The 2025/26 NFL season is almost here, and, as ever, bettors will be parsing out their strategies on how they are going to beat the betting markets across the season.
There are some standout games in the early part of the season, with a few matchups in Week 1 looking like they could be repeated during the Playoffs in January.
While you can apply your strategies in many ways, from NFL player props betting to statistics-based spread betting, we wanted to do something much simpler: predict every game of Week 1 with just one line of context.
We are going for a win-loss only, so you can read a bit further if you want to beat the spread, but we have put a few shocks in there, at the risk of looking a bit foolish after the games have ended.
Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles
The defending champs start the new season with a win, but it’s not as convincing as fans would like.
Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers
The Chiefs continue last season’s trend of narrowly winning, whereas the Chargers do enough to inspire some optimism.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons
The Buccaneers put down a marker to show that they could be dark horses throughout the season and make a strong bid for the Playoffs.
Cincinnati Bengals at Cleveland Browns
Joe Burrow puts on a show for the Bengals against a hapless Cleveland.
Miami Dolphins at Indianapolis Colts
The Colts win against the Dolphins, but they will be hard to come by this season.
Carolina Panthers at Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jags win a narrow one against the Panthers, but neither team shows enough to suggest that big things are on the horizon this season.
Las Vegas Raiders at New England Patriots
The Patriots show that they will easily improve on last season’s 4-13 and that there is hope for the Mike Vrabel era.
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Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints
The Cardinals teach a lesson to the sorry Saints, who will be in for a long, hard season.
Pittsburgh Steelers at New York Jets
Aaron Rodgers shows the Jets what they could have had last season, but the Rodgers bounce will be short-lived in Pittsburgh.
New York Giants at Washington Commanders
Jayden Daniels shows no signs of second-season syndrome as the Commanders pick up from where they left off last season.
Tennessee Titans at Denver Broncos
The Broncos show that they are true Playoff contenders by wiping the floor with Tennessee, and maybe, just maybe, there’s enough there to suggest they can overtake the Chiefs in the AFC West.
San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks
49ers look back to their best in one of the most fascinating games of the opening weekend, with a hard-fought win, but one that goes a long way to laying the ghosts of last season.
Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers
The Packers go over the Lions in one of the minor betting shocks of the weekend.
Houston Texans at Los Angeles Rams
Home advantage is enough for the Rams to beat the Texans in one of the closest matchups of the opening week.
Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills
In the battle of the betting favorites for the Super Bowl, home advantage gives the Bills a slight edge for victory, but this rivalry is only getting started.
Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears
The Bears finished off the first week of the NFL 2025/26 season with an upset victory over the Vikings, but we still don’t know either team’s direction of travel.