Generally at the quarter mark of the NFL season, that's when you start to figure out who's who in the NFL. You learn who the real teams are and which teams will start to falter as we get deeper into the NFL season.
Who's Real:
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS- Yes the Saints lost Drew Brees for an extended period of time but the last two weeks have shown that this team can win without him. Going on the road in Seattle to not only beat the Seahawks, but also hand Pete Carroll his first home loss in September since joining Seattle. Then in a primetime matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, the Saints were able to keep the Cowboys in check and beat them without scoring a touchdown in the game. It may not be pretty but a W is a W and the Saints so far are getting it done any way they can.
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS- Minshew Mania is real in Duval. Another team that lost their franchise quarterback early on and they haven't missed a beat. They got blown out at home by the Chiefs to start the season but the Chiefs tend to do that to everybody,they were a missed two-point conversion away from beating the Texans on the road, then come back home and dominate the Titans, before traveling all the way to Denver to steal a W on the road. Leonard Fournette finally performed the way everyone expected him to in their win against the Broncos, rushing for 225 yards, including an 81 yard rush. Gardner Minshew may be a rookie, but he's taking the NFL by storm and he looks good doing it.
CHICAGO BEARS- I threw up a little including the Bears in this category but that defense is no joke. The offense will always be less than stellar but if they can get the run game going with David Montgomery and take the game out of Mitchell Trubisky's hands, they should be just fine. They have not allowed more than 15 points to any team so far this season and Khalil Mack continues to do Khalil Mack things. They may be ugly, but the Bears are for real, even if their franchise quarterback is hurt.
Who's Fake:
BUFFALO BILLS- The most obvious of the teams that are fake, the three wins were against the Giants (before Daniel Jones), Jets, and Bengals. They get a chance to battle with the big boys and just absolutely collapse. While the Bills defense kept the Patriots in check, this offense was anemic. Josh Allen continues to turn the ball over and be inaccurate and was knocked out of the loss to the Patriots. Matt Barkley is the backup and good luck winning many games with him. This team is similar to the Bears and maybe they can be as good when Devin Singletary comes back, but for now, they are the most fake of the 3-1 teams in the NFL.
GREEN BAY PACKERS- A fringe team on this list. The win at Chicago to open the season was great for them and they are 3-1 but I'm just not buying them. The defense got a lot of praise but in their three wins, they played the Bears, Broncos, and Redskins. Those aren't teams putting up 30 points per game. Then when they get a chance to play a high-powered offense in Philadelphia, they choke.The biggest concern is play-calling. Back-to-back drives inside the five, they throw six straight passes including four passes from the one. Five of those passes fell incomplete with the sixth and final pass getting intercepted. The injury to Davante Adams will drastically change the offense as well. The schedule gets pretty tough coming up and we'll see just what this team is made of.
TENNESSEE TITANS- I just don't know what to make of this team. They open the season on the road with a dominating performance over the Cleveland Browns before losing at home to the Colts, on the road in Jacksonville, and then beating a very under-performing Falcons team on the road. Derrick Henry is average and while Marcus Mariota hasn't turned the ball over, he's already been sacked 17 times. This team is always hard to figure out but nothing about them screams playoff team. While 2-2 leads the division, they are technically in last place thanks to an 0-2 division record. I wouldn't be surprised if that's where they end up at the end of the season.