It’s time to check in on the NFL Panic Meter for 10 NFL teams who aren’t doing so hot right now at the 2023 season’s quarter poll.
In our first NFL Panic Meter of the season, we checked in on all of the winless teams around the league and how concerned they should be that they hadn’t yet been victorious.
Well, we’re now going to look at 10 teams that are trending in a very bad direction, whether that be because of poor quarterback play, defensive ineptitude, some combination of both or worse.
Not all of these teams will necessarily stay trending in the wrong direction, and there are some teams like the Arizona Cardinals who aren’t great right now but weren’t really supposed to be.
These 10 teams had at least some hope for the 2023 season that hasn’t been rewarded because of lackluster results. Let’s see who they are.
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons started out the season with a respectable 2-0 record, but the team’s offense has absolutely crashed since leaving the friendly confines of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. A good bit of that is owed to the downward spiral of quarterback Desmond Ridder, who won’t be benched right now but could in the future if his performance doesn’t improve.
Atlanta finally has a good defense after years of struggle on that side of the ball, but this offense should not be this bad. There is just way, way too much talent on that side of the ball to only score 13 points in two games. Ridder doesn’t need to be Patrick Mahomes, but he has to be a lot better.
Should Falcons fans panic? Well, if Ridder keeps playing like one of the worst quarterbacks in the league, the Falcons will probably switch to Taylor Heinicke. If either Ridder improves or Heinicke helps steady the offense later in the season, this team can still hypothetically contend for the NFC South. If the offense keep playing like this, don’t sweat January. The team’s 2023 ceiling doesn’t look very high with so much instability under center, and it’ll likely force the Falcons to go quarterback shopping next spring.
PANIC METER: 50%
Carolina Panthers
The Panthers are not giving quarterback Bryce Young the kind of environment where he can grow as Carolina sits at a measly 0-4 record.
The team traded its 2024 first-round pick to the Chicago Bears to draft Young, but this roster is not coming through for him as he tries to acclimate to the NFL level. Young falling so far behind guys like C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson is less an indictment on him as it is where he plays.
Carolina was much more competitive with Steve Wilks as its interim coach last year and a hypothetically worse roster. Losing cornerback Jaycee Horn and linebacker Shaq Thompson put a dent in the defense, but this team is just way too inconsistent right now to win games. Losing to the 0-3 Minnesota Vikings was a bad look for a team trying to find any shred of momentum.
It’s way too early to start talking about 2024 in Carolina, but this coaching staff has to give Young a better chance of succeeding. The Texans found a way with Stroud in a year where nobody expected anything from them, as have the Colts and Richardson. There’s still time to get this season going, but Panthers fans have to hope these are just rebuilding pains and not signs of something worse. Maybe an infusion of better offensive talent in 2024 will help Young reach more of his potential.
PANIC METER: 65%
Cincinnati Bengals
It’s very hard to properly evaluate the 1-3 Bengals as long as quarterback Joe Burrow is playing with a calf injury. He’s clearly not himself, and that’s much more due to his physical limitations than any signs of major regression.
While Burrow isn’t Burrow, this Bengals team has to be better around him. A Super Bowl contender has slipped behind in a competitive AFC North, and it’s very plausible right now that Cincinnati misses the playoffs if things don’t get better. Zac Taylor has his hands full in pulling this team out of its funk.
A healthy Burrow will work wonders, but that loss to a so-so Tennessee Titans team on Sunday may hint that it’s not just the quarterback’s injury that’s holding Cincinnati back. The Bengals have some serious soul-searching to do, and fast. Burrow will be fine, but we’re not really sure if this Bengals team will be. This is too good an operation not to play in January.
PANIC METER: 55%
Chicago Bears
The Bears showed signs of life on Sunday in a close loss to the Denver Broncos, but the team is still 0-4 and veering toward a lost season.
Quarterback Justin Fields is going to have to keep playing like he did in Denver if this team is going to keep him as its starter beyond 2023. As the team holds the top pick in the 2024 NFL Draft right now, odds are that a major franchise makeover could be in the works for Chicago.
Fields and the offense can’t do it alone, and this Bears defense has also been abysmal this season. We’re really not sure what to do with Chicago right now, as Fields can still make plays to get the team in a good position. However, the first three weeks for Chicago were catastrophic.
We still feel like this version of the Bears isn’t going to make it past December, but stranger things have happened. If the wins don’t start coming, Chicago could put on a fire sale at the trade deadline with expiring contracts.
PANIC METER: 80%
Denver Broncos
The Broncos winning against the Bears on Sunday shouldn’t be viewed as some sort of major turnaround for Denver. If anything, it just shows that having a veteran quarterback like Russell Wilson helps when you’re playing the worst team in the NFL.
Wilson’s progressions this season from a terrible 2022 campaign have been encouraging, but the rest of this Broncos team just isn’t getting the job done. Running back Jaleel McLaughlin has started to really come on as a factor for this Broncos offense, so that’s another positive Denver fans can hold onto.
However, this is also the team that let up 70 points to the Miami Dolphins. Unless Denver’s defense makes a major leap this season, the Broncos will be looking at a high draft pick and could eye Wilson’s long-term replacement. We’re really not expecting much from Denver this season, even if Wilson looks better than he did last year.
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders have lost three-straight games, and owner Mark Davis just got into it with Las Vegas fans who want coach Josh McDaniels fired.
This team is just not doing much well right now on either side of the ball. The Raiders signed quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to help get them into the playoffs, but he’s not doing as well without Kyle Shanahan calling the plays.
If you’re a Raiders fan, you have to feel that major changes are coming. McDaniels is not proving himself worthy in his second NFL coaching stint, and Las Vegas is another team veering toward a high draft pick that could be used on a quarterback of the future.
Las Vegas looks a bit like Denver, only that a new coaching staff could be in place here by next winter. The Raiders beat the Broncos in Week 1, but Las Vegas fans have watched their season spiral out of control since then.
PANIC METER: 80%
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings very badly needed that win on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, but Minnesota is still 1-3 and has only beat a winless team.
Minnesota’s defense still looks like a major liability, as safety Harrison Smith can’t get you three sacks every week. This team still doesn’t have much of a run game, and quarterback Kirk Cousins came back down to Earth, especially on an ugly 99-yard pick-six against the Panthers.
The Vikings have just about fallen apart after winning 13 games last season, and a win against a hapless Panthers team with a rookie quarterback probably won’t change that. If the team can’t build on this spark of momentum, we’re guessing Minnesota might start moving guys by the end of October and start studying up on who Cousins’ replacement will be next season under center.
PANIC METER: 75%
New England Patriots
The Patriots are not used to being lackluster, but it’s hard to call them anything else after getting trounced by the Dallas Cowboys. This defense isn’t quite operating with the same level of excellence we’re used to seeing in New England, and quarterback Mac Jones just isn’t providing consistency.
It’s hard to ever count out a Bill Belichick-coached team, and it’s a brutal first month to have to play the Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins, the New York Jets defense and Cowboys.
The Patriots can’t actually be bad, right?
We feel like New England is probably better than the 1-3 record would indicate, but playing in the AFC East is a tough draw this season. Two games against the Buffalo Bills and rematches with Miami and New York await.
We’re not ready to sound the alarms for New England because of this franchise’s history of excellence with Belichick, but they’ve got to start winning games and getting more out of Jones. We could be having a different conversation by midseason if things don’t start getting better.
PANIC METER: 45%
New York Giants
The Giants are bad right now, and quarterback Daniel Jones might’ve turned back into a pumpkin after his promising 2022 season.
Paying Jones a big contract this offseason might be the worst move any team made back in March in retrospect, as the team is locked in with him until 2025. This defense has also fallen off the wagon and is allowing 30.5 points a game this season. Nothing is really working right in New York.
Coach Brian Daboll does not look like he’s having a great time right now, and the Giants might have to go ahead and eye Jones’s replacement in the 2023 NFL Draft with a high pick and let the quarterback play out his contract before cutting him in 2025 if things don’t get better.
Giants fans have a right to panic; this is not good for a New York team that just won an away playoff game in January.
PANIC METER: 85%
New York Jets
The Jets losing quarterback Aaron Rodgers wasn’t their fault at all, but the team reportedly had a locker room implosion on their hands after Zach Wilson entered the lineup and stunk it up on the field.
Well, Wilson’s inspired play on Sunday in a close game with the Kansas City Chiefs might buy him and the Jets coaching staff more time to acclimate the 2021 second-overall pick as the team’s starting quarterback this fall. Almost beating the Chiefs can do a lot of good things for a struggling team.
The Jets had high hopes for 2023, but we’re really not sure if Wilson can be the guy to get this team into January competition. If he keeps playing better football, it’ll quell any dissent inside the organization. If Sunday was just a fluke, Wilson probably won’t finish this year as New York’s starter.
PANIC METER: 65%
