Everyone knows Week 1 can be a liar. We’ve witnessed enough hot starts and rapid cooldowns over the years to take early results with a grain of salt.

Week 2 doesn’t always tell us the whole story, either. 

But something tells us that when it comes to these Kansas City Chiefs, we should probably believe them. 

Six days after their ground-pounding win over Denver last Monday, Kansas City made another grand statement on the prime-time stage with Sunday night’s 33-30 overtime victory against the Indianapolis Colts. It was the kind of win that makes it hard not to lean all the way into hyperbole — about Kenneth Walker’s franchise-altering presence to give this team the run game it so desperately needed; about Patrick Mahomes’ vintage performance and Travis Kelce turning back the clock; about the defence coming up clutch and Andy Reid’s masterful clock management; and about the mental games this team can play on the coach manning the opposite sideline, knowing better than to leave his opponent with so much time on the clock but being unable to stop it. 

Sunday night’s classic contest delivered all of it. Mahomes completed 32 of 47 passes for 382 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and one commanding game-winning drive to tee up Harrison Butker for the walk-off winner. Walker ran 24 times for 117 yards, then added 61 more on six catches. Kelce caught nine passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. (That Kansas City, at 2-0, now sits atop the AFC West alongside… the Raiders?… is a whole other kind of statement, thanks to Vegas’s victory over the Chargers earlier Sunday. Wild stuff!)

The Chiefs, of course, weren’t the only team making grand proclamations on the field Sunday night. Though the Colts came out on the losing end, we can confidently say this is a team that’s better than their 0-2 record. After a dismal start to the season, Daniel Jones & Co. were a worthy opponent that simply couldn’t take advantage of a lucky call in OT that overturned what looked like a sure Laquon Treadwell fumble to close out the match. Jonathan Taylor was the story of this Colts performance, piling up 92 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries and catching four passes for another 40 yards on top of that. Unfortunately, so too is the loss of Alex Pierce to injury. 

Overall, this one was a chess match, a barnburner, and a perfect way to cap an eventful day of football. 

Here are some of our other takeaways from Week 2:

After quiet season-opener, Ja’Marr Chase puts on a show

After barely registering on the Week 1 stat sheet, catching just two passes for 12 yards in Cincinnati’s season-opening victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Ja’Marr Chase made up for lost time in Week 2.

His toe-tapping touchdown catch in the second quarter was nothing short of spectacular. The play saw Chase get out of a tangle with Texans defender Derek Stingley Jr., tracking the ball and twisting his body to snatch it just inside the goal line for 32 yards and the first score of the game. 

Chase followed up those acrobatics with a second touchdown catch in the third quarter to give the Bengals a 14-point lead in what was an eventual 20-6 victory. That he wasn’t even the Bengals’ leader in receiving yards feels like a win within this win — while Chase collected seven catches for 75 yards and two TDs, teammate Tee Higgins led the squad in targets (10) and yards (95). Together, the duo made all the difference against a tough Houston defence that sacked Joe Burrow a whopping five times. 

Waddle makes a splash in Broncos’ win over Jaguars

Like Chase in Cincinnati, Jaylen Waddle started slow in Denver with a very quiet Week 1 performance. That changed in Week 2. The former Dolphin caught eight passes for 138 yards, including a 49-yard grab to put Denver at first and goal at Jacksonville’s one-yard line in the second quarter. 

But that’s when the Broncos’ red-zone issues showed up. Despite the optimal field position, the Broncos couldn’t cash in on Waddle’s setup, instead settling for a field goal after an impressive goal-line stand by Jacksonville. On their next trip to the red zone, Bo Nix was picked off in the end zone for a touchback. Their first opportunity to score in the second half also saw them settle for three. 

Maybe Nix was just waiting for the fourth quarter to roll around, just like old times. Down a touchdown entering the final frame, things finally clicked, with the Broncos outscoring Jacksonville 14-0 in the fourth quarter thanks to some clutch plays from Waddle as well as a timely surge from rookie running back Jonah Coleman. Was this a lucky break against an offence that cooled off too soon, or a sign of good things to come for Denver? With a date against the Rams next Sunday night, something tells us we’ll find out soon.

Falcons’ QB situation is a real mess

We thought things looked messy in training camp as the Atlanta Falcons weighed options and health reports between Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa… 

Well, turns out, those were the good old days. Because two weeks into the season, the team has already rolled out QB4. With both Penix and Tagovailoa sidelined with injuries, the club was forced to open the season with third-stringer Cooper Rush as the starter. After a rough outing last week against the Steelers, Rush got absolutely crushed by the Carolina Panthers on Sunday — the same Panthers defence that allowed 59 points against the Bears just a week ago. Rush registered just 10 completions for 86 yards, with two interceptions, a sack, and a passer rating of 32.6. With the game already way out of hand, fourth-stringer Jack Strand added insult to injury when he took to the field in the third quarter. His first pass was a pick-six, with Carolina putting the exclamation point on their 34-3 victory. 

All eyes were on the Falcons’ sidelines as frustrations flared. All that elite pass-catching talent, with no one to feed them, is a storyline that’s been around too long in Atlanta. But is help on the way? According to NFL insiders Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter, Penix could make his season debut against the Packers this Thursday. Fingers crossed. 

Heartbreak hits early as Bears lose Williams, Commanders lose Daniels to injury

After opening the campaign on the highest of highs with their 59-point statement-maker of a season-opener last week, the Chicago Bears’ offence fell flat against the Minnesota Vikings’ hard-hitting defence on Sunday. But the 9-3 loss on a rainy afternoon at home was the least of their problems, as evidenced by Caleb Williams being carted down the tunnel in obvious distress in the fourth quarter. 

The nature of the injury, suffered during a scramble play, and Williams’ immediate reaction as he lay on the field had worst-case scenarios playing out, but there might be hope as the injury was later deemed to be to his hamstring, with further testing to come. Whatever the diagnosis, it puts Chicago’s season in jeopardy almost right out of the gates. 

While the Washington Commanders entered the 2026 season with different expectations than the Bears, they find themselves in a similar boat as they, too, had to watch their own QB1 carted off in Week 2. Jayden Daniels suffered a dislocated left elbow midway through Washington’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys. (A word of warning, the video replay is not for the faint of heart — just ask Tom Brady, who let out an expletive on live TV upon seeing it.)

Daniels missed more than half of last season with various ailments, including a dislocated left elbow, making Sunday’s misplay an all-too-familiar scene for Commanders fans and immediately putting Washington in a déjà vu situation with Marcus Mariota back at the helm of what could be another lost season without their franchise guy. 

Patriots bounce back, but did Maye?

After the way his season-opener ended against Seattle, Drake Maye needed a bounce back in Week 2. And while his team secured a convincing 20-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday… Maye’s performance still left something to be desired. Maye completed 14 of 22 passes against a tough Steelers defence, but was sacked three times and threw an interception that exposed the same kind of issues he had against Seattle in Week 1. Early in the third quarter, Maye underthrew Hunter Henry and was easily picked off by Patrick Queen. It was the kind of reckless play we rarely saw from Maye last season, but that has already shown up plenty in just two weeks of play this year. While Maye also showed off what made him a clear MVP runner-up last year, with a 63-yard bomb to Romeo Doubs, it’s the pick that stands out despite New England’s win. 

The Patriots’ defence stepped up, as did the run game with TreVeyon Henderson back in the fold, but with a tough slate coming up — the Jaguars in Week 3, followed by the Bills — Maye’s decision-making will be under much scrutiny in the weeks to come.