5 Teams Whose Fans Should Panic After Week 5
Week 5 of the NFL season was a crazy one so let’s just dive right in:
San Francisco 49ers
After facing the Miami Dolphins in week 5, there’s more to the Niners woes than injury. Even with a healthy Garoppolo, the 49ers could never get going. Jimmy G was taken out after halftime and replaced by Cj Beathard who would also struggle. Neither QB was able to muster up 100 yards passing but Beathard did manage a touchdown.
Defensively, injuries exposed their lack of depth and in today’s NFL, you need depth. Ryan Fitzpatrick looked less like a journeyman quarterback and more of a franchise staple against SF. Even without a steady run game, the Dolphins were able to move the ball pretty easily and only had to punt twice. Even after injuries heal, San Fran needs to go all in to fix their depth issues.
Atlanta Falcons
Not only have the Falcons been in free-fall mode, but after week 5’s loss to the Carolina Panthers, they decided to part ways with head coach Dan Quinn. Atlanta’s Super Bowl hangover has lasted a couple of seasons to the point where owner Arthur Blank has publically said it’s up to the next coach to figure out Matt Ryan’s future. As generic as that statement is, it’s not something you want to express with only 31% of the season over.
No one is running away with the division and the wild card is just as available. How much will throw your franchise quarterback under the bus change the level of play moving forward?
More NFL: 5 Teams Whose Fans Should Panic After Week 4
Kansas City Chiefs
After a close call win over the Los Angeles Chargers, no one thought the Chiefs should be concerned. Now, even at 5-1, KC is showing that there might be a few holes they need to patch up. Losing to the Raiders by double digits and allowing 40 points shows they can’t just double down on offense. At some point, they’ll need to find a way to buckle down on defense.
LA Chargers
While rookie QB Justin Herbert has looked good as an NFL starter, he needs to prove he can win on the next level. So far, he’s got a goose egg for wins. He came close to beating the Saints in overtime this week, but the Saints are struggling and LA needed that win more than Brees needed a bounce-back win. Yes, they played a future Hall of Famer but it was without a major piece of their offense. This was a game where Herbert needed to get the W.
Seattle Seahawks
It’s almost laughable to put an NFL team who is 5-0 in panic mode, but the Seattle Seahawks might need to be on there. The Seahawks looked beatable against the 1-4 Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota hung on to lose by one point, but the bigger problem is their inability to pull away. Right now the NFC East, division leaders are outscoring their opponents heavily.
Being able to put up points in bunches is great, but when the scales tip come playoff time, one bad bounce could lose the game. Seattle needs to prove they can put teams away.
Rick ODonnell aka Caveman Rick has many years covering the Miami Dolphins, Sports, and all sorts of movies and television.
