6. Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers came out of their bye week and got a relatively stress-free win against the Cleveland Browns in Week 6. And that may be somewhat of a theme for Pittsburgh going forward:
Stress-free.
This year is going to be the final season in the NFL for Aaron Rodgers. As of right now, it looks like Rodgers is going to be able to help the Steelers coast to a division title. They are 4-1 now after beating the Browns by a final score of 23-9, and Rodgers had himself another pair of touchdown passes, including one to his new #1 target DK Metcalf.
There is still plenty for Pittsburgh to clean up after this one, including committing 10 penalties (4 of which resulted in first downs for the Browns). There are no “gimmes” in the NFL, but the Steelers will face a beaten-up Bengals team next week before a gauntlet of games against the Packers, Colts, and Chargers.
Again, the theme is stress-free, but only because of the distance the Steelers have created in the AFC North early this season. That gap can close in a hurry.
5. Indianapolis Colts
At this point, I just don’t know how you can ignore what the Indianapolis Colts are doing. The Colts are 5-1 this season and they’ve been outstanding now for the better part of the last two months with Daniel Jones at the helm.
It might have been one of the most improbable of the possibilities going into the season, but it’s the reality we’re living in.
Part of what makes this Colts team so special is beyond just the way Jones is playing, but how awesome Jonathan Taylor has been as well. The Colts have so many good playmakers on the offensive side of the ball, and the guys they have are all stepping up so far this season. With the kind of balance we’ve seen from the Colts already this season, it would be a shocker to see them really cool off. There are too many guys to pick up the slack, and Shane Steichen has done an awesome job with this roster. He won the battle of former Eagles coordinators against Jonathan Gannon, so he’s also got bragging rights.