NFL Research spotlights the best nuggets from each slate of games. Here are the most eye-popping statistical accomplishments from Week 9 of the 2025 season.
1) Darnold enjoys memorable SNF performance
The Seahawks looked dominant on Sunday Night Football against the Commanders as they quickly took a 28-0 lead behind four Sam Darnold touchdown passes. Darnold, who signed a three-year contract with Seattle this past offseason, completed all 16 of his pass attempts in the first half for 282 yards and four touchdowns. No quarterback since Tom Brady during the Patriots' perfect 2007 regular season had started a game with a pass touchdown on each of his team's first four possessions while also having a completion percentage of 100 on those drives.
Darnold finished the game with just three incomplete passes (including an interception) and zero sacks taken -- joining Johnny Unitas (1967 against the Falcons) as the only quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era with at least 325 pass yards, four pass TDs, three or fewer incomplete passes and zero sacks taken in a single game.
Cris Collinsworth and Mike Tirico touched on the MVP case for Darnold on the SNF broadcast … and they may have a point.
2) Seahawks star WR on pace for receiving record
Jaxon Smith-Njigba added another 129 receiving yards on Sunday Night Football to his NFL-best total in 2025. The 23-year-old wideout leads the NFL with 948 receiving yards in eight games played, putting him on-pace for the first ever 2,000-yard season receiving.
Smith-Njigba's 948 yards are the most by any player under the age of 25 in his first eight games of the season. He surpassed Hall of Famer Isaac Bruce's total from 1995 (938 receiving yards in his first eight games). Bruce finished with a gaudy 1,781 yards on 119 receptions and 13 touchdowns in '95.
The Seahawks star has now gone over 100 yards receiving in six of his eight games played this season, already tying Hall of Famer Steve Largent (1979) for the most games with at least 100 receiving yards in a season in Seahawks history.
3) Little's leg sets NFL record with 68-yard FG
A new NFL record is in the books. For real this time. Jaguars kicker Cam Little turned heads in the preseason when he nailed a 70-yard field goal -- which is longer than any regular or postseason field goal in NFL history. But alas, the preseason does not count in the NFL record books.
In 1970, Saints placekicker Tom Dempsey, who famously was born without toes on his right foot (or fingers on his right hand), became the first player in NFL history to make a field goal of 60-plus yards when he kicked a game-winning 63-yarder against the Lions. Dempsey's record stood for over 40 years until being broken by Matt Prater in 2013 (64 yards). Eventually, Justin Tucker broke Prater's record in 2021 against the Lions (66), but that mark would stand as the NFL record for fewer than five years.
On the verge of being shut out in the first half against the Raiders, Liam Coen trotted out Little to attempt a 68-yard field goal right before halftime. The 2024 sixth-round pick out of Arkansas came through for his rookie head coach, nailing the record-setting field goal that would prove pivotal in the Jaguars' 30-29 overtime win.
4) Williams joins Bears legend in rare club
Only two players in the Super Bowl era have caught multiple passes and thrown multiple touchdown passes in the same game: Caleb Williams in Week 9 of 2025 against the Bengals and Walter Payton in Week 3 of 1983 against the Saints. Sweet.
Williams is the only player with at least three pass touchdowns and multiple receptions in a single game. He joined Nick Foles as the only players with at least 250 pass yards, three pass touchdowns and a touchdown catch in a single game. (Foles did so in Super Bowl LII against the Patriots, a game in which he was named MVP, ultimately earning him a statue in his likeness outside of Lincoln Financial Field.)
5) Bears TE, WR contribute standout performances in win
The No. 10 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Colston Loveland, had 116 receiving yards and no touchdowns in his NFL career entering Week 9. He quickly amended those totals, as he led the Bears with 118 receiving yards and two touchdowns in Chicago's Week 9 win over Cincinnati. Loveland is the first Bears rookie tight end with 100-plus receiving yards in a game since Hall of Famer and franchise legend Mike Ditka did so five times in 1961.
Bears wide receiver DJ Moore threw a touchdown pass to quarterback Caleb Williams on the Chicago's opening drive of the game. And it came on fourth-and-goal -- bold. Later in the game, Moore took a handoff 17 yards for a touchdown run. Moore became the third wide receiver in the Super Bowl era with a pass touchdown and rush touchdown in the same game, joining Deebo Samuel (2021 against the Rams) and David Patten (2001 against the Colts).
6) McCaffrey returning to Pro Bowl form in '25
After missing 13 games to injury in 2024, Christian McCaffrey has posted a historic workload in 2025. Week 9 at MetLife was no different, as McCaffrey led the 49ers with 106 rush yards and with 67 receiving yards (and had a rush touchdown and receiving touchdown). It was the 16th game in McCaffrey's career in which he scored a touchdown on the ground and through the air, breaking a tie with Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk for the most such games in NFL history. McCaffrey also broke a tie with Hall of Famer Jim Brown and Priest Holmes for the most career games with at least 100 rush yards, one rush touchdown, 50 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown.
McCaffrey leads the NFL with 1,222 scrimmage yards in 2025 and would be the first player in NFL history to lead the NFL in scrimmage yards after missing at least 12 games the previous season.
7) Bengals wideout continues TD streak at home
Tee Higgins had a banner day, leading the Bengals with 121 receiving yards and two touchdowns in what ended as a ridiculous 47-42 loss to the Bears. For Higgins, it was his first game this season with at least 100 receiving yards. It was the seventh game in his career in which he caught multiple touchdown passes, and six of those have come at home.
Higgins' first touchdown of the day put him in historic company, as it was his ninth consecutive home game with a receiving touchdown. The only other players in NFL history to catch a touchdown in at least nine consecutive home games are Hall of Famers Jerry Rice (nine games from 1989-1990) and Cris Carter (10 games from 2000-2001).
8) Flacco, Bengals defense have historic days ... in different ways
Joe Flacco threw for 470 yards and four touchdowns in the Bengals' 47-42 loss to the Bears. He leads the NFL with 11 pass touchdowns and 1,254 pass yards since being traded to the Bengals in Week 6. The Bengals have allowed 36 points per game and over 470 yards per game in that span -- and Cincinnati has a 1-3 record in large part because of that defense.
Flacco's 470 yards in Week 9 are the most ever in a game by a player age 40 or older. His fourth touchdown gave the Bengals a 42-41 lead with less than one minute remaining in regulation. It took the Bears just four plays to forge a 72-yard touchdown drive in response.
Cincinnati's defense has allowed 86 points and over 1,000 yards in the last two weeks. The Bengals are the only team in the Super Bowl era to allow at least 500 total yards, 38 points and have zero takeaways in consecutive games. They are the first team since the 1966 Giants to score 38-plus points in consecutive games and go 0-2 in them. Since the start of 2024, the Bengals have four losses in games when they scored at least 38 points -- the rest of the NFL combined has four such losses in that span.
