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The days of rookie quarterbacks waiting their turns before taking over teams is long gone. For the third time in four years there will be three rookie quarterbacks starting the season opener.
No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams got the nod for Chicago, No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels for Washington and No. 12 pick Bo Nix for Denver, meaning half of the record-tying six QBs selected in the first round in April became immediate starters.
That follows Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson and Mac Jones in 2021, and Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson last season as years with three rookie QBs starting in Week 1. It happened only once before since the 1970 merger, with five rookie quarterbacks starting the season opener in 2012.
After this week, 32 of the 55 rookie quarterbacks to start the opener will have done it in the past 19 seasons, with only 23 doing it in the first 38 years following the AFL-NFL merger.
The rookie QBs have a 16-35-1 record in openers, including a 0-7-1 mark the past five seasons. The last rookie QB to win a Week 1 start was Sam Darnold for the New York Jets against Detroit in 2018.
Williams will try to become the first No. 1 overall quarterback pick to win a season opener as a rookie since David Carr did it for the expansion Houston Texans in 2002 against Dallas. No. 1 pick QBs are 0-8-1 in Week 1 since then, with Kyler Murray getting the tie for Arizona in 2019.
The only other No. 1 pick QBs to win an opener as a rookie were Jim Plunkett for New England in 1971 and John Elway for Denver in 1983.
Williams also will aim this season to give the Bears something the franchise has never had in its storied history — a 4,000-yard passer.
Chicago is the only franchise without a player to throw for at least 4,000 yards in a season. Erik Kramer’s 3,838 yards in 1995 stand as the Bears’ single-season record.
Twenty-eight of the other teams have had at least one 4,000-yard passer in the past 13 seasons as the 17th game and a pass-happy era have made reaching that milestone more routine. Of the 227 4,000-yard seasons in history, 189 (more than 83%) have come since 2000.
The only other franchises without a 4,000-yard passer since 2011 are the Titans, who last did it in 1991 with Warren Moon when they were known as the Houston Oilers, the Browns (Brian Sipe, 1980) and the Jets (Joe Namath, 1967).
Revolving door
Daniels will be the eighth different Week 1 starting QB for Washington in the past eight seasons, setting a record for the Super Bowl era.
Indianapolis’ streak of seven Week 1 starters in seven seasons will end with Richardson set to get the nod for a second straight year. The Commanders hope Daniels will bring an end to their streak that started with Kirk Cousins in 2017, followed by Alex Smith, Case Keenum, Dwayne Haskins, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Carson Wentz and Sam Howell.
The only other teams to do it seven years in a row were Cleveland (2013-19), Baltimore (1997-2003) and the Chargers (1987-93).
Week 1 fixture
Matthew Stafford has never sat out an opener in his career and is scheduled to make his 16th Week 1 start in 16 seasons when the Los Angeles Rams face Detroit on Sunday night.
The only other QB to start the opener in his first 16 seasons since starts began being tracked in 1950 was John Elway. Only two other QBs made more than 16 straight starts in openers at any point in their career, with Brett Favre doing it 18 straight years from 1993-2010 and Fran Tarkenton for 17 straight years from 1962-78.
Russell Wilson is set to make his 13th straight Week 1 start when Pittsburgh plays Atlanta, which would tie Peyton Manning and Warren Moon for the fifth-longest streak.
Division doings
Teams going from last to first in the division are far from rare in the NFL. Houston pulled off the feat last season, marking the 19th time in the past 21 seasons that at least one team did it.
The teams looking to go from the worst record in a division to champion this season are New England, Cincinnati, Tennessee, the Chargers, Washington, Carolina, Arizona, Minnesota and Chicago.
Kansas City heads into the season having won eight straight AFC West titles — three shy of the record set by New England from 2009-19. The only other teams to repeat as division champs headed into this season are Buffalo (four straight), Tampa Bay (three straight) and San Francisco (two straight).
The NFC East hasn’t had a repeat division champion in two decades, with Philadelphia the last to do it from 2001-04. Dallas will try to end that streak this season after finishing first a year ago.
Opening thoughts
Coach Jim Harbaugh is back in the NFL with the Los Angeles Chargers after a nine-year stint in college at Michigan, capped by a national championship last season.
Harbaugh’s .695 winning percentage in four seasons with San Francisco from 2011-14 ranks second best to John Madden among the 163 coaches with at least 50 games since the merger. Harbaugh will try to join Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer and Pete Carroll as the only coaches to win both a Super Bowl and a college championship; he lost the NFL title game to his brother John’s Ravens following the 2002 season.
Harbaugh is 4-0 in season openers and can tie Raymond Berry as the only coaches to be 5-0 or better in season openers. Berry won all five in New England from 1985-89.
As for current streaks, the Saints come into the year having won five straight openers for the longest active run. Tennessee and New England have both lost three straight openers for the longest current droughts.