Each Sunday, three of The Athletic’s NFL writers react to the biggest news, plays and performances from the day’s games.The first Sunday window of the NFL season couldn’t have offered much more in the way of drama. The Chicago Bears responded to coach Ben Johnson’s desire to set the NFL scoring record by dropping 59 points in Carolina. The Buffalo Bills outlasted the Houston Texans, 36-31, in a game that featured nine lead changes. The New Orleans Saints rallied from a 21-point deficit to force overtime in Detroit, where things got even nuttier; the Lions won, 31-30, after a Saints two-point attempt in the extra session failed.There was more. In their first appearance together with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers combined on a 20-13 win over the Atlanta Falcons; the Cincinnati Bengals’ new defense forced four turnovers in a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; and the Cleveland Browns … well, let’s not talk about the Cleveland Browns. (They lost 34-10, in Jacksonville).NFL writers Jeff Howe, Ted Nguyen and Dan Pompei share their thoughts on an opening Sunday of the NFL season filled with offensive fireworks, impressive debuts and the last-second endings that fans spent a long offseason dreaming about.The Bears were considered a prime candidate for regression this season. Should those worries be retired after they buried the Panthers, or is the defense still a cause for concern?Pompei: The question is this: Is the Bears’ defense as bad as the Bears’ offense is good? The answer is no. But the Bears defense isn’t very good at the moment and needs to make significant improvement if Chicago is going to be a Super Bowl contender. The offense will be incredible if Caleb Williams performs the way he did Sunday. Johnson calls plays as well as anyone. When it comes to players who can do damage with the ball in their hands, they have high quality and high quantity. Their leading receiver Sunday was someone no one expected — Kalif Raymond. And tight Colston Loveland, the leading receiver in 2025, didn’t have a reception. The Bears are going to score a lot of points this season, but their opponents might, too.Top Plays from Bears @ PanthersNguyen: The Bears’ defense looked really bad, but they were able to get takeaways, which they also did last year. However, Caleb Williams and the offense looked absolutely incredible. The running game looked great and D’Andre Swift looked even more decisive than he did last year, carrying the ball 18 times for 124 yards and three touchdowns. Williams completed 72 percent of his passes and looked like an MVP candidate. Johnson told Pompei that his team wanted to break the league’s scoring record; they might have to to be successful, and they have the arsenal to do it.Howe: I’m not in the Week 1 retirement business, especially when the Panthers still have much to prove of their own, but this was quite the start. I expected Williams to make another jump this season, and he was in total command. He’ll always be a big-time playmaker, but the Bears will be equally encouraged that he didn’t turn it over.