Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs have been fast starters to the NFL season.
The defending-champion Chiefs head into their opener Thursday night at home against Detroit having won eight straight regular-season openers, which is tied for the fifth longest streak of the Super Bowl era.
Kansas City last lost in Week 1 back in 2014 with Alex Smith at quarterback when they fell 26-10 to Tennessee in a game played before Mahomes had even made his college debut at Texas Tech.
They won the next three openers with Smith at QB and then all five since Mahomes became the starter, scoring at least 33 points in the last seven Week 1 games.
They have a long way to go to catch the longest streak ever as the Cowboys won 17 straight openers between 1965-81. The last team to win more than eight straight was the New England Patriots, who won 10 in a row from 2004-13.
Mahomes has been particularly sharp to start the season, throwing at least three TD passes in all five season-opening starts in his career for the longest streak ever. The only QBs to have more than five career Week 1 games with at least three TD passes are Tom Brady (nine), Dan Marino (seven) and Drew Brees (six).
In fact, only nine teams other than the Chiefs have had five Week 1 games with at least three TD passes in the last 20 seasons. The Bengals have the longest drought of that kind with none since Boomer Esiason did it in 1988.
On the other end of the Week 1 dominance is the Indianapolis Colts, who ended a eight-game losing streak in season openers with a 20-20 tie vs Houston last year. The only team that has a longer streak without winning a season opener in NFL history is the Browns, who went 0-16-1 from 2005-21 before beating Carolina 26-24 last year.
The Colts open the season at home against Jacksonville on Sunday.
QB SHUFFLE
Another season, another Week 1 starting QB in Washington and Indianapolis.
The Commanders and Colts are set to become the fourth and fifth teams in the Super Bowl era to have a different starting QB in seven straight season openers.
Sam Howell will join Kirk Cousins, Alex Smith, Case Keenum, Dwayne Haskins, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Carson Wentz to start in Week 1 for Washington since 2017.
Rookie Anthony Richardson follows Matt Ryan, Wentz, Philip Rivers, Jacoby Brissett, Andrew Luck and Scott Tolzien to do it in Indianapolis.
The only other teams with seven Week 1 starting QBs in seven seasons are Cleveland (2013-19), Baltimore (1997-2003) and Chargers (1987-93).
