NFL Week 4 Sunday Takeaways: Giants and Bears Storm to 3-1 as the Late Window Takes Shape

The Sunday slate started with nine games going final in the early window — and it didn't take long for Week 4 to turn chaotic. By mid-afternoon, the Giants and Bears had both stormed to 3-1, the Jaguars had survived a last-stand goal-line drama in Cincinnati, and the Colts had won in London amid a full-blown officiating controversy. Here's what the early finals told us, with the late games still unfolding.

Nine games were final by the time the late-afternoon slate kicked off, and the early window delivered its own highlight reel: a 98-yard interception return for a touchdown at MetLife Stadium, a rookie quarterback making his NFL debut in London, a penalty-flag meltdown in that same game, and a statement shutout of one of the league's best defenses in Chicago.

Here's how Sunday's finals shook out: Colts 30, Commanders 13 (London); Patriots 29, Bills 26; Jaguars 22, Bengals 17; Packers 17, Buccaneers 14; Ravens 24, Titans 18; Rams 24, Eagles 20; Giants 36, Cardinals 24; Bears 23, Jets 12; Cowboys 34, Texans 30. The Rams-Eagles and Patriots-Bills games were covered in full in today's 2 o'clock edition — here's everything else that mattered.

The New York Giants are 3-1, and they got there by doing whatever they wanted in the second half at MetLife Stadium. Arizona jumped out to a 14-3 lead behind Jacoby Brissett, and then the Cardinals' offense disintegrated: Brissett threw three interceptions, the last of which Deionte Banks returned 98 yards for the game-sealing touchdown. The sequence tells the whole story of Arizona's day. The Cardinals had first-and-goal at the 4-yard line, trailing 30-24, and threw three straight incompletions — then Brissett's fourth-down pass got picked and housed. For the Giants, Jameis Winston threw three touchdown passes and the defense survived its own three turnovers. For Arizona, Brissett is now 2-14 as a starter with the Cardinals, and the defense has allowed 30 or more points in three straight games.

Chicago is also 3-1, and the Bears' 23-12 win over the Jets might have been the most complete performance of the day. The offense piled up 492 yards and 34 first downs. Tyson Bagent, starting in place of the banged-up quarterbacks ahead of him, threw for 268 yards — making him the third different Bears quarterback to lead the team to a win this season after Case Keenum beat Philadelphia on Monday night. Rookie Kyle Monangai gashed the Jets for 146 rushing yards and two touchdowns. And the defense was suffocating: New York managed just 157 total yards and seven first downs, with the Jets' only touchdown coming on Isaiah Williams' 58-yard catch in the third quarter.

The Jacksonville Jaguars had to survive Cincinnati to get to 3-1. Up 22-17 late, Jacksonville watched the Bengals drive inside the 15-yard line with the game on the line — and that's where rookie Rayuan Lane III made the play of his young career, dropping Chase Brown a yard short on fourth down. Earlier, Cincinnati had clawed back into it on a 1-yard Joe Burrow sneak after a Travon Walker taunting penalty extended the drive. Trevor Lawrence's third-and-8 conversion to Brenton Strange with 2:28 left let the Jaguars run out the clock.

In London, the Colts beat Washington 30-13 in a game that was uglier than the score suggests — and not just for the Commanders' injury luck. Marcus Mariota left in the first quarter with a knee injury, thrusting seventh-round rookie Athan Kaliakmanis into his NFL debut. Kaliakmanis acquitted himself reasonably well (15-of-33 for 186 yards, a touchdown strike to Treylon Burks, and an interception) given the circumstances, but the story after the game was the officiating. The Commanders were flagged 10 times for 84 yards; the Colts were flagged once, for five yards. Fans and analysts across the league howled. On the field, Jonathan Taylor's 95 rushing yards and two touchdowns did the damage, and the Colts (who won back-to-back games for the first time since Weeks 7-8 of last season) move on while Washington falls to 1-3.

Around the rest of the early slate: the Cowboys outlasted the Texans 34-30 in the day's highest-scoring game; the Packers edged the Buccaneers 17-14; and the Ravens handled the Titans 24-18.

The late window was still sorting itself out at our deadline, with several storylines worth tracking. Denver and San Francisco were knotted 3-3 at Levi's Stadium in a first-half field-goal duel — Wil Lutz from 52, Eddy Pineiro from 24 — in a matchup of two of the NFC's most physical teams. In Seattle, the Seahawks were up 13-3 on the winless Chargers, with Rashid Shaheed's 28-yard touchdown run and a Sam Darnold-to-Emanuel Wilson scoring strike doing the damage. The night's marquee game is the battle of unbeatens at Allegiant Stadium, where 3-0 Kansas City meets 3-0 Las Vegas for early control of the AFC West. And Sunday Night Football closes the weekend with Detroit at Carolina at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC.

The big-picture takeaway from Sunday's finals: the NFC hierarchy is getting weird. The Giants and Bears both sit at 3-1, the Eagles stumbled to 2-2 with a second-half no-show against the Rams, and two of the conference's most surprising teams are winning with defense, run games, and opportunistic quarterback play. In the AFC, Jacksonville's survival in Cincinnati keeps the Jaguars in the thick of things at 3-1, while Buffalo's first loss drops the Bills back into a pack chasing New England's momentum. October is barely underway, and the standings already look nothing like the preseason script.