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Expect to see NFL cheerleaders during the season.
Just win, baby. That’s the best way to bring home the Lombardi Trophy at the end of an NFL season. Actually win the season opener, and that’s a good start.
The record of the 45 Super Bowl winners for the opening game of their championship season is 37-7-1.
Since 1978, when the league went to a 16-game schedule (and not counting the shortened 1982 season), teams that won their openers are more than twice as likely to reach the playoffs than opener losers. Of the 474 teams that won openers, 251 went to the playoffs. Of the teams that lost, 111 reached the postseason.
Thursday night’s game pitting the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers against the previous season’s Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints marks the first time since 2000 that the two previous Super Bowl champs have met in an opener. The St. Louis Rams beat the Denver Broncos in 2000.
With 51 victories in season openers, the Packers are tied with the Chicago Bears for the most:
51: Chicago, Green Bay
49: New York Giants
42: Detroit
40: Pittsburgh
Among teams with the longest active opener winning streaks, the Pittsburgh Steelers have the longest with eight. The longest in NFL history:
17: Dallas Cowboys, 1965-1981
11: Miami Dolphins, 1992-2002
10: Detroit Lions/ Portsmouth Spartans, 1930-1939
9: Chicago Bears, 1984-1992
8: Pittsburgh Steelers, 2003-present