It would have been difficult to tie that mark on Wednesday, when the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots opened the season with a 13-10 defensive battle in a rematch of Super Bowl LX. However, much of the rest of the weekend took a different path. Offensive explosions turned out to be the norm. Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears dropped 59 points on the Carolina Panthers, the franchise’s most since the 1980 season, and it’s not that Carolina’s offense has been unlucky in trying to keep pace. The Panthers put 37 on the board, contributing to the highest-scoring Week 1 game (96 points combined) in league history. Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens scored 41 against the Indianapolis Colts, while Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills needed similar production to defeat the Houston Texans, 36-31, a somewhat shocking result considering DeMeco Ryans’ club hasn’t allowed that many points since his first year at the helm of Houston in 2023. The Jacksonville Jaguars opened up a lead big enough for Trevor Lawrence to sit out the fourth quarter of a win by 34-10 over the Cleveland Browns and Minnesota. The Vikings, who defeated the Green Bay Packers, 39-22, at one point scored 22 points in 2:46 of playing time during the fourth quarter. The NFL’s scoring frenzy stands in stark contrast to the common belief that defenses typically start the season before offenses. Not so this week, leading to record results.
