The NFL season is officially at the halfway point with nine weeks in the books. Week 9 was a wild one, making up for a relative snoozer of a Week 8 with a wild Sunday. Both windows were full of close finishes, with a statement by the Seahawks capping the night off.
The Commanders, who were on the other end of that beatdown on Sunday night, top the list of losers from Week 9 for a multitude of reasons. Who else will join them? Let's dive into the list.
Commanders get embarrassed, lose Jayden Daniels
Vibes were high in Washington coming into this season after the Commanders stunned everyone with a run to the NFC Championship Game in Jayden Daniels' rookie year. Now, nine weeks into his second season, it doesn't feel premature to call their season over. In fact, it might even be too late.
Coming in at 3-5, the Commanders had a chance to get back into the NFC playoff picture with a win over the Seahawks on Sunday night. Instead, Sam Darnold went 16-for-16 with four touchdowns in the first half and Washington was down 28-0 in a blink.
Things got even worse in garbage time, when the Commanders inexplicably ran Jayden Daniels down on the goal line despite a 31-point lead. Daniels was thrown down and suffered a gruesome dislocated elbow injury that will keep him out for the foreseeable future, effectively ending the Commanders' season.
Washington went all in on an old roster in the offseason, likely overestimating the pieces already in place after the Cinderella run in 2024. Now, it is left with a lost season, an injured quarterback, and a whole laundry list of questions about how the roster can be reshaped in the coming years around Daniels.
Bengals defense reaches new low (if that was possible)
For years now, the Bengals defense has been an absolute laughingstock. That side of the ball ruined a potential MVP season from Joe Burrow in 2024, causing Cincinnati to miss the playoffs and forcing defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo to get fired. Now, Al Golden is calling the shots, and things are arguably even worse.
If giving up 39 points in a loss to the Justin Fields-led Jets wasn't bad enough, Sunday's 47-42 loss to the Chicago Bears represented a new rock bottom.
The Bengals' defense was a disaster all day. Kyle Monangai ran wild for 176 yards, a new career-high, and the Bears reached 30 first downs and nearly 600 total yards for the day. However, after a miraculous comeback that included more Joe Flacco heroics and the rare successful onside kick, Cincinnati just needed one stop with less than a minute left.
Instead, they did the most Bengals thing possible.
CALEB WILLIAMS HITS COLSTON LOVELAND FOR A 58 YARD BEARS TD!!
Chicago leads 47-42 with 17 seconds remaining 👀
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 2, 2025
After the game, both Ja'Marr Chase and Chase Brown called out the defense. With eight games still to go, things are already boiling over in the Bengals locker room.
Packers refuse to be a great team
The Packers have all the makings of a great team. They have a great play caller in Matt LaFleur, an uber-talented quarterback in Jordan Love, great balance on offense, and an elite pass rusher in Micah Parsons after trading for him just before the season. Green Bay seemed to be off and running after a Week 1 blowout of the Lions and a Week 2 rout of the Commanders.
Since then, things have been frustrating. The Packers lost an inexplicable game against the Browns before a wild Sunday night tie with the Cowboys in a 40-40 stalemate. Despite that, Green Bay entered Week 9 with an NFC-leading 5-1-1 record.
LaFleur and company came into Sunday's home game against the Carolina Panthers as a two-touchdown favorite, but they mustered just 13 points despite not punting one time in a 16-13 loss.
Green Bay didn't lose any ground in the NFC North thanks to the Vikings' win over the Lions, but this loss was a continuation of some concerning trends in Titletown. Jordan Love is turning the ball over too much, and the Packers lost Tucker Kraft to a devastating torn ACL during this game. Green Bay's playoff hopes aren't in jeopardy at this point, but its viability as a Super Bowl contender continues to look more and more murky.
Falcons turn a corner… until they don't
The Falcons have appeared in either the winners or the losers column for what seems like every week now, but they found a new way to lose on Sunday. After laying a pair of eggs against the Panthers and Dolphins earlier in the season, Atlanta looked competent all day on the road against a very good Patriots team.
New England had multiple chances to put the game away, but the Falcons still got the ball back with a chance to tie it up late. Drake London thought he did just that with an incredible one-handed touchdown on fourth down, but Parker Romo missed the ensuing extra point. Drake Maye and company were able to run out the clock from there and get a 24-23 win.
Romo was cut on Tuesday morning as the Falcons brought in Zane Gonzalez as a result of the miss.
It's still very difficult to know what to make of this Falcons team, but it's officially put up or shut up time for Raheem Morris and company. They are now 3-5 heading into a game overseas against the 7-2 Colts, so this big stack of bad losses could end in this season spiraling out of control quickly.
