Sport
The 2026 NFL season opened with 96 points in a single game, overtime in Detroit and, for the first time in league history, a match played in Australia. Here is week one.
The game to watch back
Chicago 59 – Carolina 37. The Bears scored at least 14 points in every quarter. Ninety-six points in total: comfortably the wildest game of the weekend, and the sort of scoreline a whole season can pass without repeating.
A game in Melbourne
San Francisco 27 – Los Angeles Rams 7. The NFL played its first ever regular-season game in Australia, and the 49ers showed no mercy. Three points in the first quarter, then complete control: the Rams begin their season with a night to forget on the other side of the world.
The cruellest finish
Detroit 31 – New Orleans 30, in overtime. The Saints scored 14 in the third quarter and 10 in the fourth to claw their way back, then added six more in overtime. It was not enough. The Lions won by a single point.
Week 1 results in full
- Seattle 13 – New England 10
- San Francisco 27 – LA Rams 7 (in Melbourne)
- Cincinnati 33 – Tampa Bay 27
- Detroit 31 – New Orleans 30 (OT)
- NY Jets 23 – Tennessee 10
- Baltimore 41 – Indianapolis 23
- Pittsburgh 20 – Atlanta 13
- Chicago 59 – Carolina 37
- Jacksonville 34 – Cleveland 10
- Buffalo 36 – Houston 31
- Las Vegas 27 – Miami 13
- Minnesota 39 – Green Bay 22
- Philadelphia 24 – Washington 22
- Arizona 26 – LA Chargers 14
- NY Giants 28 – Dallas 20
Monday night’s game, Denver at Kansas City, closes the week.
Three things worth knowing
Minnesota turned it around on Green Bay. Behind after three quarters, the Vikings put up 22 points in the fourth to win 39-22. That is the kind of quarter that launches a season.
Baltimore ran through Indianapolis. Derrick Henry dominated the Colts in a 41-23 win that never felt close.
New England found a way to lose. Drake Maye was intercepted three times and Seattle took it 13-10, in a game neither offence will want to watch again.
For anyone meeting the NFL for the first time in Montreal
The regular season runs eighteen weeks, September to January, and each team plays only once a week — which is exactly why every Sunday matters. Games are shown here from early afternoon, with one in the evening on Sunday and another on Monday night.
It is also, very practically, a social door: at the office, at the gym or at the barber, Sunday’s result is a conversation that starts itself. Knowing two or three of them is worth the effort.