Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season brought the drama, and then some. Opening night saw a dramatic victory by the Seattle Seahawks in a Super Bowl rematch over the New England Patriots, and there was an unexpected hero. A day later, the San Francisco 49ers put a pause on any Dream Team talk surrounding the Los Angeles Rams with their blowout victory Down Under.
The surprises only continued on Sunday and Monday. The Arizona Cardinals delivered the upset of the weekend, beating the Los Angeles Chargers as 10.5-point underdogs. There were other stunners, too, as this year's Week 1 tied for the most points scored in a Week 1 in NFL history.
So, which surprises and shocks were the best and biggest from Week 1? We share our top stunners from the opening week. Greg Auman: Best surprise of the opening weekend?
As a team, you’d have to say the Cardinals knocking off the Chargers, but as an overall theme, how about backup quarterbacks coming off the bench and leading their team to big wins? First, it was Drew Lock leading the Seattle Seahawks past the New England Patriots on Wednesday night. He’d been 2-8 as a starter over the last five years, and then Carson Wentz stepped up for the Minnesota Vikings after Kyler Murray’s concussion.
Wentz hasn’t been a full-time starter since 2021 and was 5-9 as a backup bouncing around the league, but Minnesota’s defense helped a lot, but he came through in a key division win against the Green Bay Packers. Steven Ruiz: I wasn’t high on the Packers coming into the season, and I was still left disappointed by their performance against the Vikings. I’m not willing to go as far as Green Bay fans calling for Matt LaFleur’s job, but this roster needs a reboot.
The offensive line, which is crucial in a run-based offense, isn't viable. It couldn’t open up anything in the run game, and the pocket was untenable for Jordan Love. Christian Watson looked good, and Love battled, but the rest of the offense offered no bright spots.
The defense may have been worse. Without Micah Parsons, the pass rush is non-existent, which makes things harder for a cornerback group that already has enough issues. I believe that LaFleur is a good coach and know that Love is a good quarterback, but the rest of the team may be beyond saving until Parsons gets back.
In a competitive NFC North, that may be too late. Eric D. Williams: Among the head-scratching results in Week 1 were the Los Angeles Chargers starting the season with a flat performance in a 26-14 loss at home against the Arizona Cardinals.
The Chargers had a rare home game in which they enjoyed home-field advantage due to the lack of Cardinals fans in attendance. Brought in to turn Justin Herbert into an MVP-worthy quarterback, offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel made his debut for the Bolts. Yet the Cardinals, led by journeyman Jacoby Brissett, were the team that dominated offensively.
Los Angeles mustered just 14 points against one of the worst defenses from last season, and it was marred by pre-snap penalties, turnovers and missed assignments that had head coach Jim Harbaugh wondering if he played his starters enough during exhibition play. "We made some preseason type of mistakes," Harbaugh said. "Now in retrospect, I wish we’d played our guys a little bit more in the preseason and given them those reps." Added defensive leader Derwin James after the game: "This is the National Football League, man.
If you don’t come ready to play, stuff like this happens." The road does not get any easier for the Chargers. They face a much-improved Las Vegas Raiders squad in Week 2. Following that, five of the Bolts’ next six opponents are playoff teams: the Buffalo Bills, Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Rams and Houston Texans — along with the Kansas City Chiefs, who look like they have returned to form with a healthy Patrick Mahomes.
Things could get ugly for the Bolts if they don’t turn things around quickly. Ralph Vacchiano: You’d think by now I’d know better than to believe in the Chargers, but I did buy a little into the hype. I thought Mike McDaniel would be the one who finally unlocked the potential of Justin Herbert.
And I get that weird things happen on Opening Day. But losing at home to the Arizona Cardinals? Putting up just 268 yards against a defense that was one of the worst in the NFL last year and didn’t do much to improve in the offseason?
Nothing shocked me more. As much as I believe the Cards have some promising young players, I really believed that with their schedule, the division they play in, and the quarterback issues and other holes, they had a shot to start 0-13. Seriously.
And I was suckered into thinking the Chargers were at least a fringe contender. I still think Herbert is loaded with talent. I think Jim Harbaugh is a brilliant coach and I think McDaniel is a brilliant offensive mind.
But something isn’t working there, obviously. They'd better fix it quickly, or they’re going to have to start thinking about a major overhaul. And by the way, I don’t know what surprises me more about this — the Chargers losing, or the Cardinals winning.
The Chargers being a disappointment is nothing new, really, so the Cardinals playing well might be the thing that shocked me most. Ben Arthur: How about those Ravens? With a new, green offensive coordinator in 30-year-old (!) Declan Doyle, I expected Baltimore to have hiccups offensively.
I was stunned to see the Ravens’ offense look like a well-oiled machine in Week 1. Lamar Jackson, after an injury-riddled 2025 season, regained his MVP form. Derrick Henry was unstoppable.
Zay Flowers was unguardable. Baltimore had 41 points and 506 yards of offense, the latter of which is its most in a game since Week 7 of the 2024 season. It came against a Colts’ defense that probably won’t be very good, but you can’t ignore an explosion like that.
It was honestly more impressive to me than the Bears hanging 59 points on the Panthers, because we know what Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams are capable of. As much talent as the Ravens have, they have a first-time play caller and an offensive line that entered the year with questions. They put it together in the opener, and I’m now intrigued.
The Bengals aren’t the only team in the AFC North that should be receiving a ton of hype. Henry McKenna: It looks like we have most of the surprising team performances covered. So I figure I’ll cover a few of the individual performances that stunned me.
And I’m going to focus on a few different ones that I think are not just a mirage — but performances that might set the stage for a season that defies expectations. First, let’s hit on Jalen Coker, who put up impressive production against both Bears cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Tyrique Stevenson. Coker’s dominance was so comprehensive that I found myself wondering if he might end up in a 1A-1B situation with Tetairoa McMillan this year.
In that same game, we saw Bears tight end Colston Loveland finish with zero catches on two targets. After watching Loveland in training camp, I felt he was getting too much hype. But I didn’t expect this!
It’s not necessarily that he won’t be a good player. But with the Bears set to emphasize the ground game all year long, their pass-catchers (from Loveland to Rome Odunze to Luther Burden) may have unreliable production. It feels like folks have highlighted those performances.
But there’s a sneaky one that I want to highlight. It’s Zay Flowers, who finished with five catches, 150 yards and a touchdown — after playing just 25 minutes. Had he not left the game with a hamstring injury (an absence which the team later clarified was precautionary), Flowers might be leading the NFL in receiving yards. (He also had a long catch-and-run where he went down on the 1-yard line and nearly scored another TD.) And as my colleague Ben pointed out, the Ravens offense looks outstanding under the leadership of Doyle, the first apple off Ben Johnson’s coaching tree.
Last year was a huge step forward for Flowers. But … could he be even better this year? It looks like it.
