It’s official: the best season in sports is back. After a long seven-month offseason, the drag only slightly offset by exciting trades and the preseason, football returned for viewers around the world.
Wednesday Night Football
Week One of the NFL regular season began last week with the first-ever Wednesday night game, as the New England Patriots traveled cross-country to take on the Seattle Seahawks. Tensions were high in this rematch of the 2026 Super Bowl contenders. In this low-scoring game (13-10, Final Score), Seattle came out on top, despite losing their starting quarterback, Sam Darnold, to injury early in the game.
Thursday Night Football
Moving on to Thursday night, there was another first for the league: two California teams faced off in Melbourne, Australia. The San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams clashed at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, drawing in over 100,000 spectators and even more viewers back at home. Everyone was thrilled to see how the two teams fared, as each head coach had a very different approach to the game.
The 49ers stunned the Rams, showing that perhaps their week-long acclimation, in contrast to the Rams’ 28-hour acclimation, wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Unable to be taken down by the Rams’ defense (the one that was supposed to be unstoppable with Myles Garret and the returning hero Aaron Donald), 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy put on quite a performance with 205 passing yards and three touchdowns. Unfortunately for the Rams, MVP quarterback Matthew Stafford had no such luck, leaving the Rams scoreless until he was pulled in the fourth quarter.
Sunday Football
With two games of “NFL firsts” out of the way, Sunday football returned to normal with 13 exciting matchups. Our first most notable game came from the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers, with a final total of 96 points scored between the two teams, the highest amount ever seen in a Week One game. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, who has seriously reinvented himself in the offseason, led the team to a 59-37-win, stunning fans and critics alike.
Two more exciting games from the day: the Saints versus the Lions and the Packers versus the Vikings. The Saints and Lions played the first overtime of the season, with the Lions finally coming out with a too-close-for-comfort win, 31-30. The Packers and Vikings put on quite a show Sunday, with the Vikings scoring 22 of their 39 total points in the fourth quarter while keeping the Packers scoreless, leading to a 39-22 win.
Stand-Out Performers
Looking at individual performances, a few players across the league really stood out. Starting the 11th season of his career, Baltimore Ravens star running back Derrick Henry rushed for 144 yards and three touchdowns, putting him in third place overall on the all-time rushing touchdown list. Next, we saw an exciting return for New York Giants’ enthusiastic running back, Cam Skattebo. After a season-ending injury in his rookie year, Skattebo returned to the field Sunday, scoring the first touchdown towards the Giants’ win over the Dallas Cowboys, celebrating with an exhilarating but frightening backflip. Two more outstanding performances came from Josh Allen, who finally beat his Houston Texans curse, and Washington Commanders’ Tyler Owens, who absolutely annihilated the Eagles on a punt return.
Looking Ahead
Some teams came out hot; others had fans questioning their allegiance. With so much happening in Week One alone, the next few months should be nothing short of exciting. We still have plenty of huge rivalry games and everyone’s favorite: holiday games. The path to Super Bowl LXI has just begun.