NFL Week 7: A bad time to be a first-place team

It takes a lot of things to go right to lead an NFL division near the season’s midway point. Yet for half of the league’s first-place teams, things went wrong in Week 7.

Of the eight division leaders entering the weekend, four — the Atlanta Falcons, Houston Texans, San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings — left it as losers. The Vikings’ loss also broke their undefeated start.

Most surprising was Atlanta’s 34-14 loss at home as a betting favorite to a Seattle team that had lost three consecutive games. Yet the Seahawks intercepted the NFC South-leading Falcons (4-3) twice and sacked quarterback Kirk Cousins four times. One of those sacks led to a fumble that was recovered for a 64-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown return by Seattle that essentially put the game out of reach, and allowed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to slide into first place in the division ahead of Atlanta. Of note: All three of Atlanta’s losses this season have come at home.

Houston (5-2) and Minnesota (5-1) were tripped up by field goals in the final seconds in close games against likely playoff-bound opponents.

Green Bay kicker Brandon McManus, who had signed with the Packers only days earlier shortly after the NFL closed an investigation into whether the kicker violated the league’s personnel conduct policy, nailed a 45-yard field goal as time expired for the 24-22 win. The loss broke AFC South-leading Houston’s three-game winning streak, and came after quarterback C.J. Stroud passed for a career-low 86 yards and was sacked four times, but it didn’t cost the Texans in the standings, where they remain a game ahead of Indianapolis.

In Minnesota, the Vikings had moved to the top of the NFC North, the league’s most difficult division to this point, behind unexpectedly efficient production from quarterback Sam Darnold and a pressure-heavy defense. The Vikings overcame 11-point deficits twice to lead Detroit in a meeting of the top two teams in the division, but couldn’t rally a final comeback when Jake Bates kicked a 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds remaining for a 31-29 Lions lead.

Minnesota couldn’t even get off a last-gasp Hail Mary due to a sack. As with Stroud’s surprising performance against Green Bay, Minnesota also could not find a way to make one of the team’s usual strengths work in its favor. The Vikings’ defense had allowed a league-low 3.6 yards per rush, only for Detroit to average more than five yards per carry.

With its win and San Francisco’s loss, Seattle jumped into first in the division.

And in a meeting of two first-place teams, San Francisco (3-4) lost 28-18 to Kansas City. The Chiefs (6-0) are the NFL’s last undefeated team and remain atop the AFC West after the NFC West-leading 49ers lost the ball — quarterback Brock Purdy threw three interceptions — along with their composure, as star offensive lineman Trent Williams was ejected for throwing a punt.