Big Week 3 losses: Seahawks, Pats, Texans, Chargers, Panthers - ESPN

For the second time in three weeks, the opening window of the Sunday afternoon slate of NFL games delivered a delicious bowl of chaos. While Week 1 served up a record number of points, Week 3 brought upsets and heartbreaking defeats for teams that had lofty expectations heading into this season. Five teams that made the playoffs in 2025 lost games in crushing fashion.

Three of them — the Chargers, Panthers and Texans — held leads in the fourth quarter but couldn't hold them. A fourth — the defending Super Bowl champ Seahawks — lost to an 0-2 Commanders team that was down to its backup quarterback. And a fifth — the defending AFC champ Patriots — were blown out and appear to have secretly replaced their MVP candidate QB from a year ago with a startled, overwhelmed facsimile of Drake Maye. (The Rams also blew a 16-0 lead to the Broncos on Sunday night, but that was a narrow loss on the road to a team that also made last season's AFC title game.)

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Today, I'm going to break down those five losses from teams that expected to be winning most of their games this season. Which defeat was most painful? Which raised the biggest questions about what happens next? I'll go from most crushing to least ominous, starting in Duval County, where the Jaguars (another 2025 playoff team) had no trouble stomping all over the Patriots.

Jump to:
Chargers | Panthers | Patriots
Seahawks | Texans

Lost 35-6 to the Jaguars

On one hand, there's nothing unrealistic or shocking about the Patriots losing to the Jaguars in Jacksonville. On the other, unlike the other four games I'll talk about, this loss wasn't particularly close. While Mike Vrabel & Co. might feel like they played better than the final score