NFL offenses narrowly missed setting a post-merger Week 1 scoring record during the opening slate of the 2026 season, averaging 50.0 points per game before a final Monday night matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos left the historical benchmark just out of reach.
Historic Scoring Surge Falls Short on Opening Weekend
NFL offenses came out hot in the 2026 season and just missed the record for the highest Week 1 scoring average since the AFL and NFL merged in 1970. According to The Athletic’s Jayna Bardahl, “Entering Monday’s Week 1 capper between the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs, teams have scored 750 points, for an average of 50.0 points per game. According to the NFL, if that average holds, it would surpass the 49.4 points per game scored in Week 1 in 2012. That week featured a total of 791 points, so the Broncos and Chiefs need a combined 42 points to set the record.”
The Broncos and Chiefs fell just short of that total with 41 points, as Patrick Mahomes and Co. defeated Bo Nix’s squad. As for the Week 1 offensive onslaught, Ben Johnson’s Chicago Bears led the way, beating the Carolina Panthers 59-37. Chicago had a whopping 552 yards of total offense, and the Panthers weren’t far behind with 478. Fireworks were not in short supply. In total, 11 of the 30 teams who played scored 30 or more points, while half of the league’s teams put up 25 or more points. Four games featured both teams in action scoring 25 or more points.
Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens Lead Offensive Onslaught
Ben Johnson knows his team will need to win high-scoring games to survive this year, so more pinball is on the way. Caleb Williams was outstanding with a 124.1 rating and four total touchdowns, posting 334 total yards and four overall touchdowns. D’Andre Swift rushed 18 times for 124 yards and three touchdowns, validating his fresh contract extension, and Kyle Monangai added 10 rushes for 100 yards and one score, including a 61-yard touchdown run. All the run plays were gashing the Panthers. The down side to this was the receiving room. Somehow the Bears scored 59 points and eight offensive touchdowns without the Big 3 consisting of Luther Burden III, Rome Odunze, and Colston Loveland joining the party. Ben Johnson’s quest for top offense ever started fast in a Chicago carnival where the Bears outlasted Carolina 59-37 in a game that, at times, felt too good to be true.
The Baltimore offense impressed deeply as the Ravens cruised to a 41-23 victory at Indianapolis, and the offense was unstoppable. Baltimore rolled up 506 total yards, averaging almost 8.0 yards per play. Two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson is healthy again, and he looks comfortable running the offense schemed by hotshot offensive coordinator Declan Doyle. Baltimore kept cranking out chunk plays against an overmatched Indianapolis defense. Jackson was lethal as a passer, going 17-for-25 for 324 yards with a 13.0 yards per attempt average, and handy as a runner with 7 carries for 40 yards and 1 touchdown, including a designed five-yard touchdown run. Derrick Henry doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, posting 163 total yards and three touchdowns. Zay Flowers put on a first-half clinic with 5 catches for 150 yards and 1 touchdown before a hamstring injury pushed him to the sidelines.
Coaching Debuts and Late-Game Collapses Across the AFC and NFC
The stunner of the week came in Los Angeles, where the Cardinals handled Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers, a trendy pick to go deep in the playoffs. The true shocker wasn’t that the Cards, whose projected win total entering the season was roughly four, pulled off the upset; it was that they controlled much of the tilt. New head coach Mike LaFleur showed a deft hand in deploying his array of weapons, keeping the Bolts defense off balance. The offensive line held up well, and Jacoby Brissett once again showed that he’s a professional quarterback who’s unafraid to attack, completing 6 of 9 passes for 113 yards with a plus-23.9 percent CPOE on throws over 10 air yards, per Next Gen Stats. The Cardinals defense, which is solid on paper but hasn’t been able to stay healthy in recent years, held Justin Herbert and the Mike McDaniel-led offense to 268 total yards and 17 first downs. The defense also forced two turnovers and gobbled up three sacks. Add in a blocked punt by the special teams, and it was a three-phase win in LaFleur’s first game.
The other LaFleur brother didn’t fare so well. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur watched a 12-point third-quarter lead disintegrate in Minnesota against backup Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz, who played the majority of the game after Kyler Murray suffered a concussion in the first half. From the moment Matt LaFleur took three points off the board in the fourth quarter to fall short on a fourth-and-1 play, the Packers crumbled. The offensive line completely fell apart in the face of Brian Flores’ relentless pressure, as Minnesota had a 78.3 percent blitz rate on Jordan Love dropbacks, the fourth-highest figure by a defense in a game since at least 2018, per Next Gen Stats. Love fumbled deep in his own territory and later threw an interception to cap off the fourth-quarter collapse.
“We’re gonna be aggressive and we’re gonna try to go for the throat in that situation,”
Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers Head Coach
They missed the throat and stabbed their own leg. Sunday’s flop was of the epic variety, as the Vikings scored 29 unanswered points and became the first team in NFL history to trail by 12-plus points with under 20 minutes left in regulation and win by 17-plus points, per NFL Research. Speaking of Minnesota, Wentz proved Kevin O’Connell made the correct call in naming him the backup over J.J. McCarthy, playing well enough in Kevin O’Connell’s offense to move the ball.
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