Fantasy Football Week 1 Booms And Busts: Ravens, Bears Impress In Historic, High-scoring Start To 2026

If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed right now, I don’t blame you. The early Sunday window was a crazy batch of football, featuring pinball scoring and records tumbling. It’s hard to know where to start.

It’s nice to have Week 1 scoring for a change. Often the first week of the season turns into a gloried exhibition week, with sluggish offenses and low-scoring games. If you punched an under ticket on the 12 Sunday games from Week 1 last year, you went 11-1. An extreme example, but we’re trained to be cautious with opening expectations.

Lamar, Ravens begin comeback tour in Indy

It’s not easy to pick a lede with so many teams smashing, but the Baltimore offense impressed me the most. The Ravens cruised to a 41-23 victory at Indianapolis, and the offense was unstoppable. Baltimore rolled up 506 total yards, averaging almost 8.0 yards per play.

Remember, the Ravens were not a playoff team last year. But this season the dots might finally connect for this overdue franchise. Two-time MVP QB Lamar Jackson is healthy again, and he looks comfortable running the offense schemed by hotshot OC Declan Doyle. Baltimore kept cranking out chunk plays against an overmatched Indianapolis defense.

Jackson was lethal as a passer (17-for-25, 324 yards, 13.0 YPA) and handy as a runner (7-40-1, including a designed five-yard touchdown run). Derrick Henry doesn’t show any signs of slowing down (163 total yards, three touchdowns). And Zay Flowers put on a first-half clinic (5-150-1) before a hamstring injury pushed him to the sidelines. Hopefully Flowers isn’t hurt long-term, because he has monster season written all over him.

Maybe some of the ancillary pieces can pay off, too. Mark Andrews was useful (4-49-0, six targets) on a day when some other tight ends busted. Ja’Kobi Lane had a touchdown catch wiped out by penalty, and later suffered a wrist injury. He could be relevant as a rookie.

The best thing about this offense is that Jackson is healthy again, and confident in Doyle’s offense. Every year Jackson has played a full season, the Ravens have been an elite offense. Jackson’s injuries were the main story when things collapsed in 2022 and 2025. Baltimore looks like the overwhelming favorite to win the AFC North, a team fantasy managers can count on. Next week’s home opener against the Saints should be fun.

Ben Johnson’s quest for top offense ever starts fast

Speaking of fun, how about that Chicago carnival? The Bears, it turns out, were who we thought they were. Loaded offense, leaky defense, a bonanza on all sides of the ball. Chicago outlasted Carolina, 59-37, in a game that, at times, felt too good to be true.

Ben Johnson knows his team will need to win high-scoring games to survive this year, so more pinball is on the way. Caleb Williams was outstanding (124.1 rating, four total touchdowns), posting 334 total yards and four overall touchdowns. D’Andre Swift (18-124-3) validated his fresh contract extension, and Kyle Monangai (10-100-1) added a 61-yard touchdown score, too. All the run plays were gashing the Panthers.

The down side to this was the receiving room. Somehow the Bears scored 59 points and eight offensive touchdowns without the Big 3 (Luther Burden III, Rome Odunze and Colston Loveland) joining the party. Burden caught all of his targets and returned a 5-63-0 line, good on some days, but disappointing in this kind of shootout. Odunze had one snappy 47-yard catch but just one other reception. And Loveland, everyone’s favorite breakout tight end (and I’m pointing at myself), went catchless on just two targets. Just to make it sting more, backup tight end Cole Kmet had a touchdown catch.

Although it’s possible Kalif Raymond (8-84-0) might be more useful in Chicago than initially expected, I’m going to give Burden, Odunze and Loveland a major pass for this result. The running game won’t always crush like it did Sunday. And the Chicago defense looks so bad, we can fully expect the Bears to play in a lot of shootouts.

Bryce Young had one of his best games, throwing for 361 yards and three touchdowns (9.8 YPA) on the other side. Sleeper WR Jalen Coker (8-138-2) found plenty of open spaces. When Young to Coker looks like Tom Brady to Randy Moss, you know something’s up. Chicago’s secondary is one of the worst in football.

This game, by the way, was the highest scoring Week 1 game ever and ties for the 12th-highest scoring game of all-time. The 2026 Chicago carnival, we are all witnesses. Buy your tickets for Week 2, when the Bears host the Vikings.

Other Fantasy Winners

Week 1 was also an obvious win for “Big Running Back.” Henry, Swift, Jahmyr Gibbs (186 total yards, two TDs), Bijan Robinson (173 total yards, TD), they’re no strangers to the leaderboard. Jonathan Taylor scored twice. Chase Brown scored.

But let’s give out daps to some of the secondary backs, the runners from the noxious “RB Dead Zone.” They were wide awake in the opener. David Montgomery only averaged three yards a carry, but he plunged in for two touchdowns and added a third on a reception. Chuba Hubbard, forever disrespected in Carolina, had a couple of scores. Bucky Irving had 93 total yards and a spike at Cincinnati.

Montgomery’s fantasy success is probably about opportunity over raw talent, given the stage of his career. But with Houston’s defense likely to control most outcomes — it didn’t stop Buffalo’s offense but it will stop other teams — Monty has a very safe path to touches. He handled 23 opportunities Sunday, compared to a modest 10 for Woody Marks. That ratio should make Montgomery a fantasy value.

Jonathon Brooks did have one highlight, a nifty 48-yard reception. But he was limited to 14 yards on his four carries, while Hubbard grinned out 49 yards on his 10 chances. Brooks still carries a fun upside, but he’s hardly played in the NFL after two ACL blowouts. The baton still rests with Hubbard.

The hate probably went too far on Irving all summer. The Tampa Bay offensive line is excellent, and Irving can play in multiple packages. Although the Bucs trailed throughout at Cincinnati, Irving added a 7-48-0 receiving day to his 8-45-1 log on the ground. It was odd to see Kenneth Gainwell targeted just once, but let’s not overlook how versatile Irving is. He could be a set-and-forget RB2.

Fantasy Losers

Even on a high-scoring slate like this one, some rain is going to fall. The Loveland zeroes were painful. And there were other players to miss the mark.

Cooper Rush was more mediocre than terrible at Pittsburgh, but no matter. They don’t throw parades for 143 passing yards and 6.5 YPA. He was sacked four times, picked twice. Drake London (2-29-0, four targets) and Kyle Pitts (0-0-0, one target) have had to deal with substandard QB play their entire careers, but Rush or Tua Tagovailoa looks like a new nadir to handle. Michael Penix Jr. shows no sign of being a great NFL player, but we still have to hope he can return soon. At least Carolina is a gettable draw next week.

I had high hopes for Tony Pollard this week, which put me on an island. I was pretty lonely come 4 p.m. ET. Pollard did fine with his opportunities (7-35-0) but there weren’t enough of them because QB Cam Ward (4.4 YPA) looked lost again. Wan’Dale Robinson and Carnell Tate both stalled out at 38 yards. This entire offense might stay on the restricted list until further notice. Remember, this horrible opener came against a Jets defense that no one is afraid of.

Nothing I can say about Ja’Marr Chase (2-12-0, 4 targets) will be satisfying. Variance is part of the game. It was surprising to see Joe Burrow get Mike Gesicki (5-78-1) so involved, and the Cincinnati target tree was much wider than expected. But it’s probably prudent to keep the Cincinnati passing game where you had it ranked, while mindful that next week’s game against Houston will be challenging.