By Marlow Stern, Karla Cote
DAVID EULITT / 2025 Getty Images / John McDonnell Are you ready for some football?
Yes, the 2026 NFL season will kick off on the night of Sept. 9 with a Super Bowl LX rematch, as the defending champion Seattle Seahawks square off against the New England Patriots. Over the past two decades, the NFL has emerged as far and away the most popular sport in the U.S., with over 50% of the American population identifying as fans of the league. If that weren’t enough, in 2025, 83 of the top 100 highest-rated TV programs were NFL games, including 23 of the top 24 overall. The Super Bowl attracted 127.7 million viewers, while the Academy Awards drew 17.9 million, and it wasn’t even a good game.
In order to not embarrass yourself at the water cooler, here are seven key storylines to pay attention to this NFL season, from elite QBs and major offseason moves to newlyweds Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce and the Donald Trump of it all.
-
Will One of These Elite QBs Finally Get Over the Hump?
Image Credit: Getty Images The NFL has no shortage of elite quarterbacks. And most of them have never been to the Super Bowl.
Josh Allen, the Buffalo Bills gunslinger and 2024 league MVP, has come close. What’s stopping him? Patrick Mahomes, of course. Or so we thought. As the starting quarterback, Allen has led his team to the AFC Championship twice, in 2020 and 2024, and both times, Mahomes’ Chiefs have eliminated them (not to mention that 2021 comeback in the AFC Divisional playoffs wherein Mahomes drove the Chiefs 44 yards up the field in 13 seconds to tie it, eventually winning in overtime). Last season marked the first in Allen’s career where he found himself in the playoffs sans Mahomes, but the Bills still faced early elimination at the hands of upstart Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos. The Bills lost four consecutive Super Bowls in the ‘90s and have yet to win the big game. Will this finally be Allen and the Bills’ year?
On the opposite coast sits Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers. Widely regarded as one of the top ten quarterbacks in the league, he has yet to lead his team to a single postseason victory. Sure, it’s a team sport, and the Chargers were dealing with a slew of injured players last year, but chucking four interceptions in their playoff matchup against the Texans left critics left even the most ardent Herbert supporters shaking their heads. We’ll see if Herbert can show up when it matters most.
The Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow not only led his team to the 2022 Super Bowl in his second year in the league but has also proven to be Mahomes’ playoff kryptonite. Since that narrow loss to the Rams, the star QB has been plagued by injury after injury, including a torn ligament in his wrist in 2023 and turf toe in 2025.
And what about the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, a two-time MVP, and his 3-5 career playoff record?
During the offseason, the Bengals made several acquisitions to improve their pitiful defense, including flipping a top-ten pick for god tier DT Dexter Lawrence II; the Chargers hired offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel; the Bills replaced longstanding coach Sean McDermott with offensive coordinator Joe Brady; and the Ravens added stud DE Trey Hendrickson after the Maxx Crosby deal blew up. May the best quarterback win.
