National Football League

Ranking the NFL’s 5 most and least hopeful fanbases

Updated Oct. 18, 2022 7:13 p.m. ET

By Charlotte Wilder
FOX Sports Columnist

We’ve just finished Week 6 of the NFL season, when I surmise it is finally appropriate to gauge how hopeful or hopeless fanbases truly are.

Teams have played enough games that we have a general sense of each squad’s vibe — but not so many that the current standings really mean anything at all. Which is, personally, my favorite time to measure fan reaction: when nothing quite matters yet but everyone has intense feelings about everything anyway.

Now — to quote Russell Wilson — let’s ride, baby.

HOPEFUL

Honorable mention: The Cincinnati Bengals

These tough tigers beat the Saints in New Orleans on Sunday.

After a rough start to the season, this is what the Bengals needed to make them second in the AFC North. The win is also a big deal because the Super Dome is where QB Joe Burrow and his favorite target Ja'Marr Chase won the National Championship in the 2019 season for LSU. Joey B even wore Chase's national championship jersey to the game (a lovely and generous flex).

The two once again put up a great performance. Burrow threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns — two to Chase — for the first time this year. He also ran in a touchdown and finished with 25 rushing yards.

Are the Bengals back after an abysmal start? Cincy fans can hope. Perhaps a return trip to the Super Bowl isn't off the table.

No. 5: New York Jets

The New York Jets are no longer the butt of everyone's jokes, which is a phenomenon I'm still getting used to. They're not even a little funny, because they're 4-2 overall and 3-0 on the road.

The Jets are now only the second team in the Super Bowl era that has a winning record through six games when they were the underdog in every single one (the first is the 2001 Browns).

But the biggest reason that Jets fans should be excited, despite those promising stats, is that their team took down the Packers at home. They destroyed Aaron Rodgers in his own kingdom of Lambeau Field. The Jets' defense sacked Rodgers four times and hit him nine times in the process.

Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner even wore a cheese head walking off the field. If that's not beautiful disrespect, I don't know what is.

No. 4: New England Patriots

Okay so first of all, yes, I am a delusional Patriots fan. And yes, the Pats are still 3-3 and last in their division.

BUT! There is a big reason for hope after a depressing start to the season: Bailey Zappe, the third-string quarterback and fourth-round pick out of Western Kentucky, once again led New England to victory. He almost beat the Packers in overtime when he took over for Brian Hoyer in Week 4, beat the Lions last week (New England's defense held Detroit to zero points) and then took down the Browns in his second NFL start this past Sunday. Zappe has slung the ball for 497 yards, three touchdowns and just one interception, giving him a 112.46 passer rating.

Do I feel slightly bad for Mac Jones? Yes, because this moment has definite shades of Drew Bledsoe and Tom Brady in 2001, when Bledsoe was hurt and Brady, the sixth-round pick out of Michigan (don't know if you knew that) came in to lead the Patriots to a Super Bowl.

Pats head coach Bill Belichick didn't give an answer one way or another as to whether Jones or Zappe, who look so much alike they could be the same person, would start.

"We'll see how that process is," Belichick said. "Mac still wasn't able to play. So we'll continue to evaluate him and see how he's doing physically."

Some say there's tension in Foxboro, but no one likes to gossip more than sports reporters (Bravo has nothing on us). And, knowing how ruthless BB is, my money is on Zappe starting next week.

Real Quarterbacks of New England is the hottest show on TV.

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No. 3: New York Giants

The 5-1 New York Football Giants??? Could it be?! Should fans start getting used to this? Maybe!

Because after a decade, the Giants are playing smart football!

It's harder to say the red-hot start is a fluke when New York has only lost one game this year. And even harder to question when the Giants took down the Packers and Aaron Rodgers last week in London, then turned around and beat the Ravens and Lamar Jackson, another of the league's best quarterbacks.

First-year head coach Brian Daboll might be a magician, because he's taken QB Daniel Jones — who notoriously tripped over his own feet in the open field — and turned him into a scrappy player who can lead his team to hard-fought, down-in-the-dirt wins. I've said this a million times when talking about sports, but the environment leaders create determines more about individual behavior than individual characteristics. This Giants run has shades of the 2021-22 Bengals, and I'm here for it.

Vegas still has the Giants listed as the underdog for this week's game against the 2-4 Jaguars, which is great for fans. It gives them a chip on their shoulder and a reason to say no one respects their decent team.

There's no sweeter spot for a fanbase than that.

No. 2: Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles beat the Cowboys, who were 4-1 heading into Sunday Night's game. Granted, Philly beat Dallas with Cooper Rush at the helm, a backup QB who's led Dallas to a winning season after starter Dak Prescott hurt his thumb early in the season. But Cowboys fans came back down to earth on Sunday after Rush threw three interceptions.

Jalen Hurts is "him," as Philly fans will be quick to tell you. The Eagles are still undefeated, which is bad for all other NFL fanbases, because the last thing you need is Philly fans with a legitimate case for bragging about anything. This is a group known for throwing batteries, booing their own team and punching animals in celebration.

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No. 1: Buffalo Bills

I mean, Josh Allen & Co. took down Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. What more is there to say?

I'll say it anyway: This was one of the most highly touted matchups of the season. CBS announcers Tony Romo and Jim Nantz made it clear that they see this as one of the "budding rivalries" in the modern NFL. I think most people know that, but it's always good to hear it many times per game.

Everyone — myself included — identified this as revenge for the Bills' playoff loss last year in the divisional round. But people forget that the Bills beat the Chiefs in the regular season before that!

Okay, Bills fans didn’t forget. But for a fanbase that has come so close (I will not make a Wide Right joke!) so many times, this year is feeling tantalizingly real. And Josh Allen is a football alien.

HOPELESS:

Note: I wrote this before the Broncos played very, very bad football against the Chargers last night. After falling to 2-4, I think it’s safe to say that Denver fans might be feeling like they’re at the bottom of the hope well. So let’s slot them in at No. 2b on the hopelessness scale.

Honorable mention: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa Bay is 3-3 and lost to the Steelers with Pittsburgh QB Mitch Trubisky at the helm on Sunday.

This wouldn't seem so bad for other teams, especially since the Bucs still lead their division (although I'd argue this is partly because the Falcons, Saints and Panthers aren't great). But quarterback Tom Brady specifically unretired to get one more shot at a title after getting knocked out of the playoffs by the Rams last year at home.

Instead, he's begun the season by losing to Green Bay, the Chiefs and now the Steelers.

Brady lost it on his linemen on the sidelines multiple times on Sunday. He's been known to do this, but … I don't know, this felt different. Because when you're on the tail end of your career, the clock is running faster. Fans are staring down the barrel of a season that might not go well and the reality that Brady will eventually leave. Probably sooner rather than later. But who knows. The man is bionic.

No. 5: Baltimore Ravens

Since QB Lamar Jackson showed up in 2018, the Ravens have won 31-of-33 games when they've led by at least 10 points in the second half, per ESPN's Bill Barnwell.

This year, Baltimore has had at least a 10-point second-half lead in all but one of their games. And yet they've blown more leads than ever, putting them at 3-3 with a QB as talented as Jackson. So something is going wrong.

It's not panic season yet, because Baltimore is still first in the AFC North. But those are troubling stats, and a loss to the Giants helps absolutely no fan's sense of confidence.

No. 4: Arizona Cardinals

Arizona is 2-4 and in last place in the NFC west.

The Cardinals lost to the Seahawks 19-9 on Sunday. Special teams returned a blocked punt for a touchdown, so Arizona's offense only scored three points, even though Kyler Murray threw for 222 yards and rushed for 100 more. Arizona fans thought their team was a contender, especially since management brought back veteran guys like Zach Ertz.

But so far, not much is working. Maybe DeAndre Hopkins' return off IR next week will help. In the meantime, all fans have is Kliff Kingsbury's good looks and Kyler Murray's small-but-deft hands to pin their hopes on.

No. 3: Green Bay Packers

Your team loses to the Giants in London and then comes back to the States to lose to the Jets? Is Eric Adams now the mayor of Green Bay, too?

It's not quite as bad as it could be because neither NYC team is awful this year. You've got Rodgers, who seems to be sorely missing his favorite target, Davante Adams, and keeps getting sacked. I still contend that his new haircut isn't helping anything, which is another thing fans have to reconcile.

But ultimately, it's probably an overreaction to rank them third in hopelessness. They still have Rodgers, one of the most talented quarterbacks to ever play the game.

But — and I realize I'm arguing with myself here — that's why I'd say that they're at No. 3. Because Rodgers isn't working his usual magic. Nothing is scarier to spoiled fans than that.

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No. 2: Las Vegas Raiders

Speaking of Davante Adams … yikes. Las Vegas had a bye but is dealing with the fallout that came after Adams pushed over a freelance camera operator as Adams was leaving the field after a painful loss to the Chiefs last week. The photographer reported the incident to the authorities, so Adams is in legal trouble. The league is apparently going to wait to discipline him until the legal process concludes.

Other than that, the Raiders are 1-4 and last in the AFC West. After last year's narrow loss in the Wild Card game to the Bengals, this isn't how fans saw the season starting.

No. 1: Tie — Washington Commanders and Carolina Panthers

Both teams are 1-4. But Commanders fans have to reconcile rooting for a team that is not only bad, but also owned by Dan Snyder.

And Panthers fans have to deal with a team that just fired its coach, lost to the Rams and kicked veteran receiver Robbie Anderson out of the game after he got in his WR coach's face on Sunday.

So, in the words of Mad Men's Pete Campbell: "Not great, Bob!"

Charlotte Wilder is a general columnist and cohost of "The People's Sports Podcast" for FOX Sports. She's honored to represent the constantly neglected Boston area in sports media, loves talking to sports fans about their feelings and is happiest eating a hotdog in a ballpark or nachos in a stadium. Follow her on Twitter @TheWilderThings.