NFL 2026-2027: Week 8

The Game Room
1

Week 7 results:

Bears 30, Patriots 24
Steelers 16, Saints 10
Falcons 29, 49ers 20
Browns 27, Titans 24
Vikings 16, Colts 10
Dolphins 28, Jets 25
Bucs 43, Panthers 13
Bengals 35, Ravens 13
Giants 27, Texans 21 (OT)
Broncos 30, Cardinals 16
Lions 20, Packers 17
Rams 35, Raiders 21
Seahawks 20, Chiefs 3
Cowboys 38, Eagles 21

Here are this week’s lines. All spreads taken from DraftKings on Thursday the 29th at 7:35 am CT.

Thursday night:
Panthers @ Packers (-3.5)

Sunday early:
Ravens @ Bills (-3)
Titans @ Bengals (-10)
Cardinals @ Cowboys (-7)
Vikings @ Lions (-3)
Raiders @ Jets (-1.5)
Browns @ Steelers (-3.5)
Falcons @ Bucs (-2.5)
Colts @ Jaguars (-10)

Sunday late:
Chargers @ Rams (-6.5)
Chiefs @ Broncos (+1.5)
Patriots @ Dolphins (+7.5)

Sunday night:
Eagles @ Commanders (-6)

Monday night:
Bears @ Seahawks (-3)

Byes:
Saints, Giants, 49ers, Texans

After 7 weeks, the Vikings are 6-0 and the only undefeated team.
The Chargers are 0-6 and the only winless team.

Division leaders in the AFC are the Bills, Browns/Steelers, Jaguars, and Chiefs.
Division leaders in the NFC are the Giants, Vikings, Panthers, and 49ers.

Link to standings.

NFL 2026-2027: Week 7
2

They don’t play each other, but I feel if they did the Chargers would win because the NFL can be weird like that.

3

“Trap game!”

4

Heading into the season, I suspect the number of people predicting that both the Vikings would be the last unbeaten and, more surprisingly, that the Chargers would be winless at this point of the season could be best approximated as akin to some theoretical subatomic particle - probably it exists but we haven’t seen it yet

5

Lions favored over the undefeated Vikes? I don’t think they’re real either, but still a little surprising.

6

Lions at home by 3. The oddsmakers are calling the teams evenly matched on a neutral field

7

That one surprised me, as did the Chiefs favored by 1.5 in Denver, especially after the Sunday night debacle in Seattle.

8

Huge trade:

Two firsts and a fourth from the Bears. As someone who hasn’t watched the Titans play in a long time, I don’t know how to feel yet.

9

According to the article, also a 5th rounder in 2028.

And he has $100 million guaranteed over 2028-2030, just in time for Caleb Williams to get his extension.

They’re going to have 25-30% of their salary cap tied up in just those two players across those years. I guess they’re in win now by default. They’ll want to maximize both of them for this season and next before they get expensive.

10

Yikes, 2 first round picks is a lot. I know next to nothing about this guy, but it seems like he is considered a great player, however i’m always wary of “great” players that earn that designation playing in a load of games that mean nothing. It seems like this guy has largely built his reputation playing on bad teams.

11

The Packers host Carolina at Lambeau tonight, less than 24 hours after the Brewers won the World Series. I predict a whole lot of hung-over Packer fans there. :smiley:

12

It’s a huge move, and yeah, it does make it feel like they are going all-in for the next season or two, in a very tough division.

It makes me wonder if the Bears are hoping that a deep playoff run this year will finally get them over the hump on getting a stadium deal done. I still believe that they would far prefer being in Illinois (which would mean Arlington Heights at this point), rather than Indiana, but it’s been pushing water uphill to get the tax package done with the Illinois legislature.

It’s not unlike the deal that the Packers made for Micah Parsons last year. However, two big differences are position (Parsons is a DE/edge rusher, Simmons a DT) and age (Simmons is 29, Parsons is 27, and was only 26 when he was traded).

13

Like the last few seasons nobody is running away from the field in terms of point differential: Vikes are 1st with +51, Jags 2nd +50. Justin Herbert is having a pretty dire season, but he’s had 2 Pro Bowl appearances & 2 top 10 MVP finishes so I wouldn’t bet on his funk to continue. Vikes are only gaining 0.2 more yards per play vs. their opponents so they won’t finish undefeated.

14

I’m not even sure how much of it is Herbert directly.

Some, probably, but he and Mike McDaniel might just be incompatible, even if they are individually sufficiently capable. And if that’s the case, it’s not the QB who needs to consider job security.

15

Just from watching the Chargers play Seattle earlier, Herbert didn’t seem like he was awful. The team in general wasn’t very good and Herbert was good enough to start to bring the team back in the second half of the game, but I wouldn’t say he’s the issue. He’s also not nearly good enough to carry the whole team (but no QB can do that on their own anyway).

16

He seems like a good QB. But jury’s still out on how great he might be. It seems like every year there’s the expectation they will get over the hump with him and just never do. He’s definitely not a Josh Allen who can somehow elevate the offense by himself.

But also, I don’t think the scheme fits him at all right now which does him no favors. McDaniel has some impressive wins and made QBs of dubious quality look at stars, so I don’t think it’s entirely him either. They’re absolutely not on the same page, at least, and how much of the season they can salvage will depend on them getting there.

17

Agreed. I think he’s better than most QBs and a lot of teams would love to have a player like that, but he gets overhyped sometimes. A solid QB but not a superstar.

18

Yup. Looks like the Packers will be getting a new kicker after this week.

19

Your man Jordan Love continues to produce for my fantasy team, even on these short-week Thursday starts. Love it.

Unrelated, I think I learned my something new for the day regarding the 53-man roster. Unless AI answers are hallucinating, you can apparently do a “gameday promotion” of up to two practice squad guys, who then dress and can play for you but do not count as part of your normal 53-man roster. Meaning you can dress up to 55. These gameday practice squad promotions automatically revert to being regular practice squad players the following day.

Was anyone else aware of gameday promotions? I discovered it while checking my Thursday lineup (Go Jordan Love!) and saw this note on Saquon Barkley and started googling for answers:

Jaydon Blue currently is the only healthy RB on the Eagles’ active roster, though the team also used practice squad member Elijah Mitchell in Monday’s loss to the Cowboys.

I was all “Huh?” when I read that. How does a practice squad player get on the field? That means he had to dress for the game, right? But did that count against the 53-man limit? Apparently the answers to those questions are “gameday promotion”, “yes”, “no” according to google’s AI answers.

I’d never heard of that before and am wondering if it’s common knowledge.

20

I’m not sure that’s 100% accurate. Here’s a quote from the wiki page:

The 2020 collective bargaining agreement allowed for teams to elevate up to two players per week to the active roster from the practice squad. Such promotions must be made the day before the team’s game, and allow the player to automatically revert to the practice squad without having to clear waivers.

Here’s an article that goes into more detail, in particular the difference between the 53-man roster and the 47 (or 48) players who suit up on gameday.