The Seahawks are alone atop the NFC West after Week 1’s stunning results

Bet that’s not a headline anyone thought they’d see today.

How did we get here?

Game 1: Thursday Night

The defending Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams got thoroughly depantsed by the Buffalo Bills in their home stadium, in primetime, on Thursday Night Football, 31-10.

It. Was. Glorious.

Matthew Stafford finished that game 29 of 41 for 240 yards with 1 touchdown - which sounds alright, but he also threw 3 interceptions and was sacked 7 times (for 49 yards). Stafford’s quarterback rating was 63.0 and his QBR was 20.9.

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Opposite him, Josh Allen was 26 of 31 for 297 yards with 3 TDs and while he tossed 2 INTs of his own, Allen was only sacked twice (for a mere 5 yards) and finished the game with a QBR of 89.9 and a quarterback rating of 112.0.

On the ground, Buffalo had 121 yards on 25 carries (4.8 average) with a touchdown whereas the FTRs had only 52 yards on 18 carries (2.9 average) with no TDs.

Somewhat miraculously, the game was knotted at 10 at halftime.

Then the Bills pulled away.

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Game 2: Sunday Morning

In a game that was every bit as ugly as the field it was played on, the San Francisco 49ers, who were 7-point favorites, went to Soldier Field to face the Chicago Bears and left on the wrong end of a 19-10 score.

Unsurprisingly, Trey Lance showed his inexperience, completing a mere 13 of 28 passes (46.4%) for 164 yards (5.9 average) with no TDs, 1 INT, and a passer rating of 50.3.

Not that fellow 2021 first-round draftee, Justin Fields, was that much better.

Fields was 3 of 9 for 19 yards in the first half.

With an interception.

San Francisco led by 7 at the break, added a field goal on their first possession of the second half, and then ... completely disintegrated.

• 6 plays, 21 yards, PUNT
• 6 plays, 16 yards, INTERCEPTION
• 12 plays, 36 yards, DOWNS
• 4 plays, 1 yard, DOWNS

Meanwhile, Justin Fields found his moxie and led 3 straight touchdown drives coming out of the break, the first of which ended with a 51-yard touchdown catch by former-Husky -slash- former-Niner, Dante Pettis.

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

San Francisco’s ground game sort of kept them in it with Niners amassing 176 yards and the team’s lone touchdown on a robust 37 rushes.

However, 22 of those carries, 113 of the yards, and the aforementioned touchdown came from the non-RB triumvirate of QB Trey Lance (13 carries, 54 yards), WR Deebo Samuel (8, 52), and WR Brandon Aiyuk (1, 7).

Elijah Mitchell had 41 yards on 6 carries but left the game with an injury. The Niners’ backup running back, Jeff Wilson, Jr., had 9 carries for 22 yards.

Bottom line: Ugly game, GREAT result!

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Game 3: Sunday Afternoon

The Arizona Cardinals drew the Kansas City Chiefs to open the season.

In and of itself, that’s pretty brutal.

Without DeAndre Hopkins, the Cardinals never had a chance.

I mean, sure, the Chiefs were only 4-point favorites at kickoff, but they raced out to a 14-zip lead, traded touchdowns with the Cardinals to make it 21-7 halfway through the second quarter, and then ...

... methodically squeezed the life out of the Cardinals the rest of the way.

Believe it or not, the game wasn’t as close as the final score might indicate. And, yes, I’m saying that about a game that the Chiefs won by 23 points (44-21).

Note: The game was so out of reach for the Cardinals that CBS cut away to “a more competitive game” midway through the 3rd quarter, after the Cardinals had scored a touchdown.

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Even without the description of the game, the quarterback comparison would tell us all we need to know about this one:

• Patrick Mahomes: 30 of 39 (76.9%) for 360 yards (9.2 average) with 5 TDs and a passer rating of 144.2
• Kyler Murray: 22 of 34 (64.7%) for 193 yards (5.7 average) with 2 TDs and a passer rating of 99.3

It’s not that Murray had a bad game, it’s just that he wasn’t Patrick Mahomes.

Then again, who is?

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Game 4: Monday Night

As if the Seattle Seahawks needed more motivation and/or drama, what with their former franchise quarterback returning to Seattle for his first game in a former rival’s uniform ...

Seattle’s rivals had all embarrassed themselves in their Week 1 matchups, setting the stage for the Seahawks take an early lead in the division race with a win.

12s worldwide dared to dream.

And ...

Wow! Just WOW!

Geno Smith and Russell Wilson each ended the game with a solid stat line (and Geno’s was arguably better!):

• Geno: 23 of 28 (82.1%) for 195 yards with 2 TDs and a passer rating of 119.5
• RW3: 29 of 42 (69%) for 340 yards with 1 TD and a passer rating of 101.3

But the story of the game was Seattle’s defense.

Denver had a 1st and goal three times in the second half and Seattle’s defense held them to a mere 3 points! Three!!!

2 forced fumbles (with recoveries) and a field goal.

WoW!

It wouldn’t be a Seahawks game though without some epic heartburn and this game was no exception.

After holding Denver to a field goal that cut the Seahawks lead to 1 (17-16) with just over 6 minutes to play, the Seahawks offense went 3-and-out (for the first time all night), handing the ball back to Russell Wilson and the Broncos with 4 minutes to play.

And, as we all know (all too well), Wilson is really, really, REALLY good at engineering game-winning drives in the 4th quarter and overtime.

Not. Today.

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Bottom line

Week 1 is in the books and ...

(say it with me)

Seattle is in 1st place!