In many ways, the 2026 NFL season is defined by the one that preceded it: it’s the Year After the Weird Year.
2025 was marked by such unpredictability — the three-time defending AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs missed the playoffs entirely, while the two actual Super Bowl teams (Seattle and New England) were both below 2% to win before the season — that this year will revolve as much as anything else around which of those surprises represented genuine change, and which will simply regress away toward the established NFL order we thought we knew.
Take Wednesday’s Seahawks-Patriots season opener. The Seahawks won 13-10, but neither team went into the game any higher than 8% to win the championship, with Seattle checking in as a distant No. 2 in the NFC title odds even before QB Sam Darnold was injured, and New England arriving tied for sixth in the preseason AFC odds even before WR A.J. Brown was injured. (Yes, the game was marked by injuries as much as performances on the field.) That puts the pressure on both Big Game teams from a year ago to prove they can do it all over again — and they’re not the only ones with a lot to prove.