By Gus "Walk-Off" Fields
Week one of the NFL season didn't ease anybody in. It came out swinging.
The Chicago Bears put up 59 points in a 59-37 win over Carolina — the fourth-most in franchise history, according to ESPN, in a game that saw the two teams combine for 96 points, the most ever in a season opener. Coach Ben Johnson doubled down on the aggressive offensive approach that produced it, ESPN reported, signaling this wasn't a one-week fluke he plans to rein in.
It was that kind of Sunday all around. BBC Sport reported the Bears, Bills and Ravens all delivered record-breaking performances on a day that followed a Super Bowl-rematch opener and a game played in Australia to kick off the season.
Not everyone had a Sunday to remember. The Green Bay Packers, per ESPN, picked up right where last season's late-game collapses left off, blowing a big lead in a 39-22 loss to Minnesota — the kind of result that leaves a fan base with more questions than answers before September is even out.
And in New York, John Harbaugh got the kind of debut every new coach dreams of. His Giants beat the Cowboys in his first game in charge, and Harbaugh called it, for now, the biggest win of his tenure — Big Apple debut, big result, ESPN reported.
One week does not make a season. But after a Sunday like this, nobody's talking about small sample sizes. They're talking about what they just watched.
— Compiled from reporting by BBC Sport and ESPN.
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