Three weeks into the 2026 NFL season, perfection is already becoming pretty rare.
Only five teams remain undefeated at 3–0: the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings and Las Vegas Raiders.
Some of those names aren’t surprising at all. Buffalo, Kansas City and San Francisco entered the season with legitimate Super Bowl expectations. Minnesota’s defense has carried the Vikings to a perfect start. Then we have Las Vegas, which has already matched its entire win total from last season by starting 3–0.
But nobody stays undefeated forever.
So rather than asking which of these teams is the best, I’m asking something different: Which undefeated team will lose first, which one will remain perfect the longest, and where will each team’s first loss come?
I’m looking at each team’s next three games and making my predictions.
The Five Remaining Undefeated Teams
Buffalo Bills (3–0)
Next three: vs. Patriots, at Rams, at Raiders
Kansas City Chiefs (3–0)
Next three: at Raiders, vs. Chargers, at Seahawks
Kansas City has a bye between the Raiders and Chargers games.
San Francisco 49ers (3–0)
Next three: vs. Broncos, at Seahawks, vs. Commanders
Minnesota Vikings (3–0)
Next three: vs. Dolphins, at Saints, vs. Colts
Minnesota has a bye between the Saints and Colts games.
Las Vegas Raiders (3–0)
Next three: vs. Chiefs, at Patriots, vs. Bills
Now let’s start knocking some zeroes off those records.
First to Lose: Las Vegas Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs
The Raiders deserve credit. I don’t care who they’ve played or what expectations were entering the season. Going 3–0 in the NFL isn’t easy, and Las Vegas has already won as many games this season as it did all of last year.
Kirk Cousins has played well, Brock Bowers is back and immediately reminded everyone how dangerous he can be, and this defense has consistently created turnovers. Klint Kubiak deserves plenty of credit for changing the feeling around this team so quickly.
But now comes the test.
The Kansas City Chiefs are coming to Las Vegas, and this is where I think the Raiders’ undefeated start ends. Kansas City is simply the better football team. The Chiefs are 3–0 themselves, they’ve looked increasingly comfortable as the season has progressed, and this is the first game where I think Las Vegas is going to have to prove it can beat one of the NFL’s true heavyweights.
The Raiders have been one of the best stories of the young season. I just don’t think they’re leaving Week 4 undefeated.
PREDICTED FIRST LOSS: WEEK 4 — VS. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
Buffalo Bills: First Loss at Los Angeles Rams
Buffalo should handle New England.
The Patriots are struggling, while Buffalo has shown through three weeks that it can win in different ways. Even when the Bills turned the football over five times against the Chargers, they still found a way to leave with a victory. That’s what good teams do.
But I have a major concern with Buffalo: this defense has been awful. The Bills are giving up far too many points and yards for a team with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations. Through three games, Buffalo has allowed 78 points, an average of 26 per game. The offense has been good enough to overcome those problems so far, but you can’t expect Josh Allen and the offense to bail you out every week.
That’s why the Rams game scares me.
Los Angeles can move the football. We’ve already seen this Rams offense pile up yards when it gets going, and that’s a terrible matchup for a Buffalo defense that has struggled to consistently stop teams. Buffalo traveling across the country for a Monday night game against an offense capable of putting points on the board feels like exactly the type of situation where its defensive problems finally become too much to overcome.
The Bills aren’t going undefeated, and I think Los Angeles is where the zero disappears.
PREDICTED FIRST LOSS: WEEK 5 — AT LOS ANGELES RAMS
San Francisco 49ers: First Loss at Seattle
San Francisco might be the most impressive team in football through three weeks.
The 49ers opened the season by destroying the Rams in Australia, handled Miami and then survived a much tougher game against Arizona to remain perfect.
First comes Denver. That’s not an easy game, but San Francisco is at home, and I trust the 49ers enough to get through it.
Then comes Seattle.
And if there’s one team that should know exactly what it takes to beat San Francisco, it’s the Seahawks.
We don’t have to go very far back to find the evidence. Seattle absolutely demolished San Francisco 41–6 in the playoffs last season, ending the 49ers’ season in embarrassing fashion. That doesn’t mean the exact same thing will happen again, but Seattle already has a blueprint for what worked against this team.
The Seahawks just suffered a frustrating loss to Washington, but I’m still extremely high on them. Going into Seattle and winning is never easy, divisional games have a habit of ignoring whatever the records say, and the Seahawks aren’t going to be intimidated by San Francisco after what happened the last time these teams met in a truly meaningful game.
Seattle knows what needs to be done.
I think they do it again.
PREDICTED FIRST LOSS: WEEK 5 — AT SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
Minnesota Vikings: First Loss at New Orleans
Minnesota might be the hardest team on this list to figure out.
The Vikings are 3–0 primarily because their defense has been outstanding. Their offense hasn’t always been convincing, but when your defense consistently keeps opponents under control, you don’t need to score 35 points every week.
The problem is that your defense can’t carry you forever.
Minnesota gets Miami next, and I expect the Vikings to win that game. That would send them to 4–0 before traveling to New Orleans.
Don’t let the Saints’ 1–2 record fool you. New Orleans has played well in all three games. One of those losses came in overtime against Detroit, and against Las Vegas they were in control of the game before everything completely fell apart in the fourth quarter.
The Saints turned the ball over on all four of their fourth-quarter possessions against the Raiders. That’s obviously terrible, but it’s also something that can be cleaned up. Before that collapse, Tyler Shough had thrown four touchdowns and New Orleans had built a 27–16 lead over an undefeated Raiders team.
This isn’t a Saints team getting blown off the field every week. They’ve been competitive.
That’s why I could see this being the game where Minnesota finally gets caught. If the Saints protect the football and force the Vikings offense to actually go win the game rather than allowing Minnesota’s defense to dictate everything, this becomes a very different matchup.
A great defense can take you a long way.
It can’t carry you forever.
PREDICTED FIRST LOSS: WEEK 5 — AT NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
Kansas City Chiefs: The Last Undefeated Team Standing
That leaves Kansas City.
I have the Chiefs beating Las Vegas in Week 4, which immediately makes them 4–0 while handing the Raiders their first loss.
Then Kansas City gets its bye week before hosting the Chargers. The Chargers are talented enough to make divisional games uncomfortable, but they’re 0–3, and I don’t see them walking into Kansas City and handing the Chiefs their first loss.
That gets Kansas City to 5–0.
Then comes Seattle.
This is where I think the run finally ends.
The Chiefs have to travel to Seattle for Sunday Night Football, and that’s an environment where I could absolutely see Kansas City struggling. Seattle has the roster to compete with the Chiefs, the home-field advantage will be significant, and by that point Kansas City will have survived five straight games without a loss.
I don’t have anybody going 17–0.
Eventually, even the best teams lose.
For Kansas City, I think it happens in Seattle.
PREDICTED FIRST LOSS: WEEK 7 — AT SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
Who Loses First?
Las Vegas Raiders.
Their 3–0 start deserves respect, but Kansas City represents a massive jump in competition. The Raiders have given us enough through three weeks to believe they’re much better than the three-win disaster we saw last season.
Now they have to prove they’re ready to beat teams like Kansas City.
I don’t think they’re there yet.
First undefeated team to lose: Las Vegas Raiders — Week 4 vs. Kansas City.
Who Stays Undefeated the Longest?
Kansas City Chiefs.
Based on these predictions, Buffalo, San Francisco and Minnesota all make it to 4–0 before losing. Las Vegas falls immediately at 3–0.
Kansas City gets one more.
I have the Chiefs reaching 5–0 before Seattle finally hands them their first loss.
So my predicted order looks like this:
Raiders: 3–0 → Week 4 vs. Chiefs
Bills: 4–0 → Week 5 at Rams
49ers: 4–0 → Week 5 at Seahawks
Vikings: 4–0 → Week 5 at Saints
Chiefs: 5–0 → Week 7 at Seahawks
Of course, this is the NFL. There’s a pretty good chance one of these predictions looks ridiculous within about four days.
But that’s what makes trying to predict this league so much fun.
Las Vegas falls first. Kansas City lasts the longest. And Seattle could end up being the team that knocks off two of the NFL’s five remaining undefeated teams.
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