We’re through seven weeks of the season, and aside from the Indianapolis Colts, there hasn’t been one that has looked consistent, good, or consistently good through those seven weeks.
Teams are never going to tell you that they’re panicking. Look at the Dolphins: they’re sitting on a canoe in the middle of a volcano, and Tua Tagovailoa is just talking about how he’s short and can’t see his receivers. Is that him being aloof? Is that him playing coy? Is that symptomatic of chronic mashed potato brain? Yes…But it’s not outward panic.
The outward panic comes from the fans. That’s where you have to go for the pulse of how things are going. Sure, go to Twitter and get deep in the replies, and the replies to the replies… But that’s a dark place.
Football is an emotional game for everyone
You find your circle of people who know ball; the people who are more or less realistic fans of their teams; the people who are going to give you insight into the vibes around a team. You ask those people how things are going. That’s how you get a real gauge on the panic meter.
This is going to sound like a flex, and that’s because it kind of is: I have friends; I have the aforementioned circle of people. I decided to text some of them and find out how everyone is feeling about their different teams. I asked: “I’m writing a panic meter thing. Where are you at with X team?” These are their responses.
Surprisingly, none: Jaguars
“Ehh. No panic really at all. They’ll be healthy out of the bye week and then don’t have the hardest schedule in the world. Raiders, Titans twice, Cardinals, Jets. I’d be very happy with 9 wins with wide receivers who can’t catch the ball.” -Tom Brown, Jaguars fan.
That’s an incredibly measured take, and kind of surprising given how the Jags started their season looking like a very real team. They whooped up on the Panthers, lost a weird one to the Bengals, then beat the Texans, the 49ers, and the Chiefs. They followed that up with two mega-duds against the Seahawks and the Rams.
So I texted back, “Gotcha, I didn’t know if the hot start got you feeling some type of way.”
He responded, “A lot of people did. But they forgot we’re the Jaguars. If they beat the chargers then I’ll be ready to be heartbroken.”
Yup. Right there. That’s it. I fall into that category of people who forgot they were the Jaguars. Looking good for stretches, only to fart around and lose some Litmus Test-type games, a very Trevor Lawrence-era Jaguars thing to do. This is just how that team rolls.
‘Teams panic?’: Bears
“Panic only comes with expectations. 0.” -Rob Durham, Bears fan
Norman Vincent Peale wrote a book called The Power of Positive Thinking. He’s credited with the quote, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” That quote’s dumb. If you set your expectations low, anything good that happens feels awesome. Apparently, that’s where Rob is with the Bears.
To his credit, he’s right. When Chicago landed Ben Johnson as their head coach in the offseason, it gave the Bears the potential to be a real football team. However, the Bears have been a cursed franchise, and you can’t really blame their fans for not getting their hopes up about anything.
They started the season slow, and Caleb Williams still hasn’t looked prolific or anything like that… But they’re winning. They haven’t been pretty wins, and they haven’t been against good teams, but they are winning.
For a team, a franchise, and a fanbase who haven’t seen a four-game winning streak since 2018, this one has to be feeling all kinds of good… especially when all you know and expect is pain.
Top of the world: Lions
“I’m not worried. They’re a bit banged up, but going into the bye week. Kelvin Shepherd is doing amazing s--- in the secondary with it being as depleted as it is. Could do better in the passing game. Need to figure out how to get TeSlaa more involved.” - Tom Brown (a different Tom Brown than before. It's a common name), Lions fan.
What a champagne problem to have… ‘I want my offense, who is averaging more than 30 points per game, to be better at passing. It’d be great if the rookie WR4 could be the WR3.’
Now, to be fair, in 2025, you’re always going to want your passing game to be better, and if the Lions' passing game was better, they might now have lost the two games they lost.
Those two games were the only ones where the Lions really leaned on their passing game… and that makes sense because that’s how the game script went; if you’re behind, you throw the ball. In Week 1 against the Packers, their passing play percentage was 66.2% and in Week 6 against the Chiefs, it was 56.6%. The Lions lost both of those games by two scores.
In the other games, they’ve averaged a 47.1% pass play percentage. In those games, they’ve outscored their opponents 185-94. It makes sense to run the ball when you’re able to do it as easily as the Lions have made it look. They’re lower-risk plays, and the Lions have the potential to turn them into explosives.
No panic, only vibes: Bengals
“I’m back and forth. I canceled the season during the second quarter against the jags. But I’m stupid and have faith in Joe Flacco. I still hate Zac Taylor and want him fired because he’s a b---h and his play calling is ass. It’s bad when your receiver is changing the play” -Travis Haberstroh, Bengals fan.
“Idk for me vibes are high, Healthy Toe Joe seems to be having fun out there, potential for a win streak feels high at the moment. Will need to see this offense keep up the momentum they’ve had lately and also hope the defense returns to the form they had in the first few games this year where they were making some stops. We’ll need Trey to be healthy, hopefully he plays this week.” -Owen Lloyd, Bengals fan.
“I’m a 6.5. Trying to hold out hope after the win against the Steelers, but also not in denial. Our odds aren’t great.” -Paige Glazebrook, Bengals fan.
Who can blame them for the positivity? A month ago, the Bengals were dead… in the water… getting eaten by sharks… who were getting eaten by ever bigger sharks. It was bad.
But you saw what Joe Flacco did last Thursday: the old man’s still got it. These last two games have been his first time throwing to an elite, elite receiver since Steve Smith Sr. in 2014… and even then, Smith was on the backside of his career. Flacco’s looking like every single one of us (think we) would look getting to throw to Ja’Marr Chase.
Everyone on offense looked like they were having fun, and the vibes are high. That’s infectious. It’s a fanbase that’s playing with house money. They still get to have fun watching football, and Travis Haberstroh still gets to be mad at Zac Taylor. It’s a universal win.
You can’t panic if you’re broken: Cowboys
“As someone who was recently laid off, I have expressed interest to Jerry Jones about playing in the secondary. I am confident I will see the field for the next game despite having zero experience.
“But the Cowboys are doing the most Cowboys thing ever…Dak is finally healthy and having an MVP caliber season…but they will finish somewhere in the range of 7-10 or 8-9 and have a middle round pick. But hey, at least they traded away possibly the best defensive player they have ever had for what is looking like a late first round pick this year and next. They will use all of these first round picks for o-linemen named Tyler. Because f--- getting secondary help.
“Overall. It’s exactly what it always is. Jerry is in the content game, not the winning game. I’m not panicking….because I’m numb. But I’m a Cowboys fan, so I’m obligated to say ‘We Dem Boys’ and ‘It’s our year’” -Jake Mesenbrink, Cowboys fan.
“I think they are where I had a feeling they would be before the year. I think it’s a .500 team. I’m definitely panicking over the defense, but I’m honestly pleasantly surprised with the offense.” -Jerry Rocha, Cowboys fan.
So on one hand, Jake Mesenbrink isn’t panicking about the defense. Instead, he’s making himself available to the team. On the other hand, Jerry Rocha is panicking about the defense and not actively trying to get signed. Some people are reactive, while others are proactive.
The most important thing is that the only, “It’s our year,” was obligatory, and not a genuine scream from the top of a high-rise in Dallas.
It’s kind of flabbergasting: If it were any other year, and Dak Prescott was playing as well as he is right now, society would be inundated with Cowboys fans demanding to be respected… but since Micah Parsons is gone and the defense is playing exactly how you would think they would after losing one of the best players in the past 10 years, we don’t hear any of that.
Instead, it’s a, ‘Touchdowns are sick. It sure would be cool if the defense also didn’t think the same thing.’
So panic? Kind of, but not really. Defeat? Yes. Delicious? Absolutely.
Allergic to good things: Vikings
“I’m not panicking as I’ve learned to expect them to f--- it up. But they are pretty well f---ed with the hardest schedule left in the NFL sitting at 3-3 and failing to commit to the number 10 overall pick as your starting QB throughout the last 5 weeks while we watch Carson Wentz in what I can only assume is the early stages of CTE.” - Jay Sammelmann, Vikings fan.
The Vikings used their 2024 first-round pick (10th overall) on J.J. McCarthy. He hurt his meniscus that preseason and ended up not playing a single snap. Yada, yada, yada. Sam Darnold had the best season of his career, and then he went to Seattle.
Going into this season, the team was McCarthy’s. He came out in Week 1 against the Bears and laid a stinker for three quarters. Then he came alive in the fourth quarter; he played pretty well, won the game, and became a laughable NFC Offensive Player of the Week.
In Week 2, he was a dud for the entire game (it was that Sunday Night Football field goal-fest where the Falcons won 22-6). Apparently, he hurt his ankle at some point during that game. Initially, ESPN’s (and the world’s) ultimate NFL insider, Adam Schefter, reported that McCarthy was going to be out two to four weeks.
ESPN sources: Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy is expected to be sidelined two-to-four weeks with a high ankle sprain.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 15, 2025
With McCarthy out, Vikings QB Carson Wentz is now in line to start. pic.twitter.com/iZ1qvackMV
It’s been five full weeks since that happened, and the Vikings are still starting Carson Wentz and saying that McCarthy isn’t fully healthy. Buddy, it sure does feel a whole lot like the Vikings are pulling the plug on the McCarthy experience.
The Vikings haven’t been able to put together multiple good seasons in over 15 years. At this point, they’re a team and a franchise that needs to build. Using a super valuable pick in the draft to get a quarterback, only to not use or try to develop the guy when he has a chance.
It makes sense that the panic isn’t there. 5+ weeks of Carson Wentz will do that to you.
Put the panic button away, but know where it is: Eagles
“Panic? 0. What is there to panic about? We’re 5-2 and Hurts just had his best game of the season.” -Jahlil Williams, Eagles fan.
You have to respect his optimism, and it’s warranted. The Eagles did just have a massive bounce-back game. If you argue on the side that Jalen Hurts does his best in big games, then his perfect passer rating of 158.3 in Week 7 helps your case.
After the Eagles laid two particularly terrible and non-competitive duds in Weeks 5 and 6, the Week 7 game felt like it had the potential to be a season-defining loss. Instead, Hurts was 19-of-23 for 326 yards and three touchdowns in the Eagles’ 28-22 win over the Vikings.
After the way the offense functioned in that game, there are definitely reasons to take your hand off the panic button. But to completely put it away? That’s a risky proposition.
This was really the first time this season that we’ve seen the offense look good for the majority of a game. They’re going to need to repeat this kind of game more than once or twice for everyone to really believe that they have their ducks in a row.
Unfortunately, their next game is against a bad Giants team (again), then they have a bye. After that is when the real test happens. They have the Packers, the Lions, and the Cowboys. Every one of those games is going to be its own problem, but they’re all problems that can be solved by having the same ‘show run and then pass’ offense that we saw against the Vikings.
Again, to be fair to Jah Williams, it’s awesome to know that the Eagles do have that kind of game in their bag… Also, Brandon Graham just came out of retirement. That’s the kind of news that’ll give you goosebumps.
This could all change, though. If they go into Week 8, lay another stinker, and get swept by the Giants for the first time since 2007… Buddy… That panic button is getting Gallagher-smashed.
Depends on what you want: Steelers
“I feel like that question is gonna depend on what kind of expectations you had going into the season. If SB was the goal, I’d say 10. If it’s winning a playoff game, I’d say 6. Either way. Defense looks like booty when they are the highest paid D in the league. Arod has played pretty damn good with what he’s been given but this team isn’t designed to win shootouts. Defense has to turn it around or we’ll end up as a wild card and out in the first rd like usual” -Aaron Lober, Steelers fan.
Think about the first time you clogged a toilet. You’ve been dumping your entire life with no problems. Then one time it doesn’t go down, and you don’t know what to do. It was right for you to panic and freak out. Let me explain:
One thing that’s surprising about this season as a whole is how good Aaron Rodgers has looked. By no means is he crushing it like he used to, but he’s been playing objectively well. Going into the season, it really felt like he was going to be one of the bigger problems for that team. That’s just not the case… like, even a little bit.
It’s been Pittsburgh's defense that’s the bigger problem, which is crazy. That unit has been consistently awesome for a very long time, and now that they’re just mediocre, it feels icky and makes that team feel super susceptible to losses.
The thing is, they’re not really losing. They’ve beaten some bad teams, but the two teams they lost to were a good Seahawks and a rejuvenated Bengals. The Steelers are sitting at the top of the AFC North with a 4-2 record.
So yeah, is that defense a world beater? No. Not right now at least. Are they good enough to win the division and snap a five-postseason game losing streak? Ehh. Maybe. But that hasn’t been the problem for a long time, so it’s uncomfortable.
The panic makes sense.
On the verge of chaos: Bills
“The WR room is a mess. These guys just can't get any kind of separation or Allen can't hit a target. I'll bet it's the former. Joe Brady is clearly on the hot seat. He called 2 end arounds 2 games in a row and it blew up miserably. Both on 4th and inches. Just trash ball. Not utilizing James Cook on screens and then pulling him on a 3 and 2 and give it to Ty Johnson. It was the Defense and in a way it still is. Although they did show up 2nd half against the Falcons. The concern is having a generational QB at his prime end watching him fade into the mist because of 1 of 2 things: Brady can't call a play, or these WRs just aren't who we thought they were (that was on purpose) and are not the weapons Allen can use to get to a Super Bowl.
“Now in fairness we are down Palmer and Kincaid plus waiting on a rookie to heal up but ask the Lions about a banged up secondary and then talk to Baker Mayfield. He thought they did a nice job on Monday. I try not to lean on injury excuses as every team deals with it to some degree.” - Sean O’Brien, Bills fan.
I mean, yeah. The Bills' offense has been the class of the league for the past five seasons, and that was capped by an NFL MVP season by Josh Allen in 2024. They absolutely have the potential to be one of the best five offenses in the NFL.
The problem is that the other teams with that potential have it because of their whole offense. The Bills' claim to a top-five spot is purely because of Josh Allen, but like Sean O’Brien said, there are a whole bunch of non-Allen reasons they aren’t getting there.
On top of that, the Bills’ defense is terrible. In the games where Buffalo rains points on their opponents, that defense doesn’t have the juice or the horses to actually put teams away.
In Week 1, they had to score 41 points (in a super-sick comeback) to beat the Ravens. In Weeks 3 and 4, the Bills scored 31 points, but the Dolphins and the Saints both hung around until halfway through the fourth quarter.
Those three teams have a combined record of 2-18 and a combined point differential of -169. Those aren’t teams that you should let hang around.
Since then, Buffalo has dropped two straight games. One of which, they didn’t look remotely competitive against the Falcons.
The panic of a Super Bowl window closing is real. Especially when that window is being held open by Josh Allen, and it seems like the rest of the team is just sitting there watching him.
A relative 15/10: Packers
“I’m skeptically optimistic at best, skeptically pessimistic at worst. We could easily end up anywhere from 7-10 to 12-5. We have the talent, but we don’t do the things that great teams do, like beat the f---ing Browns. Barely beating the Cardinals has torn me. On the one hand, we did a thing great teams do in the sense of finding a way to win; on the other, truly great teams would’ve crushed the Cardinals. I’m holding my breath, really. I’ve already lost hope of a Super Bowl run. Reaching the divisional round would be considered a success. I don’t trust the Packers, essentially. I love them, but gun to my head, I don’t think I could confidently bet on a win for any game the rest of the season.
“I just looked at the rest of the schedule, there’s only two games I’m confident in. If you told me we’d finish the last 11 games 2-9, I’d resist believing it, but I can’t say I couldn’t imagine it.” - Robert Hall, Packers fan.
I asked him where he was after Week 1:
“We might be the best f---ing team in football. If we stay healthy and play like we’re capable of, I don’t see why we wouldn’t win the Super Bowl.”
“I’m not judging a Super Bowl run by how many sacks Parsons gets or big runs we break. I’m looking at the fact that poor game management cost us two wins, and that we barely held on against two backup quarterbacks, one of which only joined the team f---ing 5 days before the game. The 9 point spread is not indicative of how that game went, and it also should’ve never been less than a 14 point stomping. I don’t care that it’s Super Bowl winning quarterback Joe Flacco. He had been on the team 5 f---ing days, and they ran an offense not dissimilar to what my 10 year old cousin would’ve run in Madden, and we barely won? Nobody should trust the Packers after that. That’s absurd.”
Not much more needs to be said. Going into the season, the Packers were already a good team. Then they traded for Micah Parsons, and they were an even better team. Then they stomped out high powered Lions in Week 1 and what might’ve been a good Commanders in Week 2…
And then it fell off a cliff with a loss to the Browns and a tie with the Cowboys, and since then, it’s just been pretty mediocre football against mediocre teams. Relative to where they started, this football team has been pretty bad.
You can’t really blame Packers fans for feeling that way. He said he doesn’t really have faith that the Packers can win any given game going forward, but on the other side of that coin, you have to imagine the teams they’re playing (specifically the fans of those teams) feel like there’s no chance in hell that they’ll win.
But that’s the thing with a stacked roster: when you see them underperform for a month straight, you start getting that bubbly gut feeling. It’s a little different in Wisconsin though, because it might just be undiagnosed lactose intolerance.