NFL Week 5: Don’t count out Aaron Rodgers and Drake Maye just yet

Week 5 of the NFL season featured the latest chapter of one of the game’s most storied rivalries and resurgent performances from Aaron Rodgers and Drake Maye.

Here’s all the action you need to know about from Sunday.

Aaron Rodgers is heating up

After having looked like one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL to start the season, Pittsburgh Steelers starter Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes for the third straight game, this time in a 34-22 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

The last time Rodgers threw at least three touchdown passes in three straight games was in 2021, during his fourth MVP season with the Green Bay Packers. Rodgers is up to 10 touchdowns and four interceptions this year, and the Steelers improved to 3-2 with the win.

The Packers earn a measure of revenge

The Packers restored some balance in their rivalry with the Chicago Bears, defeating a Caleb Williams-less Bears squad 31-7.

It was the teams’ first matchup since Chicago’s epic comeback in the wild-card round of last year’s playoffs. The Bears had won two in a row in the series, also authoring a come-from-behind win last regular season.

This time, the Packers dominated on both sides of the ball. Green Bay held Ben Johnson’s offense in check, while Jordan Love had his finest game of the season. Love completed 25 of 31 passes for 367 yards, two touchdowns and a season-best 137.5 passer rating.

Johnson has made no secret of his distaste for Green Bay since he took over in Chicago. After a frosty handshake following last winter’s playoff game, Johnson and Packers coach Matt LaFleur had a (relatively) friendly exchange Sunday.

Drake Maye is fully back

After a terrible start to the season, Maye, the New England Patriots quarterback, has now strung together two straight games reminiscent of the player who finished second in MVP voting in 2025.

Maye threw for 374 yards and four touchdowns against the Las Vegas Raiders, also adding a score on the ground in a 45-17 win. In his last two games, he has thrown seven touchdown passes and only one interception.

The Raiders were getting beaten so badly that rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick in April’s NFL draft, got his first game action. He completed 6 of 8 passes for 48 yards.

The Vikings stay undefeated

The Minnesota Vikings are 5-0 after they beat the New Orleans Saints 23-13. The Vikings continue to ride their defense, as their offense has been inconsistent at best this season.

Quarterback Kyler Murray showed some improvement, however, completing 80% of his passes and posting a season-best 109.6 passer rating in the victory.

Minnesota will play the Colts in Week 6 before its schedule gets tough: The Vikings will play the Detroit Lions, the Buffalo Bills, the Packers and the San Francisco 49ers in November.

The Lions’ window to contend is still open

Two years after the NFC North was the NFL’s best division, it’s full of good but not great teams. Count the Detroit Lions among them. The Lions’ 164 points (a 32.8-point average) are the second most in franchise history through five weeks of a season, but they have needed to score that much to outplay a porous defense allowing 29.6 points.

On Sunday, after punts on their first three drives, the Lions (3-2) scored on their following seven consecutive possessions to easily beat Arizona and earn their first road win this season.

A week of down-to-the-wire endings

Sunday began with a stunner and ended with the season’s fifth overtime. In London, after Philadelphia took a lead with 8 seconds left, Jacksonville returned its ensuing kickoff deep enough to get into field-goal range and also fast enough to leave 1 second on the clock. The Jaguars then kicked a walk-off winning field goal to beat Philadelphia in what Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence called “maybe the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of.”

Why kick it directly to a returner?

“I lost us that game,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said.

Even more inexplicable was Washington’s tie with the New York Giants, when the clock ran out in overtime before the Commanders, who didn’t have a timeout, could stop the clock and kick a field goal. Why allow quarterback Jayden Daniels to run the ball and keep the clock moving with only seconds left? Washington coach Dan Quinn blamed himself.

“Sunday Night Football” on NBC offered an appropriate bookend to a wild day. After Baltimore scored a game-tying touchdown and 2-point conversion with 40 seconds left in regulation, Atlanta couldn’t muster a game-winning drive when quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was hit hard and knocked out of the game. In the season’s fifth overtime game, Baltimore scored first and Atlanta had one final opportunity to match. But backup quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw an interception on Atlanta’s second play, and the Ravens (4-1) hung on 30-23.

And then there were …

… three undefeated teams and three winless teams left.

San Francisco survived by inches to win in Seattle in one of the best games of the season to start 5-0 for the fifth time in the Super Bowl era. On the other end of the standings, Houston (1-4) and Tampa Bay (1-4) both earned their first wins during Week 5. Still searching for their own are Miami, Tennessee and the Los Angeles Chargers, all 0-5.

The Chargers put together yet another performance full of either botched plays or bad luck, depending on your perspective, including a fumble by quarterback Justin Herbert when his own lineman’s foot accidentally kicked the ball out of his hand midway through the fourth quarter. The Chargers never led again after that turnover.

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