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Contender or Pretender? Week 3 Provides Clarity for NFL's Most Debatable Teams

Forty-seven games into the 2020 NFL regular season, few will likely dispute the notion that the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, the unbeaten Baltimore Ravens, Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans and the remarkably talented New Orleans Saints are locked in as contenders.

Meanwhile, few will argue that the winless Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants and New York Jets and the rebuilding Carolina Panthers and Cincinnati Bengals are playoff threats.

But what about everybody in between?

Let's look at middle-class teams that provided clarity with telling performances on the final Sunday of September.