Watch out for the Texans. Against all odds -- even with Madden 23 coins T.J. Yates stepping onto the field to relieve an injured Brian Hoyer -- they were able to pull off a major surprise for the Bengals on Tuesday Night Football, ruining the Bengals' shot at having a perfect season. The Houston defense confounded Andy Dalton all night, blocking him once, and then throwing him off four times. The Texans have now taken the lead over the AFC South. That's pretty cool.

In Chicago, Adam Gase has done some really cool things with Jay Cutler and the offense while the game of passing is in good shape. Jeremy Langford and Ka'Deem Carey are doing a fantastic job in relief of an hurt Matt Forte and Zach Miller is emerging as a threat with three touchdowns in the past two weeks. At 5-4 in the standings, the Bears are certainly a dark horse in the NFC However, there's plenty of season left for them to remain in the hunt for a wildcard position.

Still in the hunt:

Miami was able to secure a huge win in the road game against Philadelphia this week, allowing them to keep pace in the tough AFC East. The Dolphins have been inconsistent for the past couple of weeks but still have enough players on offense in Ryan Tannehill, Lamar Miller and Jarvis Landry to make things exciting. The rising star of Jay Ajayi as a weapon for Miami could prove to be beneficial for the team in the long run and help keep Miller up to speed.

Washington played a brutal smackdown of his Saints at home and Kirk Cousins' perfect 158.3 quarterback rating tells the story of the ease at which the Washington defense was awash with New Orleans defense. Cousins finished his game in 20-of-25 fashion for 4 touchdowns and 324 yards and his performance might have been the straw that cut the camel's back of Rob Ryan. The Saints fired their defensive coordinator on Monday and while both teams have four wins, they're heading in opposite directions.

Tampa Bay is quietly playing better football lately as well. It was not pretty but Jameis Winston threw two picks to regress to his turnover-prone manner However, the Bucs played enough to beat at home against Cowboys at home. With the way the Falcons have been playing of late, could Tampa Bay challenge them for the second spot at the top of the division?

Slipping:

The Broncos are weathering some adversity this season, and buy mut 23 coins big adjustments could be on the way. In the same game Osweiler broke the all time passing yards record, Peyton Manning was benched to be replaced by Brock Osweiler.