The longest Week 1 winning streak in the NFL belongs to the Kansas City Chiefs. They have won their past seven openers (5-2 against the spread) and have a trip to Arizona on tap Sunday. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been individually brilliant in his four openers as a starter. The Cardinals will be without suspended Pro Bowl DeAndre Hopkins and opened at +3 but are now +6 at Caesars Sportsbook.
Kansas City's last Week 1 loss was at Houston in 2014 — when Mahomes was still at Texas Tech and coached by current Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury. Mahomes is 4-0 in Week 1 (3-1 ATS) but didn't cover last year in a 33-29 home victory over Cleveland. In those four games, Mahomes is averaging 71 percent completions and 305.8 yards with 14 total touchdown passes and zero picks.
The Chiefs averaged 36.3 points in those games but also had electric receiver Tyreek Hill at their disposal. He of course was traded to Miami this offseason. Then again, Mahomes has averaged 363.3 passing yards as a starter without Hill in his career to go with eight TD passes and zero picks and a 3-1 record.
Kansas City's first-half schedule this year is incredibly hard. It will become the first team in NFL history to start the season with eight straight games against teams that had a winning record the prior season. In fact, only one of the Chiefs' first 12 games is against teams that finished with losing record last season (Week 10 vs Jackson ville).