Week 2 was a catastrophe for several quarterbacks across the NFL, as potentially devastating injuries plunged teams with sights on contending into sudden and significant uncertainty.

Beyond the injury report, two rosters that were built to win immediately, around veteran quarterbacks, may be experiencing some major buyer’s remorse.

Welcome … to Quarterback Hell.

Here, inside this guidebook for your stay in the inferno of Quarterback Hell, you’ll find a breakdown of the situations, by team, listed by the survivability of the quarterback uncertainty they are currently facing, and a breakdown of what they are up against in the meeting room, the practice fields, and their chances of surviving the circumstances they have been dealt.

“The bottom line is,” former NFL center and coach Jeff Saturday said Tuesday on ESPN’s Get Up. “If you have a backup quarterback who can get you through two to three games, he’s worth his weight in gold.”

Which teams do, which desperately need one, and which are damned to Quarterback Hell for at least the rest of 2026?

Let’s begin our descent …

Seven days after dropping 59 points, as Caleb Williams passed for 269 yards with two passing touchdowns while rushing for 65 yards and two more scores against the Carolina Panthers, disaster struck.

With 8:30 remaining against defensive mad scientist Brian Flores and the Bears trailing the Vikings 6-3, Williams scrambled from the pocket, directing a blocker downfield with sights set on a sprint to the pylon to give Chicago the lead when his hamstring gave out after linebacker Blake Cashman tripped him up from behind.

Williams was carted off the field after suffering what is a reported hamstring injury.

The good news for Williams and the Bears is that Chicago is at least posturing as if there’s a chance he could return as early as Monday night against the Philadelphia Eagles.

The better news is that Williams avoided some sort of Achilles or ACL-related calamity.

While Tyson Bagent might as well be head coach Ben Johnson and general manager Ryan Poles’ prodigal son, and there has been significant optimism about the 26-year-old’s upside to the point that Chicago has essentially shut down any trade talks from quarterback-needy franchises the past 24 months.

The bad news, for the Bears, is that reports surfaced Tuesday that Bagent has entered the concussion protocol throwing his availability for Week 3 into doubt.

Case Keenum, come on down!

Maybe, possibly.

The Bears’ Upcoming Schedule:

vs. Eagles, vs. Jets, at Packers, vs. Patriots

The Bears’ Outlook:

The timing of Williams’ injury couldn’t be much worse, with a pair of conference games that could be critical for postseason seeding down the line, including a possible Micah Parsons return inside a raucous Lambeau looming.

However, it’s worth applauding Poles and Johnson for building an insanely deep quarterback room to withstand any injuries that get thrown their way. Seriously, how many teams can lean on an emergency quarterback who has made 66 career starts, and boasts a 62.3 completion percentage? Sure, Keenum hasn’t appeared in a game since 2023, but the Bears have at least war-gamed out this worst-case scenario and prepared for it.

The Bears also boast the league’s most explosive ground attack, averaging a league high 212.5 rushing yards through two weeks and having scored six rushing touchdowns.

Chicago should have a puncher’s chance, even without Williams, of riding D’Andre Swift, Kyle Monangai, and quasi-competent backup quarterback play to at least a 2-2 record in the upcoming stretch.

Survivability Rating: 7.5

New York Giants

Against the Dallas Cowboys, the Giants released a blueprint, authored a mission statement, and pounded their division rivals into submission with a physical ground attack, shortening the game by owning the ball for 21-plus minutes in the second half to plant their flag as the biggest threat to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East.

A cross-country flight, on National Television, against the Super Bowl favorite Los Angeles Rams offered the chance to show the nation proof of concept.

Then, Jaxson Dart got leveled high and low simultaneously. Five snaps into the second game of a once-promising season, and after the former first-round pick has only played 5.5 total quarters on the field at the same time as running back Cam Skattebo and playmaking wide receiver Malik Nabers, he may not play another until next season.

Dart, against Dallas, appeared to check every box you’d expect from a franchise quarterback; plus mobility, sound decision-making from the pocket, accuracy in the intermediate passing game, a fearlessness to push it deep to Nabers, while passing for 230 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and rushing for 54 yards, including four first downs.

However, for as competent as Jameis Winston is as a backup, coordinator Matt Nagy’s playbook appeared so limited and the ceiling so lowered on the Giants once the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft was forced into action.

Winston was off-target high, he underthrew receivers, he did not look all that comfortable against Aaron Donald who anchored a Rams front by posting the highest win-rate of any interior lineman in the league in Week 3.

Fortunately, for Winston, and the Giants, New York isn’t going to be up against anything like that, anytime soon …

Unfortunately, for the Giants, according to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Dart suffered damage to his MCL, PCL, and his meniscus, and will now undergo season-ending surgery.

Giants Upcoming Schedule:

vs. Tennessee Titans, Arizona Cardinals, at Washington Commanders, vs. New Orleans Saints, at Houston Texans

The Giants’ Outlook:

It’s high time to recalibrate priors about the Giants and New York’s potential upside this season.

However, the Giants’ pass rush, anchored by Abdul Carter, Brian Burns, and Arvell Reese, is going to be good enough to keep New York in just about any game on the schedule. So, too, is ballhawking, turnover-collecting safety Jevon Holland.

The biggest questions for the Giants’ offense, and their trajectory in 2026 is going to be just how much of Cam Skattebo’s success on the ground (117 yards and a touchdown through two weeks), including two explosive runs of 10-plus yards, his 3.03 yards after contact, and his six missed tackles were a byproduct of teams needing to respect Dart’s ability to tuck the ball and make plays on the run, himself?

How much of Nagy’s playbook is available to Winston?

How are the Giants even able to utilize Nabers and his field-stretching prowess with Winston?

Those answers will determine how lofty the Giants’ ceiling has potential to be this season.

Survivability Rating: 5.5/10

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Baker Mayfield is at his best when he’s playing with a chip on his shoulder, feels deeply disrespected, and like he has a score to settle.

This spring and summer, Mayfield and the Buccaneers were embroiled in what appeared to be a bitter contract standoff, with the former No. 1 overall pick appearing fully content to bet on himself and play out the final year of his contract before an 11th-hour deal was struck to pay him $165 million over the next three years.

Maybe general manager Jason Licht and the Buccaneers should have rolled the dice, or called Mayfield’s bluff, and let him use this season as motivation.

Mayfield’s start to the 2026 season has been big-“b” bad.

Through two games, against the firing on all cylinders Cincinnati Bengals that have allowed the eighth-fewest points and with a hat-tip to Mayfield, lead the league in sacks and takeaways, and the Cleveland Browns, Mayfield has passed for 398 yards with one touchdown, one interception, and fumbled three times.

Tampa is 0-2, Mayfield looks lost without Mike Evans’ veteran savviness and reliability, and a quarterback situation that looked the most stable and promising in the woebegone NFC South suddenly looks anything but.

Buccaneers’ Upcoming Schedule:

vs. Minnesota Vikings, vs. Green Bay Packers, at Dallas Cowboys, at Chicago Bears, at Detroit Lions, vs. Carolina Panthers

Buccaneers’ Outlook:

This very well could get out of hand, in a hurry.

As JJ Zachariason points out, when Mike Evans was on the field, Mayfield produced 0.15 Expected Points added per dropback. When Evans was not on the field, well, it didn’t go quite as well, with Mayfield producing a negative-0.01 Expected Points Added per Dropback.

Maybe, just maybe, the Buccaneers letting Evans walk is going to wind up being what blows the entire house of cards down.

Friend of Between The Hashmarks, Scott Spratt takes it a step further, noting that Mayfield’s EPA with Evans on the field would rank 12th-highest among 44 high-volume quarterbacks since 2023, including edging out Joe Burrow. However, his negative-EPA without Evans is 32nd, just behind Mac Jones.

This is suboptimal, to say the least.

Maybe the Buccaneers’ visit to Quarterback Hell is temporary, because at least it isn’t driven by an injury. Perhaps, though, Tampa will permanently reside in the depths of Quarterback Hell, because Mayfield’s regression is just what it is at this point.

The latter … would be disastrous, to say the least.

Survivability Rating: 5.5/10

There’s something equal parts tragic and sad about the injury-riddled trajectory of Jayden Daniels’ career.

The wunderkind who powered the Commanders to an NFC Championship Game berth after passing for 3,568 yards with 25 touchdowns to nine interceptions in a rookie season that saw him post eight multi-touchdown pass games, whlie rushing for 891 yards and six more scores has appeared in just nine games since.

A growing litany of injuries, including a second dislocated left elbow in the past 10 months, along with a third injury to the same elbow and a knee injury, has been a brutal testament of life in the NFL, robbing Daniels, the Commanders, and football fans of the promise and upside of what of the most electrifying young quarterbacks we’ve seen emerge in a decade.

In Week 2 against the Cowboys, Daniels completed 11-of-17 passing attempts for 96 yards and a touchdown; he wound up leading the Commanders in rushing yards, and was moving the ball for Washington with relative ease before succumbing to his injury just before halftime.

Now, Washington’s fate for at least the next several weeks, if not longer, is once again in Marcus Mariota’s hands, but the questions that were whispered about in underground Beltway bars and speakeasies about the Commanders’ and Daniels’ future may need to build to a crescendo as injuries exact a painful toll.

Commanders’ upcoming schedule:

vs. Seattle Seahawks, vs. Indianapolis Colts, vs. New York Giants, at San Francisco 49ers, vs. Philadelphia Eagles, vs. Los Angeles Rams, at New York Giants, vs. Cincinnati Bengals

Commanders’ Outlook:

Find a win on that schedule.

With Marcus Mariota.

My friend, colleague, mentor, and Between The Hashmarks Podcast co-host, Mike Tanier, ranks Mariota as the 12th-best backup in the league.

Go ahead, break it down …

Maybe, Sonny Styles and a revamped Commanders defense can steal a victory against Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts?

Perhaps by the time the two meetings with the Giants roll around, New York will be so beleaguered, its defense so wilted by having to carry the load without Jaxson Dart that a split with the division rivals is possible?

However, there’s a nonzero chance that an uncomfortable and inconvenient truth is going to take root in Ashburn, Virginia in the months ahead; that Washington cannot rely on Daniels’ availability or count on him ever reaching his full potential, and further just might be closer to Arch Manning or Dante Moore or CJ Carr than they are the Philadelphia Eagles or Dallas Cowboys at the top of the NFC East.

This latest Daniels injury, and his growing list of them, is as alarming for Washington’s future as it is heartbreaking for his.

Survivability Rating: 2.5/10

At some point, and maybe some point imminently soon, Omar Khan, Mike McCarthy, Art Rooney, and the Pittsburgh Steelers have to admit they fucked up, right?

If the sacrificial annihilation ceremony that the New England Patriots’ defense just held in Foxboro, sacking Aaron Rodgers four times, hitting him seven times, at one point knocking this husk of a 42-year-old former MVP into this century, isn’t enough to change the hearts and minds of those in a position to change course in Pittsburgh, I’m not sure anything ever will.

It’s bad enough that this COVID-vaccine conspiracy-spouting attention whore has become the short-term face of a once proud and heritage franchise.

But, it might be worse that Rooney and Khan are so terrified of a rebuild, or at least getting a look-see at former five-star and nationally No. 1-ranked high school quarterback Drew Allar, that they’d rather suffer through trotting out Rodgers, who has been sacked 19 times dating back to Week 14 last season, while tossing only five touchdowns over that span.

At some point, McCarthy and Khan are going to need to realize just how significantly tying the franchise’s fortunes to Rodgers has set it back.

At some point, the Steelers are going to need to take a hard look in the mirror and an easy look at the results.

At that point, it’s impossible not to reach the same conclusion many observers already have … that Allar, or even Mason Rudolph, offer more upside in an offense built to push the ball vertically to the likes of DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr. than Rodgers has since about 2022.

Steelers Upcoming Schedule:

vs. Bengals, at Browns, vs. Colts, at Buccaneers, at Saints, vs. Browns, at Bengals, at Eagles, vs. Broncos, vs. Texans, at Jaguars

Steelers Outlook:

Is there a world where the Steelers lose their next three games, falling to 1-4, and October 18 becomes a soft landing to get a look at Drew Allar, both to potentially salvage whatever is left of 2026 and just how seriously Pittsburgh needs to take trying to take a quarterback in 2027?

At some point, the difficult reality that this just is never going to happen with Rodgers needs to be as clear and obvious to those inside the Rooney Sports Complex as it does to just about everyone who bellies up to the bar at Hidden Harbor or Howl at The Moon on Sunday afternoons.

Former offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, it turns out, was doing wonders by protecting Rodgers with often at least three tight ends on the field at once as well as masking a quarterback who, through two weeks this season, boasts a 31.6 QBR.

Not even Ivermectin can cure those passing woes.

Father Time is undefeated, and probably takes even greater joy when he gets to lasso someone with such an abhorrent worldview as Rodgers’.

Maybe soon, the Steelers will realize he’s caught their quarterback once and for all.

Survivability Rating: 2/10

Atlanta Falcons

This is the worst quarterback situation in football.

I wrote in August that it had potential to be as disastrous as the Cleveland Browns, and nothing that has happened since has made things any better for Kevin Stefanski and the Falcons.

No one would blame Tua Tagovailoa if he’s quiet quitting, after the nightmarish concussion history he’s had to battle through, with the backdrop of the impacts of them on causing CTE having never been clearer.

But, the Falcons never should have left themselves exposed to the risks in the first place.

In the span of three weeks, the Falcons have had to scratch Tagovailoa with an oblique injury, turned things over to Cooper Rush, who fought through back spasms before a bout with ineffectiveness, and realizing that he’s Cooper Rush, before now tossing the keys to this ding’d-up Corvette of an offense to Michael Penix Jr.

Things got so out of hand against the Panthers, in a 34-3 lambasting loss, that Stefanski decided to get a look-see at rookie Jack Strand.

The former undrafted free agent out of Minnesota State-Moorhead completed just 8-of-15 passes for 59 yards with one interception. He also lost a fumble, and he was sacked twice.

Strand finished with a 12.4 QBR.

Not great.

Falcons Upcoming Schedule:

at Packers, at Saints, vs. Ravens, vs. Bears, vs. 49ers, at Buccaneers

Falcons Outlook:

It remains to be seen whether Penix Jr., off an ACL tear he spent the offseason rehabbing and recovering from will suddenly look like the first-round talent the Falcons thought they were drafting once he’s dropped into Stefanski’s quarterback-friendly offense for the first time.

Maybe Penix will make these early-season stumbles little more than the punchline to jokes made from the Battery to Buckhead after he salvages the Falcons’ season and awakens the franchise from a September nightmarish slumber.

He better.

Because short of President of Football Matt Ryan pulling a Clark Kent and ripping off his suit and pulling down a Falcons helmet, Atlanta is running out of options to get an offense built around explosive firepower from Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Kyle Pitts up and running.

Survivability Rating: 3.5/10 … at best.