Week 4 is when a rough start can begin to look like an identity.

One great Sunday can fool you. Four weeks usually give you enough evidence to start separating real trends from early-season noise.

The Patriots’ offense finally came alive against the last team anyone would’ve picked for a get-right game. Jacksonville followed a blowout with the kind of ugly road win contenders need. Carolina’s offense gave us even more proof that their September explosion wasn’t a fluke.

On the other side, Houston’s defense wasted the afternoon their offense finally showed up. The Eagles stopped moving the ball altogether. Detroit spent another week reminding us that Aidan Hutchinson can’t play all 11 positions at once.

Here are the winners and losers from Week 4.

Winners

Drake Maye And Mike Vrabel

New England needed this one badly.

The Patriots walked into Sunday coming off a brutal 35-6 loss to Jacksonville. Through three games, Maye had thrown one touchdown and six interceptions, while the offense had managed just two total touchdowns.

Then they went into Buffalo’s new stadium and knocked off an undefeated Bills team, 29-26.

Maye finished 22 of 39 for 269 yards and three touchdowns. He also turned the ball over twice, so this wasn’t some flawless breakout performance. But it was exactly the kind of game New England needed to see from him: after taking weeks of criticism, the young quarterback went toe-to-toe with Josh Allen and delivered the winning touchdown with the whole game on his shoulders.

The Patriots scored four touchdowns Sunday, twice as many as they’d scored in their first three games combined. Vrabel challenged the team to be the reason New England got back into the race, then trusted Maye to help get them there.

At 2-2, the Patriots haven’t suddenly fixed every problem.

But after Sunday, those problems look a whole lot more manageable.

Ben Johnson

Winning back-to-back games with two different backup quarterbacks would be impressive enough.

Making both offenses look completely functional? That’s just showing off.

Case Keenum threw for 247 yards and accounted for three touchdowns in Chicago’s 27-7 win over Philadelphia. Six days later, Tyson Bagent started against the Jets and threw for 268 yards as the Bears piled up 492 total yards, 34 first downs, and more than 42 minutes of possession.

Chicago won 23-12, but the game wasn’t nearly as close as that score makes it sound. The Bears outgained New York 274-34 in the first half. Kyle Monangai ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns. The defense gave up just seven first downs. The Bears actually had more first downs than the Jets had plays run in this one.

And Johnson didn’t ask Bagent to pretend he was Caleb Williams. He built the game plan around the offensive line, the running game, and throws Bagent could make comfortably under pressure. That came after putting together a completely different plan for a 38-year-old Keenum against Philadelphia.

The Bears are 3-1, with three wins started by three different quarterbacks.

That’s not backup quarterback luck. That’s a coach knowing exactly what he has and how to use it.

The Jacksonville Jaguars

It’s probably time to stop treating Jacksonville like a cute little team that might ruin somebody else’s season.

The Jaguars might actually be good enough to keep their own season going into February.

A week after embarrassing the defending AFC champion Patriots, Jacksonville went to Cincinnati and beat the Bengals, 22-17. It wasn’t pretty. The Jaguars committed 13 penalties for 125 yards, had two touchdown runs wiped out, and needed a tackle one yard short of the sticks to survive Cincinnati’s final possession.

And honestly, that’s part of the case for them.

Trevor Lawrence completed 18 of 23 passes for 227 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. The defense held Cincinnati to 23 rushing yards and picked off Joe Burrow twice.

Jacksonville's 3-1 and they've won 11 of their last 12 regular-season games. The Jaguars have won a blowout, won with defense, and now won a sloppy road game against a good quarterback while repeatedly making life harder on themselves.

That’s an AFC contender.

The Carolina Panthers’ Offense

Yes, it was Detroit’s defense. We’ll get to that mess shortly.

But it wasn’t only Detroit. Bryce Young threw for 329 yards and two touchdowns in Carolina’s 32-26 Sunday night win, giving him at least 250 yards and a touchdown pass in all four games. He leads the NFL entering Monday night with 1,268 passing yards and has thrown a franchise-record nine touchdowns through four weeks.

Tetairoa McMillan caught 14 passes for 192 yards and two scores. Chuba Hubbard ran for 122 yards and two more. Carolina piled up 445 total yards and scored on six straight possessions.

The Panthers have now scored at least 30 points three times, something they’d never done in their first four games before this season. Their 121 points are also a franchise record through four weeks.

Sure, a bad defense can make one afternoon look better than it really was. It can’t explain a full month of Young consistently attacking downfield, making plays under pressure, and creating explosive plays outside the numbers.

Carolina's only 2-2, but their offense looks a whole lot better than their record.

The Las Vegas Raiders

There aren’t any moral victories in professional football.

There is, however, useful information in a loss.

The Raiders lost 30-27 to Kansas City because the Chiefs hit a few huge plays and stole possessions on special teams. They converted a fake punt on their opening drive, then forced a fumble on a late kickoff after retaking the lead.

Even with all that, Las Vegas kept them in a one-score game until the end.

Kirk Cousins threw for 365 yards and two touchdowns. The Raiders have now scored at least 26 points in four straight games. Brock Bowers kept coming through in big moments — but that's just business as usual for him.

The defense can’t give up a 76-yard run and completions of 41, 42, and 55 yards and expect to beat Patrick Mahomes. Klint Kubiak will also spend plenty of time thinking about the decision to take a made field goal off the board because of a penalty, only to watch the offense come up short on fourth-and-2.

Those are real, fixable reasons to lose.

The bigger question coming into Sunday was whether a 3-0 Raiders team actually belonged on the same field as Kansas City.

The answer was pretty clear: Yes.

Brian Flores

Minnesota became the first team since the 1934 Lions to start 4-0 with two victories in which its offense didn’t score a touchdown.

That sentence is ridiculous.

The Vikings beat Miami 15-10 behind five Will Reichard field goals, two Dallas Turner sacks and another game plan that made the opposing quarterback miserable. Malik Willis finished with 85 passing yards and never looked comfortable trying to identify where Flores’ pressure was coming from.

The offense remains a genuine problem. Minnesota has scored only six offensive touchdowns, tied for the fewest by a 4-0 team this century. T.J. Hockenson could’ve ended this game with one, but correctly slid at the 2-yard line to run out the clock.

Still, the Vikings are allowing 12.8 points per game. They haven’t allowed an opponent to score two touchdowns since Week 1.

Flores has spent the last month in his bag, as the kids would say. At this point, the bag might need its own exhibit in Canton.

Jalon Daniels

Jalon Daniels threw two interceptions, finished with just 148 passing yards, and lost his first NFL start.

He also absolutely belongs on the winners list.

Daniels became the first rookie quarterback to start this season, beating all 10 drafted rookies to the opportunity. He’s also the first undrafted rookie ever to start at quarterback for Tampa Bay.

And the moment never looked too big for him.

Daniels completed 19 of 27 passes, ran eight times for 55 yards, and pulled the Buccaneers within three with a fourth-quarter touchdown pass. He then moved Tampa Bay into Green Bay territory with a chance to tie or win, only for pressure to wreck the final series.

There were rookie mistakes, of course. His interceptions led to 10 Packers points, and he admitted he should’ve changed the protection on Tampa Bay’s final fourth down.

But Todd Bowles’ takeaway mattered more:

"He had some ups and he had some downs, but for his first time out there, he didn't panic. He escaped, used his legs well at times. It's his first game, he's going to have some ups and downs."

That’s a pretty good Sunday for a guy all 32 teams passed on in the draft.

Losers

The Houston Texans’ Defense

Houston’s offense finally showed up.

The defense answered by giving up 28 points in the second half.

The Texans led Dallas 16-6 at halftime and went back in front 30-27 with 2:28 left. That should’ve been the moment an elite defense slammed the door. Instead, Dak Prescott converted a fourth down from his own territory, found CeeDee Lamb for 15 yards, and eventually hit him for the winning touchdown with 40 seconds to go.

Lamb caught 17 passes for 189 yards. Javonte Williams scored three rushing touchdowns. There was a drive in the fourth quarter where Prescott completed all nine of his passes for 89 yards.

Last season, Houston ranked first in yards allowed and second in scoring defense. This year’s group is giving up 27.3 points per game and couldn’t even get the job done on the one afternoon C.J. Stroud and the offense finally got to 30.

At 0-4, the Texans can’t keep waiting for last season’s identity to magically show back up.

The Bengals’ Wide Receivers

Cincinnati lost a one-score game to a legitimate contender, even with Joe Burrow throwing for 428 yards.

That’s frustrating, but it's not the end of the world.

Losing Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in the same afternoon could change the entire season.

Chase left in the first half with a concussion. Higgins stayed in long enough to catch 11 passes for 157 yards, then went down with an adductor injury late in the fourth quarter.

Burrow almost pulled off the comeback anyway. With both of his top receivers out, he took Cincinnati from their own 17 to the Jacksonville 12 in less than a minute, finding Mitch Tinsley, Dohnte Meyers, and Mike Gesicki along the way. Then Chase Brown got tackled one yard short on fourth-and-10.

Both receivers are considered day-to-day, but Chase still has to clear concussion protocol. The Bengals play Miami before their bye, then face Baltimore right after it.

Maybe the timing gives Cincinnati a chance to get through this without any lasting damage.

Still, it’s hard to imagine a much more brutal way to lose a five-point game.

The Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers deserve some credit for turning a 27-6 hole into a one-score game against the defending champions.

Unfortunately, 0-4 doesn’t come with a category for style points.

Justin Herbert threw two interceptions in the first half and lost a fumble on the final possession. The Chargers turned it over four times, muffed a punt that helped Seattle take control, and fell behind by 21 before the offense finally started looking like an actual offense.

And this came one week after they forced five turnovers against Buffalo and still found a way to lose.

That’s the frustrating part. The Chargers aren’t getting completely run off the field for 60 minutes. Their defense creates chances and Herbert still makes the occasional ridiculous throw, this team shows just enough good football to make you wonder how everything else keeps falling apart.

Only one team has ever started 0-4 and made the playoffs: the 1992 San Diego Chargers.

Maybe that’s supposed to be inspirational. I'm not sure it's enough to get the job done.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ Offense

Philadelphia led 20-10 at halftime because their defense picked off two passes, and the special teams kept giving the offense short fields.

Then the gifts stopped. And so did the offense.

Jalen Hurts finished 12-of-27 for 93 yards. The Eagles had just 68 net passing yards, went 0-for-12 on third down, and didn’t score on their final six possessions. Hurts threw for 10 yards after halftime. Ten.

The injuries matter. Saquon Barkley left with a hamstring issue, and Philadelphia was already without Lane Johnson, Dallas Goedert, and DeVonta Smith.

But they don’t explain all of this.

This offense scored seven points against Chicago last week. They already spent most of last season trying to find a passing identity. Now, with another coordinator and another batch of supposed answers, they managed to get 172 total yards.

This isn’t just one bad half anymore.

The Detroit Lions’ Defense

The Lions have given up 127 points in four games.

If you don’t feel like doing the math, that’s just about 32 points every Sunday.

Carolina scored on six straight possessions, piled up 445 yards, hit 12 explosive plays, and never turned the ball over. Bryce Young tore that secondary to shreds. Chuba Hubbard ran through the front. Tetairoa McMillan caught passes against seven different defenders because Detroit apparently wanted everyone to get a turn at being part of the problem. He had 4+ catches and 60+ yards against both Roger McCreary and Ennis Rakestraw.

Aidan Hutchinson's still excellent. He came into the weekend with 3.5 sacks and 21 pressures, and Detroit has 15 sacks as a team.

Everything behind that pass rush is chaos.

The Lions scored exactly 31 points in each of their first three games and were still only 2-1. They finally dipped below 31 on Sunday and lost. That’s not a reasonable burden for any offense, even one with Jared Goff throwing it and Jahmyr Gibbs running it.

All stats courtesy of Fantasy Points Data.

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