Taking The L: What We've Been The Most Wrong About Through 1st Quarter Of NFL Season

The first four weeks of the 2026 NFL season were far from predictable.

A sliver of teams with playoff (and even championship) hopes are winless.

The Minnesota Vikings are one of the final three undefeated teams left.

Kenneth Walker III looks like the favorite to win Offensive Player of the Year, and the Los Angeles Rams haven't been as invincible as we thought they might be.

We technically aren't at the exact quarter mark of the 2026 NFL season, but we're just about there.

So, as we prepare for Week 5, we're taking a look back on some of our preseason predictions and eating a slice of humble pie as we share what we were wrong about the most.

Ralph Vacchiano: I have been high on Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert since 2019, when the New York Giants desperately hoped he’d come out for the draft, one year before he actually did.

I thought he had everything I’d want in an NFL quarterback, and I blamed his teammates, coaches and his dysfunctional franchise for why he hasn’t already won multiple Super Bowl trophies and MVPs.

This year, though, I thought everything was set up for him.

I believed Jim Harbaugh made a brilliant move to bring in Mike McDaniel to work his wizardry at offensive coordinator.

I thought they fixed their line, too.

By the end of this season, I was sure Herbert and the Chargers would emerge as a sleeper Super Bowl threat.

Um, about that … They’re obviously 0-4, possibly headed towards 0-9 if you look at their schedule, and McDaniel and Herbert look like they’re reading the same book in different languages.

There is no cohesion on offense, no answers from the coaches, and all seems lost.