The 2026 NFL season is getting off to an interesting start for fans and bettors. Instead of looking ahead to Thursday night for the first game, we're diving into the action on Wednesday night. The earlier, the better, right?
Let's dive into my best bets for Week 1 of the season. This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated.
Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports. When these teams met in February on a neutral field, the Seahawks were favored by 4.5. They won and covered easily.
The game is in Seattle this time around, and the line is only 3? The Seahawks haven’t been getting much respect as defending champs. I’ll back them to do what they did last time, which was both win and cover.
The 49ers will spend about a week in Australia, where this game is being played, while the Rams will fly in as late as possible and spend very little time there prior to kickoff. I’m not sure which method is more optimal, but the 49ers were a home win away last season from being the 1-seed in the NFC, despite a rash of injuries. I’ll take the points, despite all the hype surrounding the Rams.
Lions' wide receiver Jameson Williams emerged late last season. From Thanksgiving on, he had games of 144, 134, 96, 74 and 70 receiving yards. With his number set at 56.5 for this one, I look for the talented Williams to pick up where he left off.
Nobody has much of anything good to say or write about the Cleveland Browns right now, and I can’t imagine there are many people out there looking to bet on them. But the NFL is a funny league, and the Browns have a talented roster, outside their obvious concerns at the quarterback position. I’ll go against the grain and pick them to keep it close.
This is a battle between surprise division winners from 2025. Bears’ head coach Ben Johnson has high hopes and discussed this summer his goal of being the highest-scoring team in NFL history. If that’s a realistic goal, we should see a big game from his quarterback, Caleb Williams.
He's facing a Carolina defense that ranked 23rd in the NFL last year in passing yards allowed per attempt. It’s easy to forget the Colts were 8-2 at one point last season and were the feel-good story in the NFL. Quarterback Daniel Jones got hurt, Phillip Rivers came out of retirement and the Colts ultimately lost their last seven games.
We’ll see if they can recapture some of their early-season magic from 2025, but I’ll take the 3.5 here with a home team that is perhaps underrated entering 2026. Here are two teams that have hopes of playing deep into January and maybe even February. The Texans have given Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen fits throughout his career, and one way to offset the Texans’ ferocious pass rush is to get rid of the ball quickly.
Throwing the ball to running back James Cook could be an effective strategy. With the total set at 50.5, I’m going Under. The Bengals have reasons for optimism in terms of having an improved defense, and a total this high is hard to eclipse early in the season when offenses have had very little game action together in the preseason.
The Falcons did not have a very promising showing in the preseason, and it seems as if quarterback Tua Tagavailoa won the starting job by default. I don’t expect much offense from a team that appears to be searching for answers under center. Perhaps the most remarkable stat of the 2025 NFL season is that in 17 games, the Jets' defense did not intercept a single pass.
I’ll predict that streak ends Sunday — with an added emphasis on forcing turnovers — and the law of averages finally landing the Jets a long-awaited pick. The Eagles' offense is known for having long, clock-draining drives and a very stout defense. The Commanders enter the season with a questionable offensive line.
These are all ingredients that add up to a low-scoring game here in the opener. The Cardinals are expected to pick near the top of the 2027 NFL Draft, due largely to a schedule that is one of the tougher ones in recent memory. However, while the Cardinals don’t figure to score many wins in 2026, it should be noted that they lost an inordinate number of close games last season and were ravaged by injuries.
The Chargers should win, but the Cardinals have enough weapons to keep this close. Malik Willis gets the start at quarterback for the Dolphins after signing as a free agent in the offseason. In two starts last year, Willis ran for 44 and 60 yards.
With his rush prop set at 38.5, I like him to go Over, considering it’s an offense without many weapons to rely on. The Vikings went 9-8 in 2025 with subpar quarterback play from the likes of J.J. McCarthy, Max Brosmer and Carson Wentz.
With the addition of Kyler Murray, I like the Vikings to defeat a short-handed Packers team that is without Micah Parsons and Josh Jacobs. Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott is 14-3 in his career vs. the Giants, and one of those losses came in Week 18 of 2025, when Prescott exited after throwing just 11 passes in a game that had no playoff implications. The Cowboys are elite on offense and have some hope for an improved defense.
I like their dominance over the Giants to continue. It’s the Broncos who take the field as defending AFC West champions on Monday night. As Patrick Mahomes makes his return, I’m skeptical he will be anxious to take off and run in his first start since tearing his ACL in December.
