NFL Picks, 2026 Week 4

I hope you like those NFL Network 9:30 AM European games.  Because we've got a whole month's full of them!  Three straight in London before finishing out October at the Stade de France.  This after already having games in Australia and Rio this season.  Although, I'm not sure any of them will be able to compare to Ravens-Cowboys.  That might've been the best international game the NFL has ever had!

Thursday Night: Pittsburgh (Loss)

Colts (1-2) vs Commanders (1-2): Washington-Both of these teams head to London having picked up their first win of the season last week.  Indianapolis beating Houston wasn't nearly as big a surprise as the Commanders' victory over Seattle.  Which one will carry over that momentum, pick up their second straight victory, and move to .500?  I'll go with Washington.  The Commanders seem to be in OK shape with Marcus Mariota under center instead of Jayden Daniels.

Patriots (1-2) at Bills (3-0): Buffalo-New England's win in Buffalo last season set the tone for the entire rest of the season.  The Patriots won the division and ended up in the Super Bowl.  The Bills were a wild card and fired their head coach.  Now, of course, they have a new stadium that they're playing in for the third straight week.  This will be a different game than the previous two, but the result should be similar.  The Bills stay undefeated.

Jets (1-2) at Bears (2-1): Chicago-Chicago loses its starting quarterback, then goes and gets a dominant performance from its backup in a statement Monday night win.  The Bears can win without him.  Not just win, beat good teams.  If they can beat the Eagles that badly, the Jets shouldn't be a problem at all.  Although, the Jets have given two other NFC North teams (the Packers and Lions) fits in their last two games.  (Incredibly, they have to wait until Week 17 to play the Vikings.)  Still, expect the Bears to get to 3-1.

Jaguars (2-1) at Bengals (2-1): Cincinnati-While I'm still not ready to jump on the Bengals bandwagon, I'll acknowledge that this team may be better than I originally thought.  Of course, their success still depends on Joe Burrow's health.  He's been healthy so far, and these are the results.  Meanwhile, the Jaguars played New England last week absolutely rolled them.  So, whoever wins this game will be a very deserving 3-1.

Cardinals (1-2) at Giants (2-1): Giants-With the Eagles' loss on Monday night, the Giants are tied for first place.  Crazy, huh?!  Will it last?  Probably not.  But they've got a great chance at getting to 3-1 this week.  Arizona had to play a pair of division games after that Week 1 upset over the Chargers, which is the primary reason why their record is 1-2.  That cross country trip to play a 1:00 game isn't an easy one, though.  That's why I'm going with the Giants here.

Rams (1-2) at Eagles (2-1): Philadelphia-Most people expected these to be two of the top teams not just in the NFC, but the entire NFL.  And they still might be.  But neither one has looked like it so far.  Especially the Rams.  The Eagles just fell victim to having a bad night on the same night the Bears had a good one.  I think they're more likely to bounce back than the Rams, who'll be in a serious hole after a 1-3 start.

Packers (1-2) at Buccaneers (0-3): Tampa Bay-Last Thursday taught us something very important.  The Green Bay Packers might not be that good.  Frankly, Tampa Bay may not be, either.  So, I guess we'll find out which Bay is worse this week.  The Bucs have looked slightly less bad, so I guess I'll go with them.  Not confidently, though.

Titans (0-3) at Ravens (2-1): Baltimore-Wow!  What a win!  That game in Rio could be the defining moment of the Ravens' season.  It's certainly the defining moment of the Post-Harbaugh Era so far.  Hopefully there's no letdown after the thrill of that victory.  Because a home game against a bad Titans team should be a win no problem.  Those are the kinds of games where those letdowns can happen, though.  We've got the Derrick Henry sidebar, too.  And you know he ain't losing to his old team!

Cowboys (1-2) at Texans (0-3): Dallas-On the flip side, that was a gut-wrenching loss in Rio marred by a lot of mistakes in late-game management by Dallas.  Now they find themselves staring at 1-3 if they don't beat a Texans team that's as desperate for a win as they are.  If not more so.  The Texans were 0-3 last year and still recovered to make the playoffs.  Can they really do it again?  Can they do it if fall to 0-4?  Believe it or not, in the AFC South, it is possible.

Dolphins (0-3) at Vikings (3-0): Minnesota-Miami being 0-3 isn't that much of a surprise.  Minnesota being 3-0, meanwhile, has definitely gotten people's attention.  The Vikings are in such good shape that they traded J.J. McCarthy to the Giants.  Will reality eventually set in?  Sure.  But this is the easy part of their schedule and they have an early bye.  I can easily see Minnesota being 5-0 when that bye week hits.  Which, of course, would mean beating Miami since they have to get to 4-0 first.

Chiefs (3-0) at Raiders (3-0): Kansas City-Who would've figured these two would both be undefeated when they first meet this season?  The Chiefs, sure.  But the Raiders?  Definitely not.  Of course, Kansas City is a much tougher test than their first three opponents.  I guess we'll get to find out how good the Raiders actually are.  They won't beat Kansas City, but if they can keep this game close, maybe they're for real.

Broncos (2-1) at 49ers (3-0): San Francisco-CBS has two really good games in the late doubleheader window this week!  Jim and J.J. are doing Chiefs-Raiders, but I don't think there would've been many complaints if they had this one instead.  Denver used another second half comeback to shock the Rams.  They know they can't keep relying on that.  But if it works, it works.  A place where it probably won't work is San Francisco.  The undefeated 49ers will stay just that and maintain their lead in the NFC West.

Chargers (0-3) at Seahawks (2-1): Seattle-How much will that loss in Washington end up hurting the Seahawks in the long run?  Maybe not at all.  They haven't played the 49ers or Rams yet, so that loss could end up being just a footnote in their season.  Still, it was a surprise.  Also a surprise is the Chargers being 0-3.  It's the first time Jim Harbaugh has ever been 0-3, and he's admitted that he needs to get more out of Justin Herbert.  Unfortunately, going to Seattle isn't really the best place for him to try and make himself right.

Lions (2-1) at Panthers (1-2): Detroit-Detroit has scored exactly 31 points in each of its first three games.  So, that's the magic number Carolina has to strive towards and the Lions defense knows they need to keep the Panthers under.  It is cool that Sunday Night Football is returning to Charlotte after all these years, even if the matchup is an odd one for NBC to choose.  At least we'll get to see the Lions on national TV, though.

Falcons (1-2) at Saints (1-2): New Orleans-This game was selected for Monday night because it's as close as they could get to the 20th anniversary of that first game back at the Superdome after Katrina, when the Saints memorably beat the Falcons.  And, as it turns out, this game isn't as bad as it originally looked on paper.  New Orleans is 1-2, but was very competitive in its two losses.  The Falcons, meanwhile, beat the Packers in the first of their three straight primetime games.  This one's actually for first place, too.  The New Orleans Saints will be in first place after a quarter of the season.

This Week: 0-1
Last Week: 7-9
Overall: 25-24