The NFL was taken over by backup QBs, and the results were ugly

Now that Week 8 of the 2025 NFL season is in the books, we can be honest.

It was a hot mess.

The week began with the Los Angeles Chargers hosting the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday Night Football, and when that game drew to a close, Los Angeles had won by a final score of 37-10. That 27-point win set the tone for the entire week. So it was rather fitting that Week 8 ended with the Kansas City Chiefs improving to 5-3 with a 28-7 win over the Washington Commanders.

In between those two games, 10 of the other 11 games finished with a scoring margin of ten or more points. On the whole, 12 of the 13 games on the Week 8 slate were won by at least ten points.

The only one-score game in Week 8? That was provided by the New York Jets and the Cincinnati Bengals. While the Jets winning their first game of the season added more fuel to the NFL’s funniest beef (Jets owner Woody Johnson versus Jets QB Justin Fields), it might not have been the thrilling one-score game fans were hoping for.

By the time the players were shaking hands in Kansas City, the average margin of victory this week was 18.6 points.

That puts Week 8 on the top-ten list of highest average scoring margins in NFL history.

In addition, with the Jets-Bengals game ending in a one-score margin, it marks the first time since Week 14 of the 1970 season that only one game on the schedule was decided by a single score.

As for why Week 8 was such a lopsided affair? Backup quarterbacks are an easy discussion point. Week 8 featured nine quarterbacks who were not the Week 1 starters for their respective teams: Carson Wentz (Vikings), Kirk Cousins (Falcons), Joe Flacco (Bengals), Dillon Gabriel (Browns), Jaxson Dart (Giants), Andy Dalton (Panthers), Tyler Huntley (Ravens), Mac Jones (49ers), and Marcus Mariota (Commanders).

Of those, only Huntley guided his team to a win.

Those nine quarterbacks combined to complete 165 of 259 passes for 1,656 yards (an average of 6.4 yards per attempt), 10 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. They were also sacked a total of 26 times, losing 148 yards.

Those numbers amount to an NFL Passer Rating of 83.42, and an Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt of 4.89

A quarterback with that NFL Passer Rating this season would rank 27th in the NFL, just behind Bryce Young and just ahead of Trevor Lawrence.

A quarterback with that ANY/A this year would rank 28th in the NFL, again just behind Young, and just ahead of Flacco.

Here’s hoping Week 9 offers more excitement.