We've made it, folks. Week 1 of the 2026 NFL Season begins today, and it's been a long time coming. The offseaeson is now officially over, and real football is back. For many teams across the league, there are legitimate playoff aspirations present.
However, for other squads, playoffs are a long way away, as a rebuilding phase is either underway or very likely on the horizon. With that said, there is a good bit of parity present in the NFL right now, so most games should be competitive.
And as we saw last year, the playoffs were simply not entirely what many of us expected, so the 2026 season could bring more of the same unlikely scenarios that play out as the season progresses. As we did last year, let's get into our weekly installments of teams guaranteed to win and lose. We'll start with the losers first.
These four teams are guaranteed to lose in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL Season
New England Patriots (@ Seattle Seahawks)
This might be one of the more bold predictions I have here, but the Super Bowl was not a fluke and I believe really showed the true skill of each team. The Seattle Seahawks may still be the best team in the NFL right now, and are top-3 at worst.
As for the New England Patriots, while they did win 14 regular season games last year, they also took advantage of an incredibly easy schedule, and quarterback Drake Maye's playoff statistics really trouble you, as they came against tough competition:
58.3 percent completion
6 touchdowns
4 interceptions
82.2 passer rating
21 sacks
Maye just wasn't good in the playoffs despite the Patriots winning three of four games. I am not sure Maye is all of a sudden going to play elite football against top competition this year, either, and with this game being in Seattle, it would shock me if the Patriots hung around for very long in this game.
The Seahawks, while losing talent in the offseason, still have a more talented squad than the Patriots and obviously have a major home-field advantage. Sure, this game could always be close, as most in the NFL typically are, but this is going to be too heavy a lift for New England.
Seattle wins this game and gets the 2026 season started off on the right foot. For what it's worth, though, the Patriots began the 2025 season 1-2, so another potentially slow start would be far from the end of the world.
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