NFL Week 3 Winners and Losers: Travis Kelce, Upsets and a Record-Setting Offense

The Chiefs tight end, Cardinals and Dolphins can feel good about Week 3, while the Broncos, Bears and Cowboys try to rebound after less-than-stellar performances.

The Cardinals also recorded their first win of the season after shocking the Cowboys and the football world. But the Cowboys have bigger problems than just the Week 3 loss after cornerback Trevon Diggs tore his ACL in practice last week.

The Cowboys might be pretenders, and the Dolphins might have the best team in the league after dropping 70 points against the Broncos. But as always, let’s not get carried away. And let’s face it: The biggest story of Week 3 was Taylor Swift attending the Chiefs’ home game as Travis Kelce’s guest.

Here are our winners and losers from the past week.

Winners

Travis Kelce

Kelce has seven catches for 69 yards and a touchdown against the Bears :: Jay Biggerstaff/USA TODAY Sports

I might have laughed a little too hard after seeing a meme that said the Bears are the ideal game on the schedule for when to invite your girlfriend because the chances are it will be a blowout win with an amazing individual performance.

I’m not sure whether the Chiefs’ star tight end is Taylor Swift’s new boyfriend—I think we’re all trying to figure that one out—but Kelce is the biggest winner of the weekend because the pop icon accepted his invitation to Sunday’s win against the winless Bears. I’m sure you’re aware of this unless you’ve been living under a rock or not active on the internet.

But I wanted to highlight the amount of pressure Kelce had to score at least one touchdown to impress Swift, who was watching from a suite while sitting next to his mom, Donna Kelce. Patrick Mahomes delivered after connecting with Kelce for a three-yard touchdown to extend Kansas City’s lead to 41–0 in the third quarter.

With how ecstatic Swift was to witness the touchdown, Kelce seems to have left the friend zone. But, hopefully, Kelce doesn’t make her next album because that would likely mean it ended poorly.

Cardinals

Yes, the Cardinals weren’t supposed to beat the Cowboys, but they proved in the first two games that they can compete with most teams. Awful teams don’t just accidentally build second-half leads and play in one-score games, which Arizona did in losses to the Commanders and the Giants before Sunday’s upset win.

The Cardinals are a well-coached team with a relentless group of competitors, who had to hear all offseason that they were bound for the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL draft. Perhaps the Cardinals’ front office prioritized the future with the team’s offseason moves, but credit to first-year coach Jonathan Gannon for having his team ready despite an inexperienced roster.

Young teams tend to learn how to close out games after the midway point of the season. But the Cardinals, who didn’t have safety Budda Baker, figured it out in Week 3 and withstood the Cowboys’ rally in the second half.

Dolphins

Miami struggled a bit against the Patriots in Week 2, but it showed in Week 3 against the Broncos flashes of an offense on the verge of putting it all together.

We can now refer to Mike McDaniel’s offense as a juggernaut that can beat teams with Tua Tagovailoa’s arm and on the ground with a speedy group of running backs—De’Von Achane and Raheem Mostert combined for five rushing touchdowns. The Dolphins also didn’t miss a beat without the injured Jaylen Waddle, which highlights the absurd amount of playmakers they have assembled.

I still can’t believe they scored 70 points and generated 726 total yards in an NFL game. It was a historic day that made everyone believe the Dolphins are legit Super Bowl contenders, and that’s without cornerback Jalen Ramsey and a defense that’s still learning how to play together.

Jordan Love

Love continues to get the job done for the Packers, who overcame a 17-0 deficit to beat the Saints :: Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY Sports

The Packers are in good hands with Love as the starting quarterback. He continues to show in various ways why he’s the real deal after guiding Green Bay to a 17-point comeback in an 18–17 victory against the Saints.

Last week, Love and the Packers let one get away after blowing a 12-point lead in the loss against the Falcons, but it was still impressive that they jumped to a double-digit lead on the road without many key players.

Playing without running back Aaron Jones, wide receiver Christian Watson, left tackle David Bakhtiari, left guard Elgton Jenkins and cornerback Jaire Alexander, the short-handed Packers generated 18 points in the fourth quarter to get by the Saints and improve to 2–1.

The injuries might be too much to overcome on a short week against the Lions for Thursday Night Football, but the Packers have a chance with Love, and that says plenty about the 2020 first-round pick.

Eagles

After a slow start to the season, Philly (3–0) has gotten acclimated with new offensive coordinator Brian Johnson.

The Eagles generated 472 yards, including 201 on the ground, during their dominant win against the Buccaneers. Wide receiver A.J. Brown likely wasn’t complaining on the sideline this week either, after seeing 14 targets for nine catches and 131 yards. 

Losers

Broncos and Bears

Payton's Broncos were embarrassed by the Dolphins, losing by 50 points in a 70-20 blowout :: Isaiah J. Downing/USA TODAY Sports

I certainly never expected to have a “Winners and Losers” column about Taylor Swift’s love life and an NFL team scoring 70 points, but here we are. I have the Broncos and Bears to thank for that.

The Bears might have had it worse than the Broncos because their defensive coordinator resigned and the starting quarterback wondered publically whether coaching was to blame for his poor start to the season. That was days before the Bears fell behind 41–0 in Kansas City, and made the strange decision to put Justin Fields back in the game with a large deficit after he briefly left to be evaluated for a concussion in the fourth quarter.

What’s more embarrassing is that the Bears are three-point underdogs at home this week to the Broncos. You know, the team that just lost by 50 points.

As for Denver, it needs to seriously consider being sellers at the Oct. 31 trade deadline. The Broncos don’t have multiple first-round picks like the Bears do in 2024. Also, it’s fair to question whether the Broncos were wrong to spend money in free agency—they signed right tackle Mike McGlinchey and defensive lineman Zach Allen—in an attempt to make it work with this roster and quarterback Russell Wilson.

As Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr pointed out, Broncos coach Sean Payton was wrong to take shots at former Denver coach Nathaniel Hackett, who never lost by 50 points last season. 

Desmond Ridder and Sam Howell

The Falcons and Commanders were considered surprise teams after both started the season 2–0, especially after rolling the dice on second-year quarterbacks.

After both QBs struggled in Week 3, it’s evident that the Commanders and Falcons might not get far this season unless Howell and Ridder make drastic improvements and show they can be more than just a bridge signal-caller. Howell threw four interceptions in the blowout loss to the Bills, and Ridder again failed to ignite the passing game in the setback against the Lions.

It might be unfair to criticize the Falcons and Commanders for settling this past offseason with in-house quarterbacks who were drafted after the second round in 2022. Neither team had a top-five draft pick this year (Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson were all taken within the first four picks), and there weren’t many options in free agency, with Aaron Rodgers going to the Jets and Derek Carr joining the Saints.

The Falcons and Commanders decided to see what they have in their young quarterbacks, but they might end up not liking the results after the 2023 season.

Saints

Speaking of the Saints, they had a rough Sunday after blowing a double-digit lead in Green Bay and losing Carr to a shoulder injury.

If Carr misses time, that will prevent the Saints (2–1) from getting acclimated to their new starting quarterback. For the first two games, New Orleans leaned on its stout defense, as the offense went through the motions of adjusting to new additions. Perhaps the Saints can stay afloat with a stellar defense and backup Jameis Winston, with upcoming games against the Buccaneers, Patriots and Texans.

Cowboys

Dallas lost its Pro Bowl cornerback to a season-ending knee injury, and the Cowboys followed by losing to the Cardinals, the biggest upset of the young season. But not having Diggs wasn’t the sole reason Dallas stumbled in Arizona.

The defense reverted to last season’s issues with stopping the run; the Cardinals generated 222 rushing yards. The Cowboys might have fooled the football public into thinking they were a Super Bowl contender after cruising against the Giants and Jets. We’ll see how Dallas makes adjustments without Diggs.

Raiders

It’s gotten pretty bad for the Raiders, who continued to have issues on both sides of the football during the Week 3 loss to the Steelers.

The only area that seems to be working for the Silver & Black is Jimmy Garoppolo throwing in Davante Adams’s direction. But now Garoppolo is in concussion protocol, which might force the Raiders to turn to Brian Hoyer or rookie Aidan O’Connell for this week’s game against the Chargers.