Plenty of points and a few surprises. How the NFL season began

Where were we? Two hundred and seventeen days after the Super Bowl that brought the 2025 season to a close, the NFL is back to entertain Americans on Sundays. The season has officially kicked off with two early fixtures: the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots (13–10) in a rematch of last season’s final, whilst the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Los Angeles Rams (27–7) in Melbourne, in the first of nine regular-season matches to be played outside the US.

As is customary, apart from early and late kick-offs (including the highly anticipated Monday night fixture), most matches are played on Sundays, the day dedicated to the secular cult of professional football. Thirteen matches were played on this first Sunday of the season, with a few surprises compared to the pre-match predictions.

First and foremost, it is worth noting that there were plenty of high-scoring games across the board. Ben Johnson’s Chicago Bears – the head coach who trains himself (in the gym) before his players do – racked up nearly sixty points against the Carolina Panthers in a match that ended 59–37, the highest total score in NFL history for an opening-week fixture.

However, other attacks also scored heavily on what was one of the highest-scoring opening days ever in this respect. Suffice it to say that the total number of points scored was seven hundred and fifty, averaging fifty per match. If the Broncos and Chiefs, playing in today’s late kick-off, were to score a combined total of at least forty-two points, the NFL would break the record for the average number of points scored on an opening day, set in 2012 at 49.4 per match. 

Other high-scoring matches: the Buffalo Bills overcame one of the NFL’s strongest defences, that of the Houston Texans, winning 36–31 at the end of a match in which the two teams traded the lead no fewer than nine times; the Detroit Lions needed extra time to beat the New Orleans Saints 31–30; the Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers 39–22.

The Cincinnati Bengals, New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Las Vegas Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals also return home from the first round with a win. The Cardinals, considered among the worst teams in the league, pulled off the surprise of the day, winning away at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium against the Chargers in a match where Arizona were 8.5-point underdogs.

Interesting facts about the rookie head coaches. The victories of Joe Brady (Bills), Jesse Minter (Ravens), Mike LaFleur (Cardinals) and Klint Kubiak (Raiders) were offset by the defeats of Jeff Hafley (Dolphins) and Todd Monken (Browns). Speaking of the latter: in his first stint as head coach, aged sixty, the former Baltimore offensive co-ordinator paid the price for his decision to start veteran Deshaun Watson, who had not played a regular-season match for a full 693 days.  The much-discussed yet underwhelming quarterback had his third attempted pass intercepted, ending his first day in charge with just 16 out of 22 passes completed for 205 yards, whilst also suffering five sacks.

If the early signs are anything to go by, Cleveland’s season looks set to be another long trek through the wilderness this year.