PTI - NFL Week 1 Reactions: Bills, Bears, and More

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

The host Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon analyzes the biggest storylines from the first week of the 2026 NFL season. The hosts also react to the college football upsets like Texas defeating Ohio State, and cover various sports headlines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Discover coffee plus on nispresso.com. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon. Yesterday was National Bald as beautiful day, Tony. When did you embrace your baldness? Tony Kornheiser, I still haven't. I fly to Turkey on Friday. Okay, you're not. You've been to Turkey, right?

Yes. It's beautiful, right? But they didn't put a whole new head of hair on you like they're gonna do to me. You don't do that. Just embrace it. Ryan Erlacher. August 1994, my last haircut.

Yeah. Brian Erlacher did that. I don't know if we went to Turkey. He looks great, and he wins his hair. No, I have to say he looked great for him. He looks great. He looks great. He looked great.

Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, The Chargers Flop. The Saints go for the win in Texas, tops Ohio State. But we begin today with the first full Sunday of the NFL and the team with the most impressive win yesterday. And the candidates, Wilbon, are your bears, scoring 59 on the road to beat Carolina, 5937. Yes, sir. Bill's going on the road in Houston and scoring 36 points against what was the best.

defense and football last year. Baltimore also on the road, putting 41 points on Indianapolis and the Bengals at home, recovering four fumbles, outlasting Tampa Bay 3327, so Wilbon, who had the most impressive win? This is going to be surprisingly easy for me. You'll be stunned.

And look, the Bears, I'm still trying to figure out what the hell that is. They're aliens. We don't do that. We have three yards in a cloud of dust for 107 years. We don't know what to make of what we saw 59.4. points yesterday. And Ben Johnson, by the way, starting the season by saying, we're going to

outscore everybody. And then he did it. He did it. Okay? That's nice. I'm happy. No, the answer is Josh Allen. The answer is the Buffalo bills because they went to Houston and they understood what was at stake. Josh Allen, 0 and 4 at Houston as a starting quarterback. One in four against it. But 0 and 4 most importantly in Houston. Toney, really impressed with Josh Allen to throw it and run it and lead. And he's in that sweet spot of his career. and it may be the spot in his career. This may be the time. If Josh Allen can stay healthy all season,

it may be his time, and we may go back to yesterday's opener and say, aha. I'm going to get to Josh Allen. I'm going to agree with you, but I'm just going to start by saying, I'm surprised you didn't go with the bears. 59 points.

In your lifetime, take away the Jim McMahon year, okay? Take that away. Most of the time, it took Chicago three games to score 59 points. The last three openers, a total of 30. Okay. 30. So this is eye-popping. 59 is eye-popping.

I agree with you that it's Buffalo. I did not think they would win that game. I think this is a great win. Now, where we were both wrong is in our insistence that defense was ahead of the offense at the beginning of the season because it wasn't yesterday. Let me give you some numbers on Josh Allen. Buffalo comes into that game against the team that last year allowed 17.3 points.

a game. Never allowed more than 30, Buffalo gets 36. Last year, Houston never allowed a quarterback to get 300 yards. Josh Allen got a low 334 yards. And last year, when they played, they sacked him eight different times. Every time it looked like Houston was going to win, and Stroud was good until the end when there was sack problems. Back-to-back sacks. Yeah, that was bad at the end.

But it looked like they were going to win, and then Josh Allen got the ball. That thing that he threw, let me get the name right, Joshua, palm of the slant. Yeah. That was a rifle. That was a fantastic pass. So he looked really good. Neither of us thought they were going to win that game.

And I don't even want to say what happened to use him. He leaves Chicago with a night and room for him now. And he looks like a guy who could be Josh Allen's ace. I don't want this to go without a mention of Baltimore. Because Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry are excellent players. They scored 41 points in Indianapolis against the team that with Daniel Jones is quite a good team. Yeah, but he needs some time, Daniel Jones.

I understand, but they're not a walkover situation. No. And so they're very good. I looked at their schedule. I think it's possible they will be 6 and 0 when they go to Cincinnati in a division game on October 25th. That's a game. That's a game we are going to want to see. That's a big game.

It was good to see Lamar Jackson look like Lamar Jackson. That's right. Because most of last year, he did not. We will get to this later. That may be a coaching change that helps both teams. Baltimore? and the giant. That's right.

That's right. Well, let's move from Sunday's highs to Sunday's lows. The Cowboys supposedly powerful offense sputtered while the Giants pounded Dallas's alleged revamped defense. The Chargers and new OC, Mike McDaniel, had no answers

for the Cardinals, and the Packers had a 12-point second-half lead over the Vikes morphed to a 17-point loss. Tony, which was the most deflating defeat? I'm going to get to that. I just want to mention two other teams that had bad defeats. They don't rise to this level because they're not great teams on any level, but they are worth noting. Who?

The Cleveland Browns. The Cleveland Browns are down 34 to 3 in the fourth quarter. And for those people who think that Deshaun Watson is on the right road, you need to reevaluate. This is not very good. If you think that's a bad loss, and it is, I have a worse loss. In Robert Salas' first game as head coach of the Tennessee Titans at home, He loses to the Jets, the team that fired him because he couldn't win any games when he was there. And he loses at home to them.

At home. At home. And that in the fourth quarter is 23-3. But you know what? You're mentioning teams that should be relegated. Okay. I said. In the Premier League, they don't rise.

They don't. They don't rise to. Cleveland has to be relegated and it looks like Tennessee has to be relegated. The worst loss for me is the Chargers. That is the worst loss. That is the worst loss because although you think Arizona is good, Arizona last year was three and 14. They fired their coach.

They exiled their quarterback. The Chargers were a playoff team. They were. The Chargers eagerly anticipating the joining of Mike McDaniel, an offensive coordinator, and Justin Herbert, falls flat, totally flat. They try to rush the ball 21 times. They get only 81 yards rushing.

You like to say, and you've said for years, that the Chargers take a nap during games. They didn't take a nap. They didn't take a nap. They fell asleep before the game, and they slept through the game. They slept through the game. You know, Tony, it was a curious loss, but you know, because I reminded you yesterday,

I think the Cardinals would be pretty good. Yes. Which is another reason that the Rams are not going to be what people think they are slurping them, and we'll get back to that later. But the answer is the Packers. And it would get so much joy. The Daily Double for me is Bears 59 points. Packers look like hot garbage.

Yeah, yeah. Because Michael Parsons, since he's gone out, they haven't won. They've lost six straight games, two of those to the Bears. Six in a row. Six straight, the Packers. And they're in Minnesota. Minnesota has no quarterback because their quarterback, Kyler Murray, is concussed. Goes out like he goes.

He goes blue tent locker room after the fencers pose. And they are led by a guy who has been discarded by half the teams in the league. Carson Wentz. Yes. By the way, I'm so happy that J.J. McCarthy is now going to rise up to be the backup quarterback in his hometown against the Bears. Sunday, I do. But Tony, the Packers, what are they doing? So they're going to tie themselves

to Michael Parsons in a way that suggests he's their only player? I don't know. I mean, the Vikings who looked inept at the beginning of the game. They did. The last 29 points of the game. Come on. And let's go backwards a little bit. The Packers at one point last year were 9, 3 and 1.

And Jordan Love was getting MVP talk from you among others. No, no, no, no, no. I don't believe in him as MVP. I don't. They've now lost six in a row. Are we Are we sure about Matt LaFleure? Are we sure? Six in a row. I'll tell you what. Including a playoff game. A couple more losses like that this season, we won't be sure.

Let's stay with the NFL and isolate on one game and one decision inside that game. This is Detroit hosting New Orleans. Detroit was up 21-0, but the Saints kept scoring. The game went into overtime tied at 24-24 because the Saints missed a 62-yard field goal attempt at the buzzer of regulation. Detroit quickly scored a touchdown, kicked the point for 3124. The Saints then scored a touchdown with 134 to go and opted to go for two and the win. The play failed, New Orleans lost.

Wilbon, did the Saints do the right thing? Yes, absolutely. You don't want a minute and change left to give the ball to Detroit at home where now you can kick a 60-yard field goal as you talked about. You might have to go 25 yards and you're in field goal position.

No, no, you're the Saints. There's no expectations of you outside your own huddle. And nobody's going to criticize you for boldly going for it. I'm not. And you know in real time, I was saying to you on the phone because we were talking to you. I'm going to get to this. Okay.

I'm going to get to this. And I was, oh my God, the only thing better than the Packers losing and the Bears scoring 59 would be Detroit. Would be Detroit losing and the Packers losing and the Bears getting 59. So I will tell people that at that moment you and I are on the phone. And you say immediately, I like this call to go for two. Your exact quote is, it's the Saints. What do they have to lose? Now, I agree with you.

I think you go to win the game. in that circumstance. Had they won that game? We would not be debating what's the worst loss. No, we would know. Because Detroit would be the worst loss. And not only then, because then on Thursday night at Buffalo this week, they'd be looking at 0 and 2

and they'd be looking at changes up and down in the organization. So for the second time in two weeks or two and a half weeks, Michigan football team gets lucky, avoids catastrophe. Wow. Don't have to put a second back on the clock but avoids catastrophe. The only thing that's sad in me was it was a bad play.

This guy, I call a better play. This guy shun the football. Tyler Shuck played well. He played, I don't know who he is. 410 yards in here. Last year, I found this out today. Five and four is their starter. Everybody else, one and six.

So maybe the same team. I mean, look, in the division, where we don't know, Carolina gave a 59. Should have gone to him earlier. Tampa had like 100 fumbles. Maybe New Orleans. Atlanta didn't look any good? They were 6 and 11, so the other team was 1 in 7 or something like that? Other quarterback. Good for him.

Let's take a break. Coming up, should we look at Saturday as a Texas comeback or an Ohio State collapse? What does Miles Garris injury mean for the Rams? The undefeated, unscored upon double-digit win every game Rams, according to certain people at this network. Yeah, I don't want to overreact, but I don't think that's going to happen. I think that's out of play. Yeah. I don't think we have to talk about them that much in the next few weeks?

I don't think so. How about them? Are you going to talk about them? No, I don't think we have to. Are you sure? Other shows lead with it. We. Oh, I don't think we.

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Continue toward you've arrived. Adventure and comfort with Volvo. Whether you prefer gas, plug-in hybrid, or fully electric, there's a Volvo for everyone. Learn more at VolvoCars.com. I like that phrase. Give them the pond. Let me get the first one here.

Here we go. Number four, Texas came back to beat number one Ohio State Saturday night. Did Texas win this or did Ohio State lose it? Texas won a game. They're down 23 to 3. I can think of a person, oh, wait a minute, sitting right here who signed off on that bad boy

and thought it 23 to 3 that Texas was going to get trounced. Oh, I'll get to that. Okay. I'll give you the score I thought it was going to be. Oh, wow. Okay. I'm sitting there watching the whole thing. And Tony, like a lot of people, I'm waiting on Archmanning.

Like, what am I going to see? Have we wronged this kid by putting way too much in the way of expectations on him? And then, boom, he played. And he played great. He played great late. All right? And so, no, Texas came back and won that game. And good for them to be ranked number one.

deserve it. They've earned it. I don't know about Ohio State. I got Big Ten questions because Big Ten had a dreadful day, but Texas won that game. I'll give you time to get to the Big Ten. I was stunned that Texas I know you were. I thought at the end of the first half that they were going to

lose 40 to 10. I did. Because Arch Manning was putting the ball in the hands of receivers and they were not catching the ball. Afterwards, the way that they came back, here's where we're going to I'm not saying Texas didn't win.

I'm saying Ohio State gagged. They gagged. And this is the third loss in their last four games. Now, to good teams, to Indiana, to Miami, which went to the finals of the championship last year. And obviously to Texas. But they had a record prior to this, 47-1 when leading by 20 or more after three quarters. I'm going to give you a chance to go with the Big Ten because I would say to you. They're at Texas.

I don't think this is the worst loss of the day. I think Oregon is the worst loss of the day. Oh, there's no question about it. Oregon. See, Texas is the number four team in the country. Oregon lost to a team Oklahoma State that was one in 11 last year and didn't beat a D1 team. Oh, and more importantly, Oregon beat them. 593. Yes.

593 last year. So what is going on at Oregon? They should be 0.1. And by the way, if they're only 2, we wouldn't be talking about them being in the picture for any You want to go to your big 10? Yeah, real quickly. Because they're barking like dogs. Ohio State, Oregon, Illinois, Minnesota, Rutgers, Purdue, all lost.

Non-conference games. Rutgers again. They're all lost. And Washington barely held on to be like Utah Mining College or something. It was a bad, bad, bad day for the conference. Are we saying 69 to 3 or 59 to 3? I thought it was 69 to 3. Yeah.

Come on now. That's terrible. That's bad. Rutgers lost again. Again, BC. Rutgers is not. They're in the Big Ten. No, they're not.

No, I don't acknowledge them. Oh, okay, you don't. I don't acknowledge the Big Nine. Come on, man. Okay. Big 17. What does Miles Garrett's injury mean for the Rams?

All right, so he's got to be out at least four games. He cannot come back until week six. Right. Right? Until week six. Let me give you the Rams' schedule

in the next four games that he's going to miss. Home Giants, okay. At Denver, at Philly, home Buffalo. they could go one in three on that. So he could come back when he comes back at one and four for the Rams.

Now, is Aaron Donald going to play in these games? Who knows? I don't know. You know, is Matthew Stafford going to get younger as these games go on? I don't know. So what I said to you earlier and what I said to you yesterday, when I said to you on the podcast this morning, was I don't think we have to talk

about the Rams and the Cowboys for a few weeks. The Cowboys loss is worse than the Rams' loss, and here's why. The Rams lost to a lot. a really good team. But the Rams, according to everybody at this network, is going undefeated, unscored upon, and going to win every game by 10. The Rams lost to a really good team in a really weird place, Australia.

Okay. And the Giants were four and 13 last year. Okay, but the Giants are revamped. They got a coach. They got young talents of players. This, that's a really big win for John Harbaugh. A really big one. Let's go back to the Rams for a second.

Okay. Since they were concerned. a championship by multiple networks. But not here. Not on this show. No, not here. But anywhere else you look, they were conceded a championship with a 38-year-old quarterback, who, by the way, Hall of Fame.

He's great. Give him a yellow jacket right now. We're not going to question Matthew Stafford's greatness. I'm a question it at 38. Not everybody's Tom, Brady, and LeBron James. So I'm looking at the Rams going, wait, hold on now. Aaron Donald is a whisper. We don't know.

He's a workout video. Wait, wait. How about them cowboys? You must be ecstatic. I am. They lost it. I am. Right?

You hate whether they're in. I'm happier that the Rams lost. I am. Because people have made these stupid declarations about how great they're going to be and conceded a Super Bowl to them. Yeah, that was a mistake. What?

Well, we don't know if it's a mistake because there's 16 more games, but it appears to be a mistake at the moment. Not female. Let's take one last break. Come. Steve Ballmer, your boy, throws in the towel on fighting the NBA. And what's most intriguing about tonight's matchup between the Bronx and the chefs? I was really, I have to say, I was really impressed by the Giants, by Scataboo, Dart, those guys? Impressed. Can Scataboo and Dart stay healthy for more than three games each?

Not if you're doing backflips all the time. You can land on your head at some point. It's impressive right now. Yes, early on. It's great. Great New York weekend. Yeah, yeah. It's great. And what better way than with a delicious Pratt organic coffee? Starting with just $1 all day, every day now until December 31st. You gotta try breakfast. At participating A&W locations in Ontario. When you're a mid-sized business, you need every competitive advantage you can get.

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at North Carolina for Frank McGuire and then Dean Smith. Pretty good. Ground then played on the United States gold medal basketball team in 1964. He was a three-time assist leader in the ABA and was on the ABA champion Oakland Oaks in 1969. As a college coach, Brown reached the NCAA

at UCLA, and he won it at Kansas. As a pro coach, he was three-time coach of the year in the NBA, NBA coach of the year in 2001 with Philadelphia. And then Brown's Detroit Pistons won the NBA title in 2004, making him the only coach to win both the college and pro championships. Brown is in both the college and pro basketball halls of fame, and he coached the United States to a bronze medal in 2004 Olympics.

Because of your lifelong, relationship with Larry Brown. I'm grateful to have inherited a relationship with Larry Brown. And just to be around him so much and have so much basketball seep to your head, I should have a degree from Larry Brown University on the wall in my house. He knows more than everybody. Yes. And he has coached more people than anybody ever. So great. Everybody. It's so great to be around Larry Brown. A not-so-happy anniversary of Philadelphia Eagles. Around this day, 39 years ago, on a fourth and 12, the Eagles completed a fake punt for a 37-yard gain and a first down.

Except William Frizzell was caught stepping in from the sidelines just prior to the snap, which explained why he was so open. On the ensuing fourth and 27, the Eagles attempted yet another fake punt. They were stopped far short of the first down. Punter Don Telchick,

who had a green light for the first fake, presumed the fake was still on since he hadn't seen the sign to call it off. Well, the Eagles coach, your boy, Buddy Ryan, termed it, quote, a fiasco and said, quote, hell no, I didn't think the run was still on. I didn't understand it either, unquote. Washington won the game that later went on to win the Super Bowl.

We could do an anniversary every day on the Buddy Ryan, Joe Gibbs, Eagles, Redskins, Wars. Body bag games. You were at this game, weren't you? Yeah, I believe I was at this one. But it's not the, you know, I was at a lot of them. The body bag game meant more to the Washington franchise. Happy Trails to the Clippers threat to start. sue the NBA. Team owner Steve Ballmer issued a statement last night saying that he accepts the

NBA's penalties over the Kauai Leonard Capp circumvention case, though he still disagrees with the findings. This is a big shift from the team's first statement in which it vehemently rejected the findings and said it would vigorously challenge them through every avenue available. Balmer is also facing a civil lawsuit and a federal investigation. Balmer's capitulation came the night before today's NBA Board of Governors meeting, and today the team's trade of Kauai Leonard to the Raptors reportedly went through, netting the clippers, two unprotected first-rounders to help compensate for the five they had rescinded. I hate to give our brother Don credit, but he said the day this happened,

Balmer will scream and shout for two days and then back down, which he did. But in the meantime, do you realize how many number one picks have gone back and forth over Kauai Leonard in his career? going to say this. There's no reasonable human being who does not believe that Kauai Leonard knew all of this. Knew all of it. Let's go to the big finish. Let's do it. Alexander Zverev and

Lena Rabakana won the U.S. Open Your Impressions. They beat worthy opponents. Multiple worthy opponents to win this championship. Yankee starter Cam Schlittler has allowed one or no runs in seven straight starts. That's old school. That's great.

Come on. That's absolutely good. Team USA beat France to win the women's world Cup of basketball. Are you impressed? Yeah. They had to go against, I mean, Spain and France back to get out of that thing is impressive. Vlad Jr. finally homered at home. Significant? He's making $40 million. He had no home runs in Toronto this year. Amazing. Nine overall. If he has a good week, they can make the playoffs. He just needs one good week. That's a lot of money for that amount of home runs. Last one, Broncos Chiefs tonight. What intrigued you. Quarterbacks. Those guys were hurt at some point or all

points last year. Mahomes first and foremost. Nick's got hurt. Otherwise, I think Denver would have been in the Super Bowl. You're right to see them both. Who do you like them? Denver's defense? We're out of time. We'll try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Corn. I'm Mike Robbins. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads. And now, he's Scott Van Pelt and the Monday Night Countdown crew. We're supposed to linger at this point. I haven't worked on this in a while. So I'm going to practice lingering right now. podcast series from ABC Audio in 2020 goes inside a case that has captivated the nation.

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