A chronicle of the season · Anno 2026
Nine months after his knee came apart, Mahomes dove into two grown men on purpose. Then the house the realm had buried won going away, on the ground.
The line you say tomorrow“Mahomes came back from a torn-up knee, asked to be hit on purpose, and Kansas City ran Denver over anyway.”
Carolina's lord scored four times and it changed nothing. Chicago ran for six scores and won the highest-scoring opening day this league has ever had.
The line you say tomorrow“Bryce Young scored four times and lost by three scores, because Chicago simply ran through his house all afternoon.”
Cincinnati spent its whole winter buying a defence. That defence took four balls off Tampa Bay in a single afternoon, and the last of them Baker Mayfield lost while trying to score.
House Bengals · House Buccaneers
The line you say tomorrow“Baker Mayfield lost the ball three times, and the last one he lost while trying to score.”
Josh Allen had never won in this building. He won it with a minute and a half left, and then his Watch ended the argument by force.
The line you say tomorrow“Houston had the ball and the lead, and Buffalo simply took it out of C.J. Stroud's hands.”
Arizona released its own lord in the spring and handed the house to the man you send for when the plan has already failed. On Sunday he took it into Los Angeles and won by two scores.
House Cardinals · House Chargers
The line you say tomorrow“The biggest underdog of the week walked into Los Angeles and beat the biggest favourite.”
Sean Mannion had never called plays anywhere, ever. His first afternoon was a division game in the least patient city in the realm, and Washington was one stopped play from taking it off him.
House Eagles · House Commanders
The line you say tomorrow“Philadelphia handed its whole attack to a man who had never called a play in his life, and survived by two points.”
Baltimore let John Harbaugh go after eighteen seasons. New York, which won four games last year, hired him — and his first night in the colours was a Sunday-night win over Dallas.
The line you say tomorrow“Eighteen years at Baltimore, and they let him go — so John Harbaugh went to New York and beat Dallas in front of the whole realm.”
Todd Monken's first act was to pick Deshaun Watson over Shedeur Sanders. By early in the third quarter it was thirty-one to nothing.
The line you say tomorrow“Cleveland's travelling supporters spent the afternoon chanting for the quarterback their new coach had benched.”
Both houses won three games last season. New York's answer was a thirty-six-year-old it had discarded eleven years ago over a six-hundred-dollar plane ticket.
The line you say tomorrow“Geno Smith made his first start for the Jets in ten years and beat the coach they threw out.”
Tyler Shough gave the game away three times, brought every bit of it back, and then his steward handed him one throw for the whole afternoon.
The line you say tomorrow“New Orleans erased three scores in Detroit, then went for the win instead of the tie, and lost by a single point.”
Kirk Cousins was bought to be competent immediately. He was. Behind him stood the first overall pick, watching a job he has no obvious way of taking.
House Raiders · House Dolphins
The line you say tomorrow“Las Vegas won with a bought veteran while the first pick in the realm held a clipboard.”
Baltimore's new steward won his first day by handing the ball to a thirty-two-year-old again and again, until Indianapolis's own crowd began booing its house in the first game of the year.
The line you say tomorrow“Derrick Henry is thirty-two years old, and on Sunday he took third place on a list that goes back to the beginning of the sport.”
Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers won a title together against this house. Fifteen years later they opened a season for it, and the defence had to rescue them.
House Steelers · House Falcons
The line you say tomorrow“The coach and quarterback who beat Pittsburgh in a Super Bowl now run Pittsburgh, and they won ugly.”
Minnesota benched its own first-round pick for a twelve-month rental. The rental lasted a quarter, the heir was third in line, and the substitute won it anyway.
The line you say tomorrow“Minnesota lost its rented quarterback in the first quarter and won going away behind a backup they had named days earlier.”
Los Angeles spent its entire future on being ready now, landed on the other side of the world a day before kickoff, and was beaten by the second-oldest court in the realm.
The line you say tomorrow“The Rams flew to Australia the day before and lost to a house that had been there a week.”
Seattle lost its lord in the opening minutes and won anyway, behind a man who has been nobody's first choice for seven years.
House Seahawks · House Patriots
The line you say tomorrow“Seattle won the Super Bowl rematch with their backup quarterback.”