What we learned from Week 4 of the NFL season

1. The Patriots-Bills clash was history in the making

The 3-0 Patriots visited AFC East rival Buffalo, also undefeated, in a battle between two of the league’s best defenses.

Tom Brady couldn’t figure out much against Buffalo’s D and connected on just 18 of his 39 passes for 150 yards, with one interception. The future Hall of Famer earned a 45.9 passer rating, his worst in 13 years. On the plus side, he scored his 31st win against Buffalo since 2001, which makes him the only quarterback to defeat a single opponent that many times during the Super Bowl era.

While Brady and the offense was nearly shut down Sunday, the defense kept New England in the game. Matthew Slater returned a blocked punt to the end zone to lift the Pats to an early 13-0 lead in the first quarter, and safety Devin McCourty recorded another takeaway. In Sunday’s 16-10 win, McCourty became the first player since 2003 to collect an interception in the first four games of a season.

New England’s defense hadn’t allowed a rushing or passing touchdown in 2019, but the Bills finally breached the end zone when Josh Allen completed a 1-yard run for a score in the third quarter. Bills running back Frank Gore racked up 109 yards and made history of his own, as the fourth player in the NFL to accumulate 15,000 rushing yards.

2. One more QB goes down, but is the backup better?

Another defensive force in the league, the Chicago Bears have looked scarier each week on one side of the ball. On the offensive side, however, no one is flinching. Mitchell Trubisky started the season with a 24.4 quarterback rating against the Green Bay Packers after he went 26-of-45 for 228 yards and one interception in the Bears’ 10-3 loss. In Week 2 Trubisky played slightly better, as he completed 59.3% of his passes for 120 yards and a 27.9 QBR.

On Sunday against Minnesota, Trubisky injured his shoulder during the opening series and was replaced by backup Chase Daniel. The veteran passer completed all but eight of his 30 passes, for 195 yards and one touchdown, in the Bears’ 16-6 home victory.

Trubisky dislocated his left shoulder but should be able to return to the field soon. The question is, are the 3-1 Bears better off sticking with someone else once Trubisky is healthy? If Daniel can perform well in the young quarterback’s absence, the Bears need to consider benching Trubisky—though, it’s unlikely Matt Nagy will. Still, one can dream what an excellent defense paired with a better-than-mediocre offense might look like in Chicago.

3. King in the NFC North

It’s going to be a tight race for the title in the NFC North, arguably the best division in the league. The Packers and Bears both sit at 3-1, while the Lions come in third at 2-1-1 and nearly pulled off a win at home against the Chiefs.

The Vikings own a 2-2 record and look about as weak as Chicago on offense, minus the stellar play of Dalvin Cook. No member of the NFC North has a losing record, which makes them the only division—aside from the AFC South (all four teams are 2-2)—that can make that claim.

Even more impressive? The Bears, Vikings and Packers all rank in the top 10 in total defense.

4. The Buccaneers exposed Jared Goff

The Los Angeles Rams entered Sunday’s matchup against the Buccaneers with a 3-0 record. It seemed nearly certain the Rams would tack on one more W against a Tampa Bay team that was struggling behind quarterback Jameis Winston and his inconsistencies.

That wasn’t the case, as Tampa Bay and its defense helped push the Bucs to a 55-40 win in Los Angeles. The Bucs kicked off their first drive with a touchdown by Peyton Barber, then put up another score on a catch by Chris Godwin, who had 172 yards and two touchdowns on the day.

Winston also enjoyed his best showing of the season (28-of-41, 385 yards, four touchdowns, one interception), while the defense picked apart Goff and capitalized on the Rams’ mistakes.

Los Angeles' quarterback completed 45 of his 68 passes for 517 yards, with two touchdowns and three interceptions. He also fumbled with 1:06 left, as the Rams trailed by eight, and Ndamukong Suh returned the ball for a 37-yard touchdown to put the Bucs up 55-40.

Just as concerning for the Rams was the play of Todd Gurley (five carries, 16 yards) and Malcom Brown (five carries, 14 yards). Los Angeles heads to Seattle in Week 5 to compete with the No. 6 rushing defense and may experience more of the same against their division rival.

5. And then there were six

We’re not talking about the remaining undefeated teams in 2019. Only three of those are left, after the Pats and Chiefs pulled out narrow victories and the 3-0 49ers sat out on a bye week.

Six is the number of NFL teams who have yet to achieve a win in 2019.

Everyone expected an abysmal record from the Dolphins, who are losing by an average margin of 34.2. Miami is off on a bye this weekend but will host another bottom-dweller in the 0-4 Redskins on October 13. Washington benched Case Keenum against the Giants last week and gave rookie Dwayne Haskins a shot, which didn’t go well. Haskins threw three interceptions and completed 52.9% of his passes against one of the worst defenses in the NFL.

Aside from Miami and Washington, the 0-4 Bengals embarrassed themselves on Monday Night Football in Pittsburgh, and the Broncos dropped a close one to the Jaguars at Mile High Stadium. Finally, there’s the 0-3 Jets, a team with playoff hopes until injuries decimated the roster, and the 0-3-1 Cardinals, who next play the Bengals in Cincinnati.

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