In the NFL, no surprise is all that surprising. Anyone who has followed this league over the course of a season knows to expect the unexpected. Week 4 of the 2017 season was no exception, as there were a number of surprising upsets and great performances from young players. This was a week that saw the New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, and Atlanta Falcons each lose at home, and we even saw a couple of games nearly end up as ties (Jacksonville Jaguars vs. New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers vs. Arizona Cardinals). Quarterbacks have been benched (Mike Glennon), young signal-callers have erupted (Deshaun Watson), and Cam Newton blew up after his slow start.

Here are the five most interesting takeaways of the week:

Mike Glennon never should have started for the Bears

Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but Mike Glennon has had "flop" written all over him ever since he put pen to paper on a contract with the Chicago Bears. The 2013 third-round pick posted a respectable 84.9 passer rating prior to going over to Chicago from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but a career 5-13 record as a starter and a 6.5 yards-per-pass-attempt mark suggested that he would struggle as the leader of an offense, especially one with such little talent at the skill positions as the Bears'. Remember that for the season during which Glennon made his highest number of starts (he started 13 games as a rookie in 2013), the Buccaneers were dead last in the NFL in total offense.

Mitchell Trubisky also looked to have "flop" written all over him when the Bears seemingly reached by trading up to draft him second overall over the spring, but the UNC alum impressed NFL fans with a stellar preseason performance, posting a 106.2 passer rating. Glennon, meanwhile, posted a rating of 70.5. It's certainly worth noting that Trubisky played mostly against backup defenses, whereas Glennon played against starting units, but the difference in quality of play was tremendous regardless.

Having given Glennon a $45 million contract that would pay $14 million in 2017, the Bears stubbornly forced their prized rookie to ride the pine and learn the NFL game while Glennon helmed the offense, but there's only so much one can learn on the sideline. With Trubisky on the bench, Glennon bungled his way to a 1-3 start, failing to score more than 17 points in regulation in any of the four games.

The Bears now rank 29th in scoring offense and have the second-most giveaways in the league.

Fortunately, the Bears are finally cutting their losses and moving on to their rookie quarterback as the Week 5 starter, but it should have been Trubisky all along.

Deshaun Watson might be even better than we thought

Anyone who saw Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson trade blows with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots last week must have had a feeling that Watson is a franchise quarterback in the making, but what he did in Week 4 was even more impressive.

The rookie quarterback posted 283 yards on a completion percentage of 73.5 while also racking up four touchdowns and just one interception, giving him a passer rating of 125.0. Perhaps most impressive was that he helmed an offense that dropped an Alabama-esque 57 points—by far the most scored by a team this season (the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks are tied for the second most at 46). Watson's passer rating has now risen in each of his four NFL starts (60.4, 75.9, 90.6, 125.0).

Watson continues to make plays behind a poor offense line and make the most of his opportunities when given time to throw. With a talented defense that currently ranks fifth in yards allowed, Watson was the missing link to what now looks like a dangerous team in the AFC.

As expected, the addition of Will Fuller (four catches for 35 yards and two touchdowns in his return from a broken collarbone) boosted a receiving corps that has been putrid behind the elite DeAndre Hopkins this season.

Watson may not have the elite size or arm that scouts like to see in quarterback prospects, but he was a gamer in college and looks like a gamer in the pros, as well.

DeShone Kizer won't be the answer in Cleveland

Once thought of as a potential first overall pick, DeShone Kizer had a solid debut for the Cleveland Browns, posting 222 yards and a touchdown for an 85.7 passer rating against a good Pittsburgh Steelers defense.

In three games since then, however, Kizer's rating is an atrocious 41.6. He leads the league in interceptions with eight and is averaging a pathetic 5.4 yards per pass attempt—he may have hit rock bottom in that statistic on Sunday, when he passed 34 times for just 118 yards, giving him a mark of 3.5. A running back who averages 3.5 yards per carry is at risk of being benched—as a quarterback, that mark is mind-boggling.

Kizer is still a 21-year-old kid with impressive measurables, so he obviously still has plenty of time to turn things around—look no further than Jared Goff, whose 63.6 rating as a rookie last season has skyrocketed to 112.2 this year. But while fellow rookies like Deshaun Watson are getting better every game, Kizer seems to be getting worse.

He simply looks overwhelmed and isn't showing any of the subtleties that make many of the NFL's competent quarterbacks successful. Bigger men with bigger arms than Kizer have fallen out of this league quickly, so the young rookie needs to get in the film room and figure out how to be more efficient with his passes.

The Rams are for real

I talked last week about how Jared Goff can play quarterback in this league, but what I didn't expect was for the Los Angeles Rams to be able to come together and steal a huge win from the Dallas Cowboys in Texas. Say what you want about the Cowboys and their disappointing 2-2 record, but they have talent on both sides of the ball, and the Rams went punch for punch with them until coming out on top on the road.

The Cowboys bested the Rams in total yards, but with Jared Goff playing some of the most efficient football in the world and Greg Zuerlein (seven field goals, four from 40-plus yards) kicking the ball like he never wanted to see it again, the Rams did what it took to come out on top.

The popular narrative is that wunderkind head coach Sean McVay has turned this team around after taking over for the out-of-element Jeff Fisher, but while McVay has certainly been a breath of fresh air for a formerly bland offense, there is much more to the Rams' turnaround than a new mind on the sidelines. Over this past offseason, the Rams added the ultra-talented Sammy Watkins, well-rounded Robert Woods, sure-handed Cooper Kupp, and size-athleticism freak Gerald Everett (6-foot-3, 239 pounds, 4.62 40-yard dash, 37.5-inch vertical) to catch passes from Goff.

They also added a blue-chip offensive tackle in Andrew Whitworth, who currently ranks seventh at his position among 68 qualifiers, according to Pro Football Focus. The defense has long had a solid amount of talent but often underperformed due to the offense's struggles.

Looking back on it, Rams general manager Les Snead may have had the best 2017 offseason in the league despite not having a first-round pick.

The Buffalo Bills can hang with the top dogs

The Buffalo Bills' 3-1 record seems like it very well may be a mirage given the questionable talent at a number of positions, particularly on offense, but it's impossible to ignore what the team has done to this point in the season.

The Bills' record is not like the record of the New York Jets, who have two wins but haven't beaten anyone better than the quarterback-less Jacksonville Jaguars or hapless Miami Dolphins, who couldn't even score a point on the New Orleans Saints at a neutral site. The Bills have beaten those 2-2 Jets as well as the 3-1 Denver Broncos and the 3-1 Atlanta Falcons down in Georgia. The one blemish on their record is a tight 9-3 loss to a 3-1 Carolina Panthers team that just beat the Patriots in New England.

You may find it difficult to trust a team with Tyrod Taylor at quarterback, but the dual-threat signal-caller is actually playing out of his mind, according to Pro Football Focus, as he ranks fifth overall at his position.

Though he's often known more for his legs than his arm (not traditionally a winning recipe), Taylor has PFF's fourth-highest passing grade among qualifying quarterbacks.

The Buffalo secondary looks like one of the league's best right now with new additions such as E.J. Gaines and rookie Tre'Davious White, and there's plenty of talent in the front seven with players like edge Jerry Hughes and tackle Marcell Dareus. To top it all off, new head coach Sean McDermott has a history of maximizing the talent on his defenses.

There is still plenty of reason to be concerned about the Bills' future prospects, but there is also plenty of reason to believe that they can stay in the playoff race for the foreseeable future.

They've proved that they can hang with top teams, even when on the road. With a defense ranked first in points allowed and a quarterback playing some of the league's best football at his position, the Bills currently have some of the key ingredients to a great season.
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