Week 1s are weird. But who doesn’t like weird storylines? The 2025 opening week gave us storylines all over the place. Offenses came out flat. Veterans like Russell Wilson looked lost, and the Lions couldn’t cook up any magic without Ben Johnson pulling the strings. Over in Lucas Oil Stadium, the Colts broke a decade-long curse and actually won a season opener. On the flip side, Miami’s flop was so brutal that you can already hear whispers about Mike McDaniel’s seat heating up.

And in Chicago, Soldier Field got its heart broken—a missed field goal in the fourth quarter turned into a three-point loss when the clock hit zero. Classic Bears. But if we’re being real, the juice of Week 1 was all about quarterbacks. Half of the league’s starters couldn’t even crack 200 yards, yet somehow the quarterbacks were still the headline. Aaron Rodgers marched back into MetLife, stared down the Jets, and walked out with a 34-32 comeback win.

Caleb Williams? Still a mixed bag. And then there’s J.J. McCarthy, who needed just one quarter to flip his debut script, tossing two clutch touchdowns in the fourth to steal a 27-24 win over Chicago. That’s the chaos we signed up for. And now, it’s time to sift through the madness and dive into the QB power rankings that will include the top and worst performances, with some of the biggest surprises.

Josh Allen got the crown, while Russell Wilson got buried at the bottom

In the clash of the MVPs, both Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson battled throughout the game from the first whistle. But thanks to a historic fourth quarter, Allen and the Bills came out on top. On the flip side of the spectrum, Wilson was supposed to become the safety net of Brian Daboll’s head coaching job. But with the offense sputtering and no real help from his backs, his outing was flat-out ugly. That’s why Allen takes the top spot in our Week 1 QB power rankings, while Wilson finds himself hanging near the basement. Have a look:

1. Josh Allen
2. Lamar Jackson
3. Aaron Rodgers
4. Daniel Jones
5. J.J. McCarthy
6. Justin Hebert
7. Jalen Hurts
8. Jordan Love
9. Trevor Lawrence
10. Baker Mayfield
11. Justin Fields
12. Jayden Daniels
13. Geno Smith
14. Patrick Mahomes
15. Dak Prescott
16. Caleb Williams
17. Michael Penix Jr.
18. Joe Burrow
19. Kyler Murray
20. Bo Nix
21. Brock Purdy
22. Matthew Stafford
23. Joe Flacco
24. Jared Goff
25. Sam Darnold
26. Drake Maye
27. Spencer Rattler
28. Cam Ward
29. Bryce Young
30. CJ Stroud
31. Russell Wilson
32. Tua Tagovailoa

From Josh Allen to J.J. McCarthy: The top 5 performers

1. Josh Allen—Buffalo Bills:

Buffalo’s defense struggled with Lamar Jackson most of the night, but Josh Allen refused to let that define the game. The reigning MVP took over in the fourth quarter, amassing 251 passing yards, 18 rushing yards, and three total touchdowns. Allen made history in the process, becoming the first quarterback ever to throw for 250+ yards during a single fourth-quarter comeback performance. His final line?

33-of-46 for 394 yards, and a couple of passing scores. Plus, he added two rushing TDs for good measure, passing Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas for the most career rushing touchdowns in franchise history. That’s an MVP making history all over again. Expect the same outing in the following week.

2. Lamar Jackson—Baltimore Ravens

Sure, the Ravens blew a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter. And of course, Lamar Jackson and his crew could have gone for the fourth-and-3 with less than a couple of minutes remaining, if not for an ill-timed cramp. But deep down, there’s no denying that the two-time MVP is playing like he’s on the run to grab his third MVP honors. Lamar was phenomenal throughout the game. The quarterback completed 14-of-19 for 209 yards and a couple of passing scores. On the ground? He was efficient as well. Lamar complemented Derrick Henry in the run game and rushed for 70 yards on 6 carries. While the result didn’t turn out in his favor, the third MVP title seems to be in the making.

3. Aaron Rodgers—Pittsburgh Steelers

Heading into Week 1 against the Jets, there was way more skepticism than belief around Rodgers. The reasoning was simple: How would one of the game’s elite passers actually fit in an offense built around the run and heavy play-action? Rodgers had the answer. Not only did he go for 22-30, 244 yards, and 4 touchdowns through the air, but he also had nine drop-backs of under-center play-action in this game. Yes, he almost matched his single-game best (10 snaps) in the past five years. Debate around Rodgers fitting in Arthur Smith’s offense? The 4x MVP calls it “garbage.” He’s 41 years old. The Steelers are betting on him to break the postseason curse. And looking at his outing in the Steelers’ season opener, Mike Tomlin and Co. surely took a sigh of relief.

4. Daniel Jones—Indianapolis Colts

Pat McAfee’s words still echo in Indianapolis when he said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.” He was talking about Daniel Jones when the Colts signed him. Jones needed an opportunity more than the Colts needed a reliable quarterback amidst Anthony Richardson’s injury complications. And let’s just say, Danny Dimes was up to the mark in his Colts’ debut. The quarterback went 22-of-29 for 272 yards and racked up a touchdown, leading the Colts to their first season opener over a decade (33-8). While it was just Week 1, it’ll surely give some much-needed confidence to the quarterback who struggled in the last couple of seasons.

5. J.J. McCarthy—Minnesota Vikings

There’s a reason why the Vikings‘ faithful rave about J.J. McCarthy. He arrived in the NFL with a 27-1 collegiate record, but got sidelined for his entire rookie season due to a torn meniscus. And when Sam Darnold was shipped to Seattle, McCarthy had a job to do. And he sure did. The Vikings struggled during the first three quarters (that also included a pick-six from the QB), trailing 17-6 at the beginning of the fourth. But McCarthy just needed the final 15 minutes to bring Minnesota home. The quarterback completed 13-of-20 passes for 143 yards and racked up a couple of passing TDs and a 14-yard rushing touchdown. Final score: 27-23 in the Vikings’ favor despite the early struggles.

Worst performances and the biggest surprises from Week 1

Week 1 of the 2025 regular season wasn’t all shine and highlights. Just ask Russell Wilson and Tua Tagovailoa. While the former was trying to make a fresh start with his new team, the latter was supposed to silence all those injury concerns with a strong showing. Unfortunately, both came up flat and couldn’t even lead their team to a double-digit score. So, let’s kick things off with the Giants‘ new QB.

1. What went wrong with Russell Wilson:

Everything went wrong for the Giants’ quarterback in his debut for Brian Daboll’s team. On Sunday afternoon, Washington pressured the 36-year-old on 16 of his 45 drop-backs (36%). And even when he got the opportunity to throw… well, he was struggling to put together a good outing. The quarterback finished his first game in the Big Apple with just 17-of-37 for just 168 yards without a single score. The passing game was ugly.

The Giants finished with just 231 yards (only 4 yards per pass and 3.2 per carry) in comparison to the Commanders‘ 432 yards. And the running game? Not so efficient either. Wilson led the Giants with 44 rushing yards. As for the running backs? Just 30 yards on 15 attempts. Turns out, Week 2 is approaching, the word is, the New York team could start with rookie Jaxson Dart before the end of this month.

2. Tua Tagovailoa struggled, but without an injury

The takeaways from the Dolphins‘ Week 1 game: Mike McDaniel is now under the microscope after a horrendous performance. Tyreek Hill looked frustrated on the sidelines, reigniting the trade rumors. And at the center of it? It’s the quarterback’s poor outing. Tua Tagovailoa returned healthy following multiple injury complications. But fans were looking for the 2023 season’s Tua, and he was nowhere to be found. The QB threw a couple of picks and tallied only 114 passing yards on 23 attempts.

And those two interceptions were just awful. The head coach suggests that the Dolphins’ disaster wasn’t all on his QB. “It’s definitely not all on him. There’s just throws that I know he makes nine times out of 10, and he didn’t make them today,” McDaniel said. But when your coach is sitting on a hot seat, your top wideout’s already eyeing the exit, and now your QB lays an egg on top of it? Yeah, that’s a real problem. We’re putting the Dolphins’ QB at the bottom of our QB power rankings following the Week 1 showdown.

3. Joe Burrow won, but at what cost?

There’s a reason Joe Burrow is at No. 18 in our Week 1 power rankings. Turns out, one of the biggest surprises of Week 1 is that the Bengals‘ offense struggled with Burrow under the center. It might sound dramatic, but when you’ve got a two-time Pro Bowl QB, an All-Pro in Ja’Marr Chase, the league’s top WR2 in Tee Higgins, and a back like Chase Brown, you’d expect that offense to light up a scoreboard. Instead, Cincy’s attack looked stuck in neutral all game long.

They won, no doubt. But Burrow finished with just 14 of 23 for 113 yards, scoring one TD and no picks, with just 4.9 yards per carry (took a couple of sacks from Myles Garrett as well). Passing game? Mediocre. Just 141 yards compared to the Browns‘ 327, thanks to a poor second half, where the Bengals just racked up seven yards (Browns-210). And the running game? Same story.

Brown averaged 2 yards per carry for 43 yards. No wonder the quarterback wasn’t much thrilled about getting a 1-0 lead. “You know, obviously, we didn’t move the ball enough in the second half. I thought the first half was really good, but second half we kind of didn’t make enough plays on the outside. We didn’t protect well enough. I missed some throws, so, we got to get that cleaned up,” Burrow said after the game.

So, that was the highlight of Week 1 of the 2025 season from the quarterback’s point of view. Week 2 is approaching, where we’ll see Patrick Mahomes facing the Eagles with a struggling receiving corps, Aaron Rodgers returning to Acrisure Stadium, Prescott and Wilson facing each other after losing their respective season openers, and on and on. Who’ll come on top and who will get buried at the bottom next week? We’ll get back with next Week’s power rankings.