The second week of the NFL season always delivers clarity. It is where the takeaways from Week 1 are put to the test. Season-opening results either become trends or one-time occurrences, for better or worse.
In the Cincinnati Bengals' case, it was for the better. The defensive improvements they showed in their first game carried over into an overwhelming performance against the Houston Texans in which they surrendered just six points on the road.
For the Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders, however, it was for the worse. Chicago scored 56 fewer points in Week 2 than they did seven days prior, and both teams lost their standout quarterbacks to potentially serious injuries.
Those teams are among the biggest winners and losers from the second week of the campaign. Below are the others that came out on top and the ones that left a lot to be desired.
Winner: Bengals
The hope for the Bengals entering the year was that their retooled defense would inch closer to the level of their elite offense. Through two weeks, everything appears to be coming together for what might be a dark-horse Super Bowl contender.
Nearly all of the new faces on the defense delivered impact plays in Week 1, and Dexter Lawrence announced his arrival in Week 2. His stout play on a fourth-and-inches situation turned the Texans over on downs, which marked the only time the Bengals took the ball away from the home team in a 20-6 win at Reliant Stadium. The rest of the defensive front was formidable, too, as it got home on C.J. Stroud for five sacks, including two in the final three plays.
The best part of Cincinnati's defensive renaissance through two games is that it has not come at the cost of the offense. Ja'Marr Chase bounced back on Sunday from a quiet season opener with two touchdowns. The first was an early contender for the NFL's Catch of the Year.
Losers: Bears and Commanders
Sunday was a difficult day for the first two picks of the 2023 NFL Draft. Two young standouts sustained potentially serious injuries while their teams suffered divisional losses.
Caleb Williams departed from the Chicago Bears' 9-3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in a crucial spot when he sustained a non-contact hamstring injury. The elusive quarterback extended a play near the goal line with a chance to give the Bears a fourth-quarter lead. He pulled up mid-run, fell to the ground in pain and was carted into the locker room. Regression was always going to come for the Bears' offense after a 59-point explosion in Week 1, but for the unit to lose its quarterback in a three-point effort was unbelievably extreme.
Jayden Daniels suffered his second elbow injury in as many years just before halftime in the Washington Commanders' 37-20 defeat against the Dallas Cowboys. Rather than settling for a field goal before the break, Washington played aggressively and sought a touchdown on the final play of the quarter. Not only did the Commanders come up short of the end zone, but the disastrous play also put Daniels in harm's way. This 0-2 season could get off the rails like last year.
Loser: Todd Bowles
Not many teams are going to lose to the Cleveland Browns this year. Perhaps even fewer will make Deshaun Watson look like a capable starting quarterback. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers did both in a devastating 23-19 loss. Even more painful was that they had to sit through a two-hour weather delay before the score went final.
Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles faces as much pressure as anyone this year to deliver a winning record. His squad is talented enough to win a wide-open NFC South and clinch the playoff spot that comes with it, but for the second consecutive year, it looks destined to underperform and fall short of what should be the NFL's most attainable division title. Losing to the downtrodden Browns is a stain on Bowles' 2026 résumé, and he may only get so many chances to make up for it.
Winner: Fourth-quarter Tyler Shough
There might not be a more clutch player in the NFL through two games than Tyler Shough. The New Orleans Saints would, of course, prefer to avoid slow starts. But they have a quarterback capable of bailing them out. He did so in Week 1 when he helped score 30 points in the second half and overtime in a loss to the Detroit Lions, and in Week 2, his fourth-quarter heroics led to the Saints' first win of the year.
New Orleans trailed the Baltimore Ravens by eight points entering the final period. Shough then connected with Chris Olave on a 21-yard touchdown pass, and later in the quarter, he and the offense converted two third-down and two fourth-down conversions before finding the end zone on a go-ahead quarterback sneak.
It is still early in the year, but Shough has the looks of the NFL's next second-year quarterback to break out as a star. A manageable schedule in the weeks ahead will give him an opportunity to stack more wins on top of this 24-17 victory over the Super Bowl-hopeful Ravens.
Loser: Chargers
Any hopes of a postseason berth might already be crushed for the Los Angeles Chargers. In fact, things could go from bad to much worse for this team in the next few weeks. Losing to the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders in consecutive weeks to open the year is bad enough, but to do so with a gauntlet of a schedule ahead is catastrophic. The Chargers fell in a 26-14 stunner on their home turf while the Raiders, surprisingly, improved to 2-0.
Ball security was an afterthought for the Chargers. They coughed up the ball for an unbelievable six fumbles, and while they lost only one of them, the turnover came at a critical time as it ended a fourth-quarter drive. Justin Herbert then threw a game-sealing interception on the next possession.
Up next for Los Angeles: at Bills, at Seahawks, vs. Broncos, at Chiefs, at Rams, vs. Texans, at Ravens. The Chargers are likely to be underdogs in every one of those games.
Loser: Cooper Rush and the Falcons offense
For as poorly as the Atlanta Falcons played in their season-opening loss, it was hard to picture the offense regressing in Week 2. That the unit managed a measly three points in a 34-3 drubbing at the hands of the Carolina Panthers was indicative of its unenviable quarterback situation. With Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. still unavailable, Cooper Rush lined up for his second start to begin the year, and it went even worse than his first.
Rush fumbled on his first snap, threw an interception later in the first quarter and orchestrated a turnover on downs to conclude the opening period. After another interception and two more quarters of offensive ineptitude, Atlanta inserted undrafted rookie Jack Strand into the contest. That experiment did not pan out, either, as he tossed a pick-six on his first professional regular-season pass.
Unless one of Tagovailoa and Penix oversees a more effective offense once healthy, Atlanta will be in play for one of the top picks in the 2027 draft and could use it to find its next signal-caller.
Winner: Broncos
The Denver Broncos on Sunday accomplished something that no other team had since Nov. 9, 2025: Defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars in a regular-season game. Sean Payton needed to coach his team to a bounce-back win after a poor Week 1 showing, but drew a tough matchup with the Jaguars arriving at Mile High on a 10-game regular-season winning streak. Rather than fall into a 0-2 hole, though, Payton's Broncos rallied with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter of a 20-13 victory.
Last year, the Broncos were one of the 10 teams Jacksonville took down during its red-hot run. This time around, they secured what could be an important head-to-head win when it comes down to seeding in the AFC.
The offense still has a ways to go in order for first-year play-caller Davis Webb to command widespread praise, but that fourth quarter was a good sign.
Loser: Aaron Rodgers
Very little about the Pittsburgh Steelers' offense in the first year of the Mike McCarthy era warrants celebration. The group has a total of 23 points to its name through two games and managed only three of them in Sunday's 17-point loss to the New England Patriots. The deficiencies go beyond just the quarterback position, but Aaron Rodgers is as much of the problem as anyone.
Rodgers took four sacks in Week 2, and one of them was disastrous, as he coughed up the ball and watched as Elijah Ponder returned it for a backbreaking touchdown in the fourth quarter. That was Rodgers' second turnover and one of two fumbles. He also threw an interception.
Last week, the defense won the game for Pittsburgh. This week, it kept the Steelers within striking distance for most of the afternoon. Rodgers just did not do enough to capitalize on the opportunity against the Patriots.
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