It's tough to win on the road, especially if you're looking to get to 5-0 to start the season. Five teams entered Week 5 unbeaten. All five played on the road. Three emerged from Sunday's games with their unbeaten marks intact.
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Greatest on the road ...
Jamaal Charles, Kansas City Chiefs
Great googly moogly, no team's 5-0 start is more stunning than that of the Chiefs, owners of the league's worst record in 2012. With a 26-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans at LP Field in Nashville, the Chiefs became the first team in the 94-year history of the NFL to start a season 5-0 after losing 14 or more games the previous season.
Helping lead the charge toward contention is Charles, whose fourth-quarter touchdown gave Kansas City the lead for good. Charles finished the day with 108 yards rushing (the most for any player in Week 5) against a Titans defense that had helped fuel a surprising start of their own. For Charles, it was his fifth consecutive game with 100 or more yards from scrimmage and a touchdown. That run is the best since 1975 when the Buffalo Bills' O.J. Simpson had nine consecutive such games.
Also considered:
Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
Brees' streak of consecutive games with 300 or more yards passing was snapped Sunday, but a two-touchdown, zero-interception day for the quarterback helped the Saints remain unbeaten with a 26-18 win over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.
Entering Sunday's action, Brees was 0-4 against the Bears at Soldier Field. That includes a 39-14 loss in the 2006 NFC Championship Game. Now, the Saints are 5-0 for the fourth time in franchise history and for the first time since starting 13-0 in 2009 en route to winning Super Bowl XLIV.
Peyton Manning, Denver Broncos
A heaping helping of superlatives have been piled on Manning since the Broncos earned a dramatic 51-48 win over the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Manning has the most touchdown passes through the first five games of the season in NFL history (20, topping Daunte Culpepper's total of 18 for the Minnesota Vikings in 2004). Due to this output of offensive awesome, the Broncos have scored the most points through five games of any team in NFL history (230, topping the 2000 St. Louis Rams' total of 217). After scoring a team-record 52 points in a Week 4 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, the Broncos have delivered back-to-back 50-burgers. The Broncos' Week 6 opponent: The 0-5 Jacksonville Jaguars.
Previous Greatness on the Road winners:
Follow Jim Reineking on Twitter @jimreineking.
