudes miss.

It’s all about the Eagles' offensive line, and they’re just not playing nearly as well as they did in 2024. They started the season worn down and coming off a short offseason, and now, they’re worn down, have played over half of a football season and are down Lane Johnson and (maybe) Cam Jurgens due to injury. That’s not good.

What made Saquon work in New York is that he did things himself with really creative moves behind a garbage pail of an offensive line. What made Saquon work so well last season was that he finally had an offensive line, and he was able to follow his blocks for the first time.

He’s trying to do the same thing this season as he did last season, but the blocks just aren’t there. Because of all this, Barkley went from having 3.78 yards before contact in 2024 to 2.3 yards before contact in 2025. 

So the idea that they should just pivot back ot the running game isn’t correct. Well, it’s not totally incorrect. 

They can get Saquon in space and let him make guys miss, they can supplement screens for a running game (thus, getting Barkley in space), or they could do a little bit more in the quarterback run game, which would, of course, lead to Barkley in space.

This isn’t the 2021 offense with Jordan Howard, where he could just keep smashing up the gut until the defense lost its will to compete and he would break loose. It’s not the 2024 Eagles, where it was just a matter of time until Barkley would rip a 25+-yarder for a touchdown. It’s not that the Eagles can just run the ball and get back on track.

It’s that the Eagles need to run the ball differently when they do run it. They need to help out a struggling run-blocking offensive line with misdirections, counters and well-timed gap-scheme runs. You know, manufacturing plays where Barkley gets in space, instead of bashing him against a wall over and over again. 

The Commanders are having a season from Hell

Are the Commanders having a bad season? Yes. Is it particularly worse than any other season that they’ve had? Not really.

They won the Super Bowl in 1991, and they’ve won exactly five playoff games since. Granted, two of those five were last season, but it’s not like they’ve been a bastion of success in the NFL; they had a good season with a rookie quarterback who played out of his mind. 

Then, Adam Peters and the front office started making bone-headed decisions by trading a whole lot of draft picks for a few old players. He followed that up by signing old players in free agency. Then he re-signed some more old players, all while only drafting five in the spring.

Predictably, a bunch of those old players started falling off and getting hurt. Then their young quarterback, who fancies himself a runner, took a bunch of hits and has gotten hurt a few times. All of this stuff happening was pretty likely. But is it a season from hell? Not at all.

Aside from Terry McLaurin, who they just signed to a three-year contract for $96 million, the guys who have gotten hurt aren’t on chonko-sized contracts. (Also, McLaurin is 30 years old, so signing him was a risky move in itself.)

Hell, Jayden Daniels dislocated his elbow, but he didn’t have a broken bone or any damaged ligaments. As far as a gruesome injury to your quarterback goes, that’s not too terrible ... especially with how horrifying it initially looked, and especially given that franchise’s history with injuries to their young running quarterbacks.

To call it a "season from hell" implies that it came out of nowhere and everything is going as poorly as possible. Yeah, it’s going poorly, but it’s what happens when you have the oldest roster in the NFL. 

Now, the Falcons, on the other hand? They’re in a season from hell. During the draft, they traded their 2026 first-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams to draft James Pierce Jr. It turns out that said 2026 first-round pick is going to be super valuable. Now, Atlanta is going into Week 12 with a 3-7 record, their best wide receiver is currently hurt and Michael Penix, their 2024 first-round draft pick, hurt his knee and is out for the rest of the season. And they don’t have their own first-round pick to help.

So, the Commanders are having a very bad but familiar year. The Falcons are having a bad, but familiar year, except the repercussions of their bad season are unbelievably devastating. That is a season from hell.