Week 1 is upon us, and it's now time to take a deeper look into the first games of the 2026 NFL Season. With how much parity currently exists in the NFL, most games should be competitive.
I'd also say that it's much more sustainable for teams to win close games than by blowout margins. Even the best teams in the NFL can't always beat their opponents by double-digits, and when that type of result happens in the NFL, something major went wrong for the losing side.
As we did weekly last year, we've taken a look at teams we believe are guaranteed to win and lose. Let's get into this exercise for teams we believe are guaranteed to win in Week 1 of the 2026 season.
These four teams are guaranteed to win in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL Season
Detroit Lions (vs. New Orleans Saints)
The Detroit Lions are going to be a handful this year. In 2025, the Lions were off to another great start - they were 7-4 and right in the mix for the NFC North title, which could have been their third-straight divisional win. However, the Lions collapsed down the stretch and finished with just nine wins.
With that said, they have a winning record in each of the last four seasons and have ranked 5th, 5th, 1st, and 4th in points scored per game during that four-year period. While their defense hasn't played as well, this team continues to stack wins.
The New Orleans Saints are in Detroit for this one and do have a lot going for them, but it's pretty obvious that the Saints just aren't really close to the Lions right now. While New Orleans won just three fewer games than the Lions last year, the Saints still have a largely unproven quarterback in Tyler Shough and just do not have the raw roster talent to pull off an upset here.
I do believe the Saints will end up being better than people think in 2026, and I'd not be shocked if they ended up winning the weaker NFC South, but defeating the Lions at home is no easy task. While you could fairly have questions about the Detroit defense, that unit will be enough to contain the Saints' upstart offense.
And with how explosive Detroit's offense is, especially at home, a Lions' victory feels very likely here, as Dan Campbell's squad surely seeks to win the NFC North for the third time in four seasons.
Add us as a preferred source on Google