The 2025 NFL season has officially begun, kicking off in Philadelphia on Thursday, September 4th, with the Eagles facing the Cowboys. This season marks a dramatic break from the previous dynastic runs, with 13 teams entering the year with new head coaches or quarterbacks, defining it as a huge era of transition.
The Eagles-Cowboys game saw the ejection of Jalen Carter prior to kickoff, one of Philadelphia’s top defensive players, after spitting on Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott. The game also featured a very lengthy delay towards the middle due to lightning. The Super Bowl LIX champions took the win 24-20, a much closer game than many were expecting.
“I thought it was a really great close score game,” said Cash Beery, a senior at CHS. Beery also points out the stellar performance from Jalen Hurts. “[He] had a great game with 2 rushing touchdowns and 152 passing yards.”
In the Friday Night game, which took place in Brazil, the Los Angeles Chargers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, who fell short at the Super Bowl last year. On top of that, Aaron Rodgers made his debut as a Pittsburgh Steeler and went against his old team this week, the New York Jets, who released him after the 2024 season. He would face Justin Fields, who went from Pittsburgh to the Jets this offseason and the two essentially ended up switching places. In the end, Rodgers came out on top and the Steelers started the season 1-0.
“The Steelers vs. Jets game was absolutely electric, and I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better matchup,” said Bereket Walgren, a lifelong Steelers fan and student at CHS. “Both quarterbacks played incredibly well against their former teams, but I’m still happy my Pittsburgh Steelers could take the win in the end.”
The Sunday night game featured what could go down as the game of the season, featuring a matchup between the last two MVP winners, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. Down 15 points with 4 minutes remaining in the game, it seemed impossible for Buffalo to mount a comeback. They were able to force a fumble with Derrick Henry and get the ball back, where they were able to complete a miraculous win. It was the first time in NFL history where a team came back from a 15 point deficit with less than 5 minutes left to play. Prior to this game, teams that were in this exact situation were 0-717, making what happened an almost complete impossibility.
The week ended on another exciting note in the Monday Night game between division rivals, the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings. Rookie QB J.J. McCarthy made his debut after missing all of last season with a serious injury. McCarthy struggled to generate any offense through the first three quarters, but impressively rallied his team to score four touchdowns in the last quarter to lead his team to an incredible come-from-behind win. McCarthy was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week.
In Week 2, Kansas City faced a Super Bowl LIX rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles, and started the season 0-2. QB Patrick Mahomes hasn’t started a season 0-2 in his entire football career, and the last time the Chiefs lost the first two games of the season was back in 2014.
Joe Burrow is expected to be out for a minimum of 3 months after a toe injury in the first half took him out of the game. Despite throwing three interceptions, backup Jake Browning was able to lead Cincinnati to a victory against the Jaguars. It is currently unclear when Burrow will return.
One of the most exciting games of Week 2 was the division matchup of the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys, which was a high scoring shootout where both teams combined scoring 77 points. After 5 lead changes in the 4th quarter alone, it became clear that whoever possessed the ball last would win the game. The Cowboys seemed to have won it, after scoring the go-ahead touchdown to George Pickens which left the Giants with 54 seconds in the game. Russell Wilson quickly answered after he threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to Malik Nabers, then leaving only 25 seconds for Dallas to take the lead back. Brandon Aubrey, the kicker for Dallas, was able to kick a 64-yard field goal, bringing the game to overtime. Both teams fought all throughout overtime, but it came down to Aubrey once again, who sealed the win with a 46-yard field goal as time expired.
Now that the first two weeks of the NFL season are underway, the rest of the season lies ahead, with every team chasing the same goal: the Super Bowl.
