The 32 things we learned from Week 5 of the 2026 NFL season:
0. Still the total number of wins, combined, by the Los Angeles Chargers, Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans, who are now a collective 0-15.
(QB)1. If you were hoping that the level of quarterback play throughout the league would start to pick up with the first month or so – now effectively preseason – of the 2026 season in the rear view … then you might be in luck. Several of the NFL’s brightest stars emerged from varying states of slumber – or injury – Sunday to breathe some life into the most glamourous position in American sports. And it’s about time.
2. And it could (should?) get even better Monday night, when two of the league’s marquee stars – Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford and Buffalo Bills counterpart Josh Allen – square off in prime time for what was expected to be one of this season’s premier matchups. Stafford, the reigning MVP, has been uneven – to put it kindly so far, his passer rating falling shy of 75.0 in three of his first four starts this season as his supposed super team got off to a choppy 2-2 start. Allen, who handed off the MVP mantle to Stafford last year, looked primed to reclaim the title after two stellar weeks – but he’s committed four turnovers in the past two games, which the Bills have split.
3. Here’s hoping Allen and Stafford can replicate something close to their last meeting two years ago, a 44-42 Rams win when they both passed for more than 300 yards and multiple TDs.
4. The number of season-high TD passes thrown Sunday by Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow, albeit against the hapless Dolphins. While distributing the ball to nine different receivers, Burrow also had a much cleaner game, protecting the ball after turning it over a total of three times during the two-game skid Cincy successfully snapped in Week 5. Nice way to go into a bye week.
5. The number of consecutive regular-season games in which Green Bay Packers QB Jordan Love has thrown two touchdown passes, i.e. all of them this season. However, Sunday’s performance in a 31-7 beatdown of the archrival Chicago Bears was certainly Love’s most consequential and complete performance of the season, his 137.5 passer rating nearly 40 points better than his next-best showing of 2026.
AIR JORDAN ✈️
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) October 11, 2026
Jordan Love joins Ben Roethlisberger as the only players with 5 completions of 30+ air yards in a single game since ESPN began tracking the stat in 2006. pic.twitter.com/x9rY4KOKNu
5a. The number of Bears turnovers in Sunday’s loss. Three weeks was too many to ask coach Ben Johnson to plaster over injured QB1 Caleb Williams’ absence … but he might be back in Week 6.
6. The number of games that passed between Drake Maye’s five-TD efforts, the second of his career occurring Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. Maye threw for 374 yards and four TDs in a 45-17 rout of the Las Vegas Raiders and ran for another score. The only other time he accounted for five NFL TDs was a Week 17 defeat of the New York Jets last season.
7. The past two weeks have been especially encouraging for Maye, the 2025 league MVP runner-up who engineered an upset of the Bills in Buffalo in Week 4, and the defending AFC champion Patriots (3-2), who moved above .500 for the first time this season.
8. The number of sacks racked up by the New York Jets in their 17-12 defeat of the Browns, including a strip sack of QB Deshaun Watson on Cleveland’s final offensive snap. It tied the Jets’ team record for sacks since the statistic became official in 1982 … though the famed “New York Sack Exchange” had nine (unofficial) sacks in two games during the 1981 season.
9. The number of TD passes thrown this season by Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes and the Carolina Panthers’ Bryce Young, both among league leaders in that department amid strong starts to the season – even though both were on bye in Week 5.
10. The number of international games played by Jacksonville P Logan Cooke, a new record for overseas, uh, caps. Cooke, who doubles as the Jags’ holder, had a standout day in that role while handling the high snaps from fill-in long snapper DaVon Hamilton, including on the game-winning field goal.
Another high snap, but @Jaguars P Logan Cooke brings it down and makes sure Cam Little still gets the kick through@PHIvsJAX on NFL Network
— NFL (@NFL) October 11, 2026
Stream on @NFLPluspic.twitter.com/V6CDORtZS3
11. And how about QB Aaron Rodgers’ resurgence this season amid his reunion with HC Mike McCarthy in Pittsburgh? Rodgers passed for three TDs in Sunday’s 34-22 defeat of the Indianapolis Colts and also took sole possession of third place all-time with 582 career touchdown throws (regular season plus playoffs), breaking his tie with Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. Rodgers’ 80-yard TD pass to RB Jaylen Warren, who did most of the work on the play, was the ninth of the four-time league MVP’s career covering at least 80 yards, tying former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger's league mark
12. Speaking of former Pittsburgh passers, Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw wore No. 12, which is why Rodgers stuck with No. 8 in the Steel City. However, Rodgers did match Bradshaw’s franchise mark of passing for at least three TDs in three consecutive games.
13. “Browns are gonna Browns.” Sorry, Coach Monken, but it was only a matter of time. And, yes, the weather was bad Sunday as the remainder of Hurricane Isaias wound down. But punter Corey Bojorquez’s inability to handle a snap inside the final four minutes set up the Jets’ game-winning TD run by Braelon Allen three plays later.
The Browns botched a punt in the driving rain...
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) October 11, 2026
Three plays later, the Jets took the lead on a 22-yard touchdown run pic.twitter.com/0lsBWBooJB
14. Another QB on the upswing? How about Kyler Murray of the Minnesota Vikings, the first team to win five games this season. Murray had his best game in purple and gold, passing for 229 yards and a TD and getting 51 more yards on the ground.
15. And if the undefeated Vikes, who entered Week 5 ranked last in the league in passing, can become more varied – and explosive – on offense? No telling how far they might go.
16. The Raiders’ Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 pick of the 2026 draft, got his feet wet in Foxborough, passing for 48 yards in his regular-season debut while mopping up for Kirk Cousins in Las Vegas’ worst – and most worrisome – loss of the season.
17. Speaking of wet feet … and No. 1 picks … and Hurricane Isaias-impacted weather, how about a nod to the New York Giants’ Jameis Winston, who’s taken a fair amount of heat since replacing Jaxson Dart for being more of a football persona than an effective quarterback? But Winston passed for 326 yards and three TDs (and nary an INT), if in a 27-27 tie against the Washington Commanders. It was Winston’s second straight start with three TD strikes as the Giants maintained their perch atop the NFC East.
18. The jersey number – most recently – of Arizona Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr., who is being traded to the Houston Texans. Could be a win-win for both clubs … but may already be for the Cards.
19. Back to that Commanders-Giants game, which marked the return of Washington QB Jayden Daniels from a dislocated left elbow, which necessitated a two-game absence. Daniels passed for 199 yards and rushed for 103 – including TD runs of 38 and 26 yards – in the rain. He looked great, until …
20. … the very unfortunate game-ending sequence when Washington’s clock mismanagement prevented the Commanders from attempting what would have been about a 44-yard field-goal try for the win. Whether it was Daniels’ fault, that of coach Dan Quinn – he unsurprisingly took the blame – rookie OC David Blough or otherwise, bad look for Washington. And, realistically, Daniels should have sufficient situational awareness to know he can’t be fighting for meaningless yards with his legs when the clock is winding down, and he has no timeouts at his disposal.
21. Fortunately for the Commanders, the Giants didn’t feel like winning this game, either. Rookie kicker Dominic Zvada missed three field goals, including one in overtime. He would have had a shot at redemption … except Cam Skattebo, made the running back’s version of Daniels’ mistake – fighting for unnecessary yardage, and fumbling, to ruin New York’s shot at another game-winning field-goal try.
22. It’s possible no one wants to win the NFC East this season given the ugly Week 5 losses by the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. For now, the Dart-less Giants still have a 1½-game lead over Dallas and Philly.
23. Did we mention Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff? No? Put him squarely in the MVP conversation. He passed for 271 yards and three scores, while running for a fourth TD, as the Lions blew out Arizona 45-21. Goff became the second player in NFL history to throw for at least 12 TDS without being intercepted in his team’s first five games of a season.
The only players in @NFL history to throw for 12+ TDs and 0 INTs through the first five games of any season:
— Detroit Lions PR (@LionsPR) October 12, 2026
1. @Lions QB Jared Goff (2026)
2. Russell Wilson (2019)#OnePridepic.twitter.com/tSit9VRxfs
24. The San Francisco 49ers’ Brock Purdy has been widely mentioned as a strong MVP candidate this season, though he didn’t have his best game Sunday in Seattle. Still, his pair of TD passes helped knock off the reigning champion Seahawks while keeping the Niners undefeated and tied with Minnesota for the league’s best record.
25. Not quite the age of Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs, whose 58 career TDs from scrimmage – he scored twice Sunday – are the most ever by an NFL player who has yet to celebrate his 25th birthday.
26. Among the quarterbacks who needs to step up? Dallas’ Dak Prescott. He and Mahomes are the only guys in the league averaging at least $60 million annually. Yet Prescott, who’s coming off a two-INT showing in the Cowboys’ Thursday loss to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, needs to earn his keep more consistently – at least as along as it’s apparently that Dallas’ high-powered, high-priced offense needs to continue compensating for its (still) underwhelming defense.
27. Same goes for the Eagles' Jalen Hurts, who continues to look miscast in an evolving − if gutted, from a personnel perspective − offense.
28. Another signal-caller who needs to play better is Sam Darnold, who was picked off twice by San Francisco’s Renardo Green in Seattle’s 32-29 loss. That’s five INTs in basically three games for Darnold, who missed most of Seattle’s opener with a glute injury – a concerning trend for player who’s struggled with ball security over the course of his career. And given how well QB2 Drew Lock played in Darnold’s stead early in the season, not hard to imagine a QB controversy percolating in the Pacific Northwest if Darnold can’t clean up the mistakes.
29. Sean Payton’s return as the Denver Broncos’ offensive play-caller? Mid. They scored 23 points and had just 224 yards, their second-lowest output of the season. But it was enough to keep the Chargers winless.
30. DeMeco Ryans’ return as the Texans’ defensive player-caller? Masterful. Houston held the still-winless Titans to three points and 187 yards while taking the ball away twice.
31. The jersey number of Jets OLB David Bailey, who had a monster game against the Browns on Sunday, an effort that included three sacks. Your early frontrunner for Defensive Rookie of the Year.
David Bailey generated 9 pressures, including 5 quick pressures and 3 sacks, against the Browns. His 9 pressures are tied for the most by a rookie in a game since Jared Verse in Week 7, 2024.
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) October 11, 2026
Bailey leads all rookies in pressures (26) and quick pressures (9).#CLEvsNYJ | #JetUppic.twitter.com/xAz8wciLTp
32. RIP, Mike Ditka, who died Friday. One of the most talented and colorful characters in NFL history, it somehow feels appropriate that the Pro Football Hall of Famer and Chicago legend passed with the Bears on a winning streak rather than seeing them fall to the Packers on Sunday.
All the NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY's 4th and Monday newsletter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 32 things we learned in NFL Week 5: Star quarterbacks are playing better – finally