NFl - Year In review

Jan 15

By: Will Aimette

This NFL season has been one of the best in recent memory. There were records broken, some of the best single-game performances in history, and teams went to the playoffs that haven’t found success in years. This article breaks down some of the best narratives and moments from the 2025-26 NFL season so far.

The NFC West

The NFC West this year is one of the most entertaining divisions I’ve ever witnessed. There are three teams that could realistically win a Super Bowl (and at the time of writing this, are all in contention for it in the Divisional Round). Not to mention the two starting all-pro receivers (Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Puka Nacua) in the NFL lie in this division. Oh, and just in case you forgot, the probable MVP in Matthew Stafford is also here. The 49ers have been injured but debatably have the best running back of this generation, and any of these teams I would be excited to watch. I would easily sacrifice three hours of my time for an interdivisional game of any of the four. Even when you factor in the Arizona Cardinals. Their defense is mediocre, but their offense with Jacoby Brissett is starting to become exciting when you factor in all-pro tight end Trey McBride, who had the seventh most receiving yards in the NFL, as yes, a TIGHT END. This stat speaks to the superiority of this division over the rest of the NFL: they had 11 players on the all pro first and second team. That’s insane.

Bo Nix And the broncos

Forrest Gump once said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” And that about sums of the Broncos. They beat the Jets 13-11 in Week Six, then two weeks later beat the Cowboys 44-24. The week in between? They beat the Giants by one in a game they should’ve lost. It’s funny how inconsistent this team is for such a consistently top three defense. The inconsistency really lies in Bo Nix. One week the guy will play like prime Michael Vick, throwing for 302 yards and 4 touchdowns (Week 11 against Packers), another random week he’ll fumble and throw two picks while only posting 150 yards (Week 13 against Raiders). And that’s exactly what makes him so fun to watch. You can only wonder what’s going to happen to this young Broncos squad, it’s a mystery on how they’ll continue to play throughout the playoffs.

The Jaguars’ revitilization

The Jags were 4-13 last year. They selected Travis Hunter in the 2025 Draft, yet he was injured in Week 7. So how in the world did this turnaround exactly happen? It all starts with their new head coach hiring, Liam Coen. Although they were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, rarely does a team become this good this quick. It shows how much a coach makes an impact, that the Jags had the pieces, they just couldn’t find the right fit for those pieces. Well Coen certainly found them. They entered the playoffs on an eight game winning streak, with Trevor Lawrence averaging 4.3 touchdowns in the last three games of the season. Wideout Parker Washington was perfectly implemented into the offense late, and their running game exploded with speed back Travis Etienne and power back Bhayshul Tuten. I have to give a ton of credit to their front office with the midseason trade of Jakobi Meyers, as that was the move that really turned their season around. It added an extra component to their offense for the defense to guard, that especially left Brian Thomas open, while also creating deep pass plays for Trevor Lawrence to show off his arm. Although they were eliminated in a tight game against the Bills, this team underwent a massive turnaround which led to a great season; something Jags fans can start to expect in the future.

Historic Defenses

There’s no mentioning the 2025-26 NFL season without mentioning how good some of these defenses are this season; namely the Texans and Seahawks. (We have another segment on the Browns later, so I’ll leave them out for now). These guys are just fun to watch, as the Texans defense is incredible. All-pro corner Derek Stingley Jr. is emerging into the best DB in the league at the ripe age of 24, not to mention he’s paired with 22-year old corner Kamari Lassiter, who has been dominating as of late. Their safeties are Calen Bullock, who has four interceptions and has been consistent in coverage all year, and Jalen Pitre, one of the hardest hitting safeties with four interceptions also. Their D-Line consists of all-pro Will Anderson Jr, who had 12 sacks at 24 years old, and all-pro Danille Hunter, who had 15 sacks. And those are just their edge rushers. The Texans have the number one pass defense and number two rush defense, and even the best offenses in the league struggle to drive for a touchdown against them. Plus, their average age is just over 26 years old, so they’ll be great for a long time. Then there’s the Seahawks, who have a less name-heavy defense but are an incredibly solid unit. Their corners are some of the best in the NFL, and their pass rush is solid too. They call themselves the “Dark Side,” not quite as cool as the old 2010’s “Legion of Boom,” but still accurately depicts their dominance. It’s safe to say offenses had their work cut out for them this season.

Bears vs. 49ers

Flashback to 8:14 PM on December 26th, 2025. Little did I know I was tuning in to what would be one of the best NFL games in a long time. On a random Sunday Night, I had a feeling this would be a great game; two teams fighting hard for the one seed. I didn’t know how right I was at the time. The very first play of the game, with 14:53 left in the first quarter, the Bears picked off Brock Purdy for six points. That set the tone for the rest of the game, as that score would set up five back and forth consecutive touchdowns, each team going punch for punch in what would be a 28-21 game at halftime. That’s right, no field goals, no safeties, no punts, nothing besides touchdowns. It was pure entertainment. Christian McCaffrey was playing the best he had all season, Brock Purdy kept on dancing in the end zone, yet Caleb Williams and the Bears were punching right back, especially with rookie wideout Luther Burden lll having a legacy game. With the score 42-38 and the 49ers leading and the Bears with the ball, there was 1:55 seconds left in the game for the most intense drive of the season. On a third and ten, Luther Burden picked up 14 yards to extend the game and get the Bears 30 yards away from the end zone with 60 seconds left. A fourth and five was picked up on the 49ers 20 yard line, on a eight yard pass to tight end Colston Loveland. A few plays later, with four seconds left and no timeouts, the Bears snapped the ball on the 49ers three yard line. Caleb Williams rolled out left, avoiding two defensive tackles and running out of time. He heaved a desperation pass to Luther Burden lll, who came up two yards short of the ball. The 49ers held on with the whole world watching. What a game.

Week 18: Myles garrett breaks the sack record

Myles Garrett is dominant. There’s no need for any proof of that statement. Yet if anybody could possibly need more proof, this should seal him in as the greatest defensive player of his generation. 23.5 sacks is ridiculous. It’s marvelous, it’s glorious, it’s fabulous. It’s pretty much any positive word that ends in -ous. The craziest part is that he seems to get the most sacks against the best quarterbacks. Four of his sacks came in a single game against MVP candidate Drake Maye in Week 8. Five of them came in a single game against two-time MVP Lamar Jackson in Week 11. His 23.5 sack came against Joe Burrow. Yes, his dominance is helped by the Browns front office, who drafted rookie Mason Graham to take some of the O-line pressure off of him, and they also paired him with great corners and linebackers to keep coverage. So yes, he is helped majorly by their defense, but that fact shouldn’t take anything away from him. Garrett was double teamed, and pretty much triple teamed by the end of the season. The Steelers practically lost their Week 17 game against the Browns just to keep Garrett off of Rodgers. My favorite part about this whole situation? After his record breaking sack, Defensive Tackle Shelby Harris couldn’t contain his excitement, which resulted in him high-fiving the ref after the play. It’s hilarious.

Wild Card: Bears - Packers Rivalry

The Bears-Packers rivalry is arguably the best rivalry in NFL history. And fans this year got the treat of watching them battle it out in the first round of the playoffs. These teams HATE each other. In fact, Caleb Williams came into the game wearing a cheese grater hat, mocking the so-called “cheeseheads.” The Packers pulled away with a 21-3 lead at halftime, playing with anger, which leftthe Bears with a 1.3% chance of winning. At least that’s what ESPN thought. The Bears pulled closer and closer until they took the lead with 1:58 left in the game, and the score was 31-27. Jordan Love had a chance to win the game, but on fourth down was forced to throw a hailmary, which was incomplete. The Bears held on to advance, and after the game, the new Bears head coach, Ben Johnson, didn’t shake Matt LaFleur’s hand, later defending this by saying he “hates the Packers” and stating he “likes beating the Packers three times a year.” Isn’t this rivalry just great?

The Jets?

The Jets were so terrible they were almost fun to watch. As the end of the season started to wind down, they traded their only two longterm great players in Sauce Gardner and Quinnin Williams. After that, it probably would have been better for the team to forfeit rather than waste everybody’s time. Fantasy owners would pick up the quarterback on the team that was playing them, even if it was the Titans and Cam Ward. The defense didn't have an interception the entire year, they were horrible pass rushers, and the offense was the worst in the league. There was one game Justin Fields had 10 yards (that is not a typo, he actually threw for 10 yards) in a full game one week. As entertaining as it was to watch teams play them, you could simply marvel at how bad of a franchise they are. I mean, most teams that have that bad of an offense (Browns), at least have a top ten defensive unit. How does a team manage to be so terrible at both? They haven’t been in the playoffs in 15 years, and in those 15 years, more than 5 of them have been at least 12 loss seasons. At least they have a bright future with five first-rounders over the next two drafts.

Will Aimette