NFL Week 5 Sunday takeaways: Rodgers defies Father Time, Coen gets bailed out, 49ers survive ugly performance

We're five weeks into the season, and some of my early takes are already aging poorly. Aaron Rodgers apparently has plenty of football left after I declared his career over. Thankfully, the Dolphins are still the worst team in football, so I haven't been wrong about everything.

And if you made a few bad decisions this weekend, don't feel too bad. Liam Coen made plenty and still walked out of the stadium with a win. Sometimes the NFL rewards you for being good, and sometimes your special teams unit saves you from a very long week in London.

Here's my biggest takeaway from each game on the Week 5 Sunday slate.

Takeaway: Liam Coen got away with one of the worst coaching performances of his career.

Plenty of people are going to criticize the Jags head coach for going for it on fourth-and-goal twice and failing rather than kicking a field goal. However, having to use a backup long snapper definitely adjusted the calculus.

The bigger issue, to me, was the play calling. A jet sweep on fourth-and-goal from the 1? A wildcat formation on first-and-goal from the 1 that led to a false start? And if the long snapper was such an issue, why not go for two after the go-ahead touchdown instead of trying that extra point, which was missed due to a bad snap?

And then none of it mattered because his special teams bailed him out with a big kick return (thanks to a terrible decision by Eagles coach Nick Sirianni to even allow a kick return in the first place) followed by a walk-off field goal. Better to be lucky than good?

Takeaway: Someone had to win this game.

In a battle of 0-4 AFC South teams, Houston coasted to a win over the lowly Titans. This was obviously a must-win for the Texans, who still have a long way to go if they want to have any hope at even making a postseason push.

Takeaway: Drake Maye appears to have righted the ship.

I've documented the struggles of the young New England quarterback this season, but his past two games have looked more like the 2025 version. Maye carved up the Las Vegas defense all afternoon and finished with 374 passing yards, four touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown. More importantly, Maye didn't turn the ball over after committing nine giveaways in the first four games. After a strong performance in an upset win over Buffalo in Week 4, Maye and the Patriots are back on track. Plus, the upcoming schedule looks favorable with games against the Jets, Bears and Dolphins over the next three weeks.

Takeaway: The Dolphins are the NFL equivalent of the free space on the bingo card.

The Miami Dolphins are in full tank mode and continue to look ahead to the 2027 NFL Draft. At this point, 0-17 isn't out of the question. That would be incredible because the Dolphins could be the only franchise in NFL history to complete a season at 17-0 and complete a season at 0-17. The offense is a complete disaster; in fact, the 24 points scored against Cincinnati represented a season high and 14 came in the fourth quarter with Cincinnati in complete control of the game.

Takeaway: It was fun while it lasted.

Ben Johnson deserves a lot of credit for winning back-to-back games with Case Keenum and Tyson Bagent starting. But even an offensive genius like Johnson can only do so much. Bagent was 12-for-21 for just 87 yards and two interceptions before being benched. Keenum came in and threw an interception of his own. Overall, the Bears turned the ball over five times, and you're not going to win a lot of games like that.

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