The Rich Top 5: NFL Week 5’s Most Intriguing Matchups

Rich's Week 5 Top 5 started as five games and ended as six, because the NFC East refused to stay out of the conversation.

At number five, he wants to see what Sean Payton calling the plays looks like with Bo Nix against a Chargers team at 0-4 with its back against the wall. Division games are supposed to make you throw the records out, and the Chargers would love for you to do exactly that. The problem for them is that the Denver defense is not normally a get-right game for a struggling offense. "Sean Payton says, I'm going to call the plays," Rich said. "Can't wait to watch."

Number four is Raiders at Patriots in the early window. Rich called back to the biggest head-scratcher of the 2025 regular season, Las Vegas winning in New England in Week 1 against a team that turned out to be the AFC champion. Some Raiders will feel like they have been there and done that. The questions are about bounce-backs: how Drake Maye follows up a strong week, and whether Kirk Cousins and the 3-1 Raiders can recover after holding a home lead over the Chiefs with under five minutes to go and losing it.

Number three is Bears at Packers, because "anytime the Bears and Packers play each other, you got to be on it." Chicago has not lost since losing Caleb Williams. Green Bay is 2-2 but, in Rich's words, "absolutely mired in something," and its last home game was a spanking by Atlanta. Packers fans will be salty if the Bears come in shorthanded and repeat what they did to Green Bay last year. Rich also noted it will be the first meeting between the franchises in a long time without Mike Ditka on the planet.

Number two is the marquee late game, 49ers at Seahawks, and Rich walked through the whole saga. San Francisco won in Seattle in Week 1 last year, when the Seahawks were just figuring out Sam Darnold. Then Brock Purdy lost George Kittle, got hurt himself, and Mac Jones kept the Niners on a one-seed pace. Seattle beat them on the last Saturday of the season to take the one seed, beat them again in the divisional round "from the kickoff on," and then won the Super Bowl in the Niners' own building, "using their locker room." If San Francisco wins this one, it will already own road wins over the Rams and Seahawks five weeks in. If Seattle wins, it takes over first place.

Number one is Bills at Rams on Monday night. The last time these teams met, Rich said, "90 million points were scored. Look it up." Buffalo just lost its first home game in its new stadium. Los Angeles just came back from 10 down in Philadelphia. Josh Allen against Matthew Stafford, offense against offense. "Can the defenses stand up tall against these two juggernauts?"

Then the crew asked for one more, and Rich obliged. With the Cowboys and Eagles both potentially headed to 2-3, Giants at Commanders suddenly matters a lot. A Washington win puts the Commanders a half game behind what Rich called "the Jameis Winston experience." A Giants win makes them 4-1 with a commanding NFC East lead going into Week 6. Jayden Daniels is expected to play, and Rich wants to see how he looks with a device strengthening his left arm.