Three games into the 2026 NFL season, the reigning NFC division champs are already offering a pretty clear split: one team looks sturdy, one looks explosive, one looks shaky, and one is still hard to pin down.
That’s the reality check for the league’s usual September chaos. The sample is small, but it’s enough to start sorting through which of last year’s division winners still look like they belong at the top of the NFC pile.
Seattle comes out of the first three weeks with a B-minus, and the record tells only part of that story. The Seahawks opened by erasing a 10-point hole against the Patriots in Week 1 after Drew Lock stepped in for the injured starting quarterback, then followed that with a blowout of the Arizona Cardinals. Week 3 brought a road loss to the Washington Commanders, but the bigger picture still points to a team that has handled early turbulence well.
The concern in Seattle is less about the overall quality and more about how sustainable the offense looks. Without Kenneth Walker, the running game has sputtered, with the Seahawks sitting 22nd in rushing average at 3.8 yards per carry.
The offense has also been uneven in the situations that matter most, ranking 26th in third-down success rate and 18th in the red zone. And after turnovers were a manageable issue last season because the defense kept creating them, that balance disappeared against Washington, where Seattle lost the turnover battle 0-3.
Even with a minor injury for Sam Darnold already in the mix, this still looks like one of the NFC’s stronger teams. The grade just reflects the rough edges.
Chicago has been the loudest statement so far, and that’s why the Bears get the best mark of the group with an A despite sitting at 2-1. Their opener against Carolina was a full-on explosion, a 59-point outburst that set the tone for what this offense can be under Ben Johnson.
Then came Week 2, when weather helped turn the matchup with the Vikings into a slog and Chicago managed only 3 points. The swing from one week to the next was staggering - the biggest week-to-week difference in NFL history at 56 points.
What made the response even more impressive was how the Bears handled Week 3. With Caleb Williams injured, Case Keenum took over and Chicago still found its rhythm against the Eagles.
The offense got moving again, and the defense came up with key takeaways against Jalen Hurts and Philadelphia. Even with the weird middle game, the Bears have already shown a model that works.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, lands at C-minus, and that feels like a warning more than a verdict. The Eagles are 2-1, but the way those games have unfolded has raised more questions than comfort. They needed only 10 first downs to beat the Commanders in Week 1, had to rally past the Titans in Week 2, and then were blown out by Case Keenum and the Bears in Week 3.
That loss in Chicago sharpened the concerns already hovering around the team. It also brought the spotlight back to Nick Sirianni, with the question now being whether he may have worn out his welcome in Philadelphia.
The Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2024, but through three games, that feels distant. Their talent still keeps them afloat, but the assumption that it will automatically rescue them is getting harder to defend.
Carolina rounds out the group with a C, which feels about right for a team that entered the season with modest expectations and has mostly lived up to them. The Panthers were blown out by the Bears in Week 1, fell to the Browns, and beat the Falcons while facing Cooper Rush and Jack Strand at quarterback. That leaves plenty of uncertainty about what this team actually is.
The division they play in remains wide open, and that matters. Still, after winning the NFC South with just 8 wins last season, Carolina needed to show some real progress early. Three games in, the picture is still blurry.
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