Midseason is a great time to reflect on what has happened up to this point in the year. This week’s Four Verts column examines some of the surprises and disappointments of the 2024 NFL season, starting with the Washington Commanders.

Surprise: The Chiefs’ offense is the biggest breakout unit of 2024

There is no bigger surprise this season than the Washington Commanders having one of the best offenses in the league. Just months after settling for second in the table, the skippers have turned their fortunes around and appear to be well ahead of schedule. If they only had a league average offense, it would have been a massive win after where they were at the end of last season. Boasting an offense capable of putting up points in bunches and near the top of the league in multiple efficiency stats is a level of improvement that is truly remarkable.

Last season, the Chiefs averaged 1.67 points per drive, good for 24th in the league. They were dead last in percentage of drives ending in turnovers, net yards per attempt and sack rate, while ranking in the bottom 10 in most other offensive statistics. They were one of the worst offenses in the league last year with, apparently, a long way back to relevance on that side of the ball. It seems like one offseason was all they needed.

A revamped offensive line and tight end to go along with rookie sensation Jayden Daniels has the Chiefs playing incredibly compelling football on that side of the ball. They rank in the top three in several offensive stats this year, including points per game (first), expected points added per game (second), net yards per pass attempt (third), yards per game (third) and the third and long (first) conversions. There’s no need to put a caveat on this by bringing up their schedule – this level of recovery is damn near unanticipated.

Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury deserves a lot of credit for orchestrating this offense to the point where Daniels could make life easier as a starter in the NFL while also improving the entire unit as a whole. Kingsbury didn’t have a great end to his Cardinals coaching tenure, but there were moments of offensive brilliance for Kingsbury in Arizona, and it looks like he’s been able to bring that to Washington.

Getting that level of offensive improvement with a rookie quarterback is remarkable. This would normally take a few seasons, but right now the possibilities for this current regime in Washington seem endless. There’s still room to improve this offense in the offseason, which should be terrifying for the rest of the NFC East. They clearly recognize the opportunity and the window that the offense has opened for them because just made a big trade for Saints star cornerback Marshon Lattimore at the trading deadline.

It truly is a new era for Washington and the start under this new regime is amazing considering where this team was a year ago. Sustainability is already on hand, which is great because you just know former owner Dan Snyder is mad.

Disappointment: Somehow, the Jets managed to make everything feel worse

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Even with Planes pouring a mountain of resources into this list in an effort to go for a title run with Aaron Rodgers, they sit at 3-6, needing to claw their way back into the standings if they want to have a chance to sneak into the wild card and make in the playoffs for the first time since then. 2010. Spending all those picks and contracts and playing the Rodgers game only to end up with the same record they always do is just a brutal blow – and they have to THE the failure of the 2024 season so far.

The assets spent on this team were the reason there was so much hope for this team entering the season. Aaron Rodgers, Haason Reddick and Davante Adams were acquired in transactions with quality project capital issued to other teams. Rodgers is clearly not the same player he was when he won MVPs in Green Bay, Reddick had the weirdest holdout of the year and just joined the team, and Adams is still getting the hang of his new offense. They also signed players like Tyron Smith and the now-traded Mike Williams to help hit the ground running, and they just couldn’t do it.

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The offense is definitely better this season, but they had such a low bar to clear. They were last in nearly every significant offensive statistic after Rodgers’ season-opening injury. This year, they are just a slightly below average offense. Not good enough for what they wanted to do – especially since the defense has turned into a mediocre unit since the firing of Robert Saleh.

Saleh’s dismissal, coupled with injuries to the back end, caused the Jets defense to suffer from poor play. As of Week 6, the Jets rank 26th in points per drive on defense and have failed to string together complete performances outside of their most recent game against the Texans. The Jets were supposed to be a complete team that could play winning football on both ends of the field, but instead they’ve just been a fractured mess struggling to keep their season relevant.

It always seems like the Jets could change this with just the names of the players on the roster, but they’re not clicking right now — and it seems doubtful that a 3-6 team will end up with the nine or 10 wins they’ll need to enter the playoffs. Somehow, they’re still just goddamn Jets.

Surprise: Jim Harbaugh has Chargers a year ahead of schedule

Another team that has gotten off to a surprising start (though less surprising than the Commanders) is the Chargers, who sit at 5-3 with a strong chance of being a playoff team this season. It’s not the best operation yet, but they clearly have some real blocks and a vision of what this team can look like going forward. Quarterback Justin Herbert has been playing out of his mind the last few weeks, which is really everything Jim Harbaugh and his staff we need to build a competent football team. They may not be a true championship contender this year, but they are certainly building the foundation for one.

Most of the improvement has been on defense. That side of the ball has seen a jump in the Commanders level based on where they were last year. New defensive coordinator Jesse Minter lived up to the huge hype he got from Michigan and has the Chargers playing like the most efficient defense in the league. Last season under Brandon Staley, the Chargers defense was 23rd in points per drive, 28th in expected points allowed per game and 26th in expected points allowed per dropback.

Under Minter, they finished first in points per drive, first in expected points allowed per game, second in expected points allowed per dropback and first in defensive success rate. Some of that is due to playing a weaker offense program, but their record suggests they are one of the best units in the league and are vastly improved from last year. They are great on early downs and third and fourth downs and have given the offense the space it needs to work on the run game while still winning games. There’s still a lot to learn about this defense as the season progresses – after their matchup against the Titans next week, they face a series of offenses with games against the Bengals, Ravens, Falcons, Chiefs and Buccaneers. These are the real checking games.

This offense is still figuring out how all their pieces come together, but it certainly helps that Herbert is playing at his peak again. They still don’t have a very consistent passing game, but Herbert makes MVP-level throws that give them a chance to lead drives. Right now, no team has a higher percentage of drives that fail on first downs than the Chargers (45.2%). They also have the lowest turnover rate in the league, meaning they really only have a bunch of three-and-outs due to a run-heavy approach by a team that doesn’t actually run the ball all that well outside . of explosives. If they didn’t have Herbert, they would probably be the worst offense in the league. He carries a large load and recently delivered.

Not being one of the worst teams in the league is a win for the Chargers. They’re about to hit a tough stretch in their schedule that will give them a good gauge of where they want to go eventually, but so far, so good.

Disappointment: God, New Orleans

The The season of the Saints just fell through in record time. After scoring over 90 points in the first two weeks, they have lost seven straight games due to a slew of injuries and absurdly poor play from their defense. Their front office and owner finally realized the horrendous nature of their roster building strategy and began the process of destruction by trading longtime star Marshon Lattimore at the trade deadline. That move, along with fired head coach Dennis Allenclose the door on their season that went south in the blink of an eye.

Some of this is due to bad luck. All of their quality offensive players are injured so at the start of the season he doomed them from the jump before an injury to Derek Carr. In the three weeks Carr missed time, the Saints were outscored 110-45 and put up some laughable numbers on offense. The Saints averaged 0.92 ppg on the road during that span. This is all you need to know about how horrendously bad they were.

Things didn’t get much better when Carr returned this week. They lost to the Panthers and it allowed Bryce Young to look like a functional quarterback throughout the game. It’s bad now and won’t get much better in the near future unless they definitely get their next quarterback pick done to start the rebuild. According to Spotrac, the Saints are $77 million over the projected cap for next season and have $48 million in dead cap space following the Lattimore trade. This is shaping up to be a long haul rebuild as they take their meds and rebuild to a healthy situation.

The vibes have changed so drastically in New Orleans, it’s almost hard to believe they’ve been the best offense in football through the first two weeks. Their season is over and probably will be next season as well. The only positive from this season is that they realized it was time to hit the reset button and eat the consequences of years of reckless roster construction.