Grading every NFL team at the midway point: Chargers get an 'F,' three teams get solid 'A' grade

Buffalo is among the highest-rated teams, while the Eagles sit at the opposite end as a big disappointment Nov 13, 2026 at 7:40 am ET • 10 min read We're just past the midway point of the NFL season, which means it's time to start thinking seriously about who has and has not met the expectations we set for them at the start of the year. Everyone came into the season with a different set of hopes, and everyone has had plenty of time to meet, exceed or fall short of them now that we have played nine weeks of football.For some teams, whether they have done what was expected of them is fairly obvious: The Chargers have not, for example. For other teams, it's not so obvious: The entire NFC South would fit that description. But what about the rest of the teams in the league? How have they performed, and how would we grade them relative to what was expected of them entering the season? That's why we're here. We're assigning letter grades to each team's performance through the midway point of the season. We broke down where each team stands, and why, below.TeamGradeComment C-Dallas came into this season with high hopes but has instead disappointed. The Cowboys' defense remains a disaster, and the offense hasn't lived up to expectations. They've also blown a couple of games with poor situational football awareness. The only thing saving them from a worse grade is that the rest of the NFC East is bad enough that they're in second place and potentially in position to make a run at the playoffs. AThe Giants could hardly have hoped for the start of the John Harbaugh era to go any better results-wise. They're in first place in the division despite having lost their starting quarterback in the second game of the season. Rookie Arvell Reese looks like a total monster. They have mostly won close games, so they might not be as good as their record indicates, but that doesn't matter when it comes to how they've performed relative to expectations. DThe Eagles would have an F if not for Howie Roseman's smart pivot to selling off pieces at and around the trade deadline, which restocked the cupboard full of draft picks for the future. Philly is always smart about knowing when to pull the plug on a lost season, which is exactly what this year has been. C-The Commanders weren't necessarily expected to be all that competitive in the NFC East this year, but the degree to which they've fallen behind the Giants and Cowboys is disappointing. The game management issues under Dan Quinn have also persisted, which contributes to this grade. A-The Bears, like the rest of the NFC North, have to be happy with how their season has gone to date. The offense looks explosive, and the defense looks better after the addition of Jeffery Simmons. The only thing holding them back from getting a straight 'A' here is the surprising lack of run game efficiency, though Kyle Monangai's absence has contributed to that. A-The Lions have one of the most explosive offenses in the league, with Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta combining with Jared Goff to light up scoreboards. The defense has even been playing better lately, albeit in light matchups. There have been some issues here and there (like the loss to the Panthers), but overall, things have gone quite well relative to expectations. A-The Packers have to be thrilled with how their season has gone. Despite the absence of Micah Parsons, the defense has been excellent. Jordan Love is playing near an MVP level. Christian Watson and Matthew Golden look like superstars. The one thing holding them back from an 'A' is how they started the season, with a bad loss to Minnesota and the blowout against Atlanta. Otherwise, things have gone about as well as could be expected. A-The Vikings' defense gets an A+++++, but the offense has been bad enough to knock the team down nearly a full letter grade despite Minnesota's 6-2 record. Here's hoping that Kirk Cousins can at least prop things up a bit for the rest of the season. CI can't justify giving any NFC South team anything other than a 'C' based on what they have done to date. They're all living down to relatively low expectations. CSame as above: I can't justify giving any NFC South team anything other than a 'C' based on what they have done to date. They're all living down to relatively low expectations. CI'll say it one more time: I can't justify giving any NFC South team anything other than a 'C' based on what they have done to date. They're all living down to relatively low expectations. CSorry, this is the last time: I can't justify giving any NFC South team anything other than a 'C' based on what they have done to date. They're all living down to relatively low expectations. C+The Cardinals have actually been better than anybody expected. They have three wins, and they've played a couple of other close games mixed in there. They do have five double-digit losses, though, so it's hard to give them a grade in the 'B' range. Things will also likely get worse the rest of the way, given their injury issues. That said, getting a second-round pick back for Marvin Harrison Jr. looks like a good deal. C-The Super Team expectations were probably always a bit too high, but the Rams haven't come close for a variety of reasons. Whether it's injuries, Matthew Stafford's regression or even more injuries, you have to dock the Rams for not even being a surefire playoff team at the midpoint of the season. Being over .500 despite the injuries is mildly impressive, but not enough to give them a grade in the 'B' range. AThe 49ers are a team that has overcome nearly as many injuries as the Rams have faced. It seems like as long as they have Kyle Shanahan, Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle, they are just going to keep humming. And Raheem Morris has the defense playing well despite its own injury issues. They've been great on both sides of the ball. C+We initially had the Seahawks at a 'B-' grade, but then we remembered the odd loss to the Commanders in Week 3 and had to knock them down. Seattle has navigated some offseason losses (Klint Kubiak, Kenneth Walker III and more) and injury issues (the entire backfield), and three of its four losses came in one-score games, but we expected the Seahawks to be closer to the top of the division than they are right now. AThe Bills have overcome a questionable defense to emerge midway through the season with a 7-1 record. Josh Allen is firmly in the MVP mix once again. James Cook is averaging even more rushing yards per game than he did a year ago. The offense has kept humming despite DJ Moore missing time. The Joe Brady era is off to a very good start. CThe Dolphins have played right around expectations so far this year. They have smartly played at a snail's pace on offense to try and shorten games and stay competitive, which has resulted in them losing by less than expected in some contests, and they even beat the Jets. Still, it's hard to justify better than a 'C' grade when you're 1-7 at the halfway point. B-The Patriots' start to the season was terrible. They then got on a little bit of a run to bounce back, and it looked like they might recapture some of what they had last year. But they've lost two games against good teams over the last three weeks, and they got smacked by the Packers in the most recent one. The injury issues on offense matter, but sitting at 5-4 before their trip to Munich is a slight disappointment. C+The Jets look like they have a nice corps of young players on both offense and defense, but they're also 2-7. It's hard to find the appropriate grade for that type of team, especially when it's coming off its worst loss of the season, where it was totally non-competitive. It feels like a 'C+' is just right, relative to what we expected from them coming into this year. C+Considering they haven't had Lamar Jackson for much of the season (he basically played 3.5 games), it's at least somewhat impressive that the Ravens are still in the mix in the AFC at 4-5. But they've lost four games in a row and have looked inept offensively of late (albeit in brutal situations), and Jesse Minter's defense hasn't been able to make up for it. A-The Bengals' offense started the season somewhat slowly, as per usual, but has kicked into high gear of late, as per usual. Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are basically unstoppable, and the defense is improved relative to recent years. There have been some ups and downs with that unit (27 points against the Bucs despite four turnovers, 30 against the Steelers, 24 against the Dolphins despite three turnovers, 36 against the Titans despite two turnovers), so that's keeping them from earning a straight 'A' here. B+The Browns are 5-4, which would make you think they should get an 'A' relative to expectations. But when you look at the context of those games, and the fact that they each required a game-winning drive in the final five minutes, you see that the record isn't as impressive as it looks on the surface. Still, the wins count, and five is probably more than many people expected them to get coming into the year. B+The inexcusable loss to the Browns back in Week 4 keeps the Steelers out of the 'A' range, which they might otherwise be in, given their offense and defense. The run game has been impressive, and the defense has maintained a high level of play. Coming out of their bye at 6-2 is an ideal midseason result. C-The Texans are 3-5, and two of their wins have come against the Titans and Chargers. Their defense has regressed year over year. That all overshadows the great season they're getting out of C.J. Stroud, who has been even better this year than he was during his spectacular rookie season. D-The Colts have been a disaster on both sides of the ball and had to enter fire-sale mode. This grade would be lower if not for the fact that they did get some assets for a few players who were obviously on their way out the door. A-The Jaguars are 6-2 with two one-score losses, and they look elite on both offense and defense. They might have an inside track on the No. 1 seed in the AFC, given their rest-of-season strength of schedule. We docked them to an 'A-' thanks only to the frankly bonkers price they paid in the Jordan Davis trade, even if he is going to help their defense the rest of the way. C-The Titans looked more competent in their final three games going into their Week 9 bye, even if they did lose two of them. The offense looked so bad early in the year, though, that we can't even justify giving them a straight 'C' here. We're grading the entire season to date, not just what's happened most recently. Getting a second-round pick and more for Amani Hooker was nice, though. A-I don't know how the Broncos keep getting away with it in one-score games (6-0 this season), but they do. They're probably not as good as their 6-2 record suggests, and they got embarrassed in the season opener against Kansas City, but there's no denying their track record of winning in clutch situations at this point. So, we're giving them a bit of credit for it here. B+The Chiefs have taken care of business for the most part this season, losing only to the Seahawks and Broncos on the road in back-to-back weeks. They have otherwise been able to run the ball at will on everyone, and their defense has been excellent. The blip in Weeks 7 and 8 counts, though, and it revealed an inability to find a way to win if Kenneth Walker doesn't go off. That matters. BThings worked out quite nicely for the Raiders. They started out 3-0, Kirk Cousins played well enough to give Fernando Mendoza time to sit and learn for half a season, and then they got a third-round pick for Cousins at the deadline. If they hadn't lost five of their last six games, this grade would be even higher. FNo need to elaborate on this one.