NFL Overrated and Underrated Teams: Week 9

I’ve posted overrated and underrated NFL teams on my NFL Picks page for a while, but I thought it deserved its own section. I’ll update this page every week during the season as well as periodically during the offseason. Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Updated Oct. 27, 2025

NFL Overrated Teams:

Carolina Panthers
The Panthers are the hipster pick of 2025. Everyone loves what they did versus the Chiefs, Eagles, and Buccaneers (first matchup) late last year. And yet, they lost those games, even though the Chiefs, Eagles and Buccaneers didn’t put forth any sort of effort into those contests. When the Panthers battled teams focused against them, they were obliterated by the Cowboys and Buccaneers (second matchup). Bryce Young still can’t see over the line of scrimmage, while the defense could still be a bottom-five unit.

The Panthers lost a “close” game to the Cardinals, but were down 27-3. This would have been a blowout had the Cardinals not fallen asleep at the wheel again. In the other games, the Panthers were demolished by the Jaguars and caught the Falcons completely unprepared to play off a big win on national TV. They got back to their real, losing ways against the Patriots. They beat the Dolphins, but we know how much Miami sucks. They also defeated the Cowboys, but Dallas was missing a million players. They then beat the Jets, but there are powder puff football teams that could probably give the Jets a run for their money. Carolina then got blown out by Buffalo, exposing its true colors.

Chicago Bears
The Bears embarrassed themselves against Tyler Huntley. They’re 4-3, but they were very lucky to win some of their games. It must be noted that they’re 1-3 against teams in Groups B and C (they haven’t played a Group A team yet.) Three of their four wins have come against Groups D and F, and the lone exception was the victory against Washington, which Jayden Daniels threw away with the botched handoff with Jacory Crosky-Merritt.

Houston Texans
I’m not sure why the Texans were automatically considered the favorites to win the AFC South entering the season. They have the worst offensive line in the NFL, and it’ll be even worse with two blockers leaving with injuries in the opener. Houston’s defense is excellent, but C.J. Stroud will continue to be under heavy pressure all year.

The Texans lost to the Rams, 14-9, and they also kept the Tampa Bay game close. However, the Buccaneers were down multiple offensive linemen, yet still drove down the field against Houston’s paper tiger defense. The same thing happened against Jacksonville. Now that the Texans demolished the Ravens, many may have forgotten how bad the Texans are. People don’t realize how bad this team is yet despite the losing record.

Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jaguars are 4-3, but they haven’t played any team above Group C yet, save for one exception prior to their battle versus the Rams. Their opponents have been the Panthers, Bengals (when Joe Burrow got hurt), Texans, the Nick Bosa-less 49ers, and the Seahawks. That’s two Group C teams, one Group D team, and two Group F teams. I can’t say that’s overly impressive.

Now, I did say there’s one exception, and that’s the Chiefs. Jacksonville won that game, but the Chiefs basically threw that one away. We saw Jacksonville’s true colors in its loss versus the Rams.

Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers can’t block or play defense. That’s not a good combination. Pittsburgh is so close to being 2-5 despite playing against the Jets, Seahawks, and Patriots in the first three weeks. They did well against the Vikings, but 6:30 a.m. Pacific time international games can’t be taken seriously, especially when the opponent loses two key offensive linemen early in the game. They were dismantled in the second half against Green Bay.

Pittsburgh, by the way, has played six of its seven games against Group C-F teams.

San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers are 5-2, but they haven’t played any team above Group C yet, aside from the unfocused Rams. They’ve otherwise taken on six Group C teams – Seahawks, Cardinals, Jaguars, Buccaneers, Falcons, Texans – and lost to three and barely won two of those games. Their other opponent was a Group F team, and even the Saints had a chance to win on the final drive.

Seattle Seahawks
I want to like the Seahawks, but they’ve played only one game against a team above Group C. That would be the healthy 49ers in the opener, which was a loss. I’ll need to see them beat a good team before removing them from the overrated list.

NFL Underrated Teams:

Arizona Cardinals
I hate this Cardinals team because they’ve screwed us twice against the Panthers and Titans. However, I don’t think it’s correct to deem them a bad team. They’re 2-5, but they easily could have won all five games they lost. All five of their losses were decided in the final seconds.

Baltimore Ravens
We heard many clueless people ask why the Ravens were favored over the Bears. The dumbest quote from a smart coach was when Bill Parcells said, “You are what your record is.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Ravens are 2-5, but they’re one of the best teams in the NFL. They also have battled a tough schedule. They’ve battled three teams in Group A (Bills, Lions, Chiefs) and another in Group B (Rams). Their schedule will soon be much easier, allowing them to rack up tons of wins.

Cleveland Browns
The Browns don’t have a great record, but they’ve played only one team below Group C thus far. They’ve battled four Group A or B teams, so if they had an easier schedule, they’d be much better than 2-6 right now. Remember, they outgained both the Joe Burrow-led Bengals and Ravens to start the year.

Los Angeles Rams
The Rams are 5-2, but would be 6-1 if it wasn’t for that stupid blocked field goal at Philadelphia. They lost to the 49ers, but were half-asleep and made mistakes. They outgained San Francisco, 450-407, and they averaged 7.1 yards per play compared to 4.9 by the 49ers. Their win over Jacksonville was impressive, considering they didn’t have Puka Nacua or Rob Havenstein.

Have any suggestions for overrated and underrated teams? Shout them out to @walterfootball, or see how they’re being used on the NFL Picks page.