Predicting when the 9 remaining undefeated NFL teams will lose first

On any given Sunday, someone who is perceived to be better than another team winds up losing. That is the beautiful part of the NFL. The best team in the league hosting the worst team in the league is probably only a 17-to-20-point favorite in most sportsbooks. Admittedly, that number might be a tad higher when the Carolina Panthers host the Kansas City Chiefs. That is going to be a bloodbath!

Conversely, there are nine NFL teams that have not won a game just yet. Eventually, all of them, probably even the utterly toothless Panthers, will get at least one or two in the win column. Very, very rarely do we see teams go undefeated or winless in a given season. Factor in this now being a 17-game season, and that gives us as fans an additional week to sweat it out, one way or another.

So what I am going to do today is pick the game where the remaining nine undefeated teams are likely to suffer their first defeat of the season. Not all of these will be right. In fact, most of them will probably end up being wrong because we honestly have no idea what teams are good or bad in the NFL. Once again, every game needs to be played. Most of them are not going to go according to plan.

Without further ado, here is every NFL team that is still undefeated and when they might lose first.

Buffalo Bills

At the start of the season, I had the Buffalo Bills suffering their first loss of the season at the Miami Dolphins on Thursday Night Football to kick off Week 2. Obviously, that did not happen, and I do not really trust the Dolphins going forward without Tua Tagovailoa being even remotely healthy. I am making a swift pivot to picking the Bills to win the AFC East going away after these first two weeks.

Admittedly, the Bills' next three games are a bit tricky. They host the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday Night Football in Week 3 before going to the Baltimore Ravens for Sunday Night Football in Week 4. After that, they have a sleepy road game in the early afternoon window vs. the AFC South favorite Houston Texans. I have a strong feeling the Bills are not going to get through that gauntlet unscathed.

Jacksonville is desperate at 0-2, but so are the Ravens, who need a win in the worst possible way.

Projected first loss: at Baltimore Ravens (Sunday, Sept. 29, 8:20 p.m. ET)

Houston Texans

Although the Houston Texans' schedule may look a little harder after two weeks, DeMeco Ryans' team is setting itself up to run away with this division. I have the repeating as AFC South champions and winning around 12 games. There 2-0 start is not a fluke, just a sign of more good things to come. I don't know if they will get to the AFC Championship Game this year, but I am not ruling it out either.

Right now, I am sticking to my guns and saying their first projected loss will come in the second half of October. If things go according to plan, Houston will get off to a blistering 6-0 start before losing a tight one on the road vs. the Green Bay Packers on Oct. 20. While they could slip up vs. the next four opponents (Minnesota, Jacksonville, Buffalo, New England), I'm not counting on it happening just yet.

Houston has two undefeated teams on its schedule before the team probably lose for the first time.

Projected first loss: at Green Bay Packers (Sunday, Oct. 20, 1:00 p.m. ET)

Kansas City Chiefs

To be honest, I have no earthly idea when the Kansas City Chiefs will lose their first game of the season. I had them going 15-2, but with an early-season loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Now that they have won that, is it really going to take until maybe the San Francisco 49ers game on Oct. 20 before they fall for the first time? Probably, but they have three challenging games happening before then.

While I am not rooting for it to happen, I think the Chiefs get past my Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night Football in Week 3. Atlanta's defense is good, so that gives the Dirty Birds a puncher's chance at home. After Atlanta, the Chiefs have to play two currently undefeated teams in the division rival Los Angeles Chargers at their place, following up that with a home date vs. the feisty New Orleans Saints.

Kansas City is probably closer to a 13-4 team than a 15-2 one, but they have a tough stretch ahead.

Projected first loss: at San Francisco 49ers (Sunday, Oct. 20, 4;25 p.m. ET)

Los Angeles Chargers

It is bound to happen at some point. While I moronically picked the Carolina Panthers to beat this team in Week 2 ahead of the season, the Los Angeles Chargers are still undefeated. Unfortunately for Jim Harbaugh's team, this feels like a bit of fool's gold. Although I would not be shocked if they were to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend, the game is at their place, so I give Pittsburgh the edge.

It is a 1:00 p.m. ET kickoff in Pittsburgh, meaning it will be a 10:00 a.m. ET kick back home for the Bolts. While I don't think the winner of this game between undefeated AFC teams will really tell us all that much, I see losses on the horizon for the Chargers in the coming weeks. They are probably losing to the Kansas City Chiefs at home, and could get got by the Arizona Cardinals or New Orleans Saints.

The Chargers might be better than the 7-10 team I forecasted, but they aren't winning the AFC West.

Projected first loss: at Pittsburgh Steelers (Sunday, Sept. 22, 1:00 p.m. ET)

Minnesota Vikings

For as much fun as it has been to see Sam Darnold play quite well for the Minnesota Vikings, they are going to lose a lot of games here soon. They have been a dog water team in the New York Giants and a San Francisco 49ers squad that seems to have been snakebitten to hell with so many injuries. Since I had them losing to the 49ers last week, I will confidently say they are probably losing this weekend.

It may be a home game for them, but the Houston Texans are coming to town. C.J. Stroud is what the Vikings are hoping they have in Darnold. What we should see is what a Super Bowl contender looks like going up against a playoff prentender at their place. A tough division should knock the Vikings down a peg. If it is not Houston, then it may be Green Bay, the New York Jets or Detroit beating them.

I wouldn't say the Vikings got lucky the first two weeks, but they won't be catching any breaks now.

Projected first loss: vs. Houston Texans (Sunday, Sept. 22, 1:00 p.m. ET)

New Orleans Saints

How I feel about the Los Angeles Chargers is how I feel about the New Orleans Saints. I had them as borderline playoff contenders that ended up going 7-10. What these first two weeks have shown me is coaching matters. Jim Harbaugh is still Jim Harbaugh, and Klint Kubiak has been a revelation for Derek Carr. Unfortunately, they will be welcoming a very angry Philadelphia Eagles team to town now.

Philadelphia lost to New Orleans' arch rival in the Atlanta Falcons on Monday Night Football in the most embarrassing way possible. New Orleans is fresh off two wins over lifeless Carolina and an increasingly decadent Dallas team. This is a bad spot for the Saints to be in. If the Eagles come up dead, then they have to play the arch rival Falcons in Uncle Arthur's Spaceship the following week.

I would be utterly shocked if the Saints got to 4-0 with their daunting next two games on the slate.

Projected first loss: vs. Philadelphia Eagles (Sunday, Sept. 22, 1:00 p.m. ET)

Pittsburgh Steelers

This is fool's gold dressed up in Black and Yellow. The Pittsburgh Steelers are 2-0 with wins over the Atlanta Falcons and the Denver Broncos. They beat Arthur Smith's former team and Russell Wilson's former team without much help from either. This is a great defense led by J.J. Watt, but the Steelers are benefiting greatly with a rather soft schedule to start. I just don't know when the first loss will be...

For Arthur Smith reasons, I had this team going 7-10. But for Mike Tomlin reasons, they will probably still go 10-7. While I have them getting past the Los Angeles Chargers at their place this weekend, I think they stumble for the first time between the very end of September and the middle part of October. Against my better judgement, their first loss will be at the Indianapolis Colts in Week 4.

This stretch of games with the Chargers, Colts, Cowboys, Raiders and Jets is not going to be easy.

Projected first loss: at Indianapolis Colts (Sunday, Sept. 29, 1:00 p.m. ET)

Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks are still one of the strangest teams to figure out. Even with a new coaching staff taking over for Pete Carroll, Geno Smith is not skipping a beat in Ryan Grubb's system; he may just be a damn good quarterback. While I have concerns about a first-time head coach in Mike Macdonald, this team might be good enough to win the NFC West this year if San Francisco falters.

While one-score wins over Denver and New England don't do much for me, I think the Seahawks get to 3-0 with a win over a rudderless Miami team. Then, I think that is when the undefeated nonsense talk swiftly ends. The Seahawks will have to go on the road to face the NFC North juggernaut Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football to end Week 4. After that, they have some losses coming in October.

Should the Seahawks get to 4-0, they are likely to lose to San Francisco, Atlanta or Buffalo in October.

Projected first loss: at Detroit Lions (Monday, Sept. 30, 8:15 p.m. ET)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This is a playoff team. I am not sure if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to win the NFC South for the fourth year in a row, but I love their chances of winning at least 10 games this season. They are 2-0 already with wins over Washington and Detroit. Tampa Bay should get to a breezy 3-0 with Denver coming to town this week. After that is when I sense the Buccaneers will stumble for the first time.

Though they could lose to the Philadelphia Eagles at home in Week 4, I think the Birds will have exhausted a ton of emotional energy on the New Orleans Saints in the Week 3 get-right game after the Atlanta Falcons embarrassment. It will be a short week for both teams coming off huge Week 4 games, but I think the fact Week 5 is at home might be enough for the Falcons to beat Tampa Bay.

These two teams are probably splitting the season series this year, with both making the playoffs.

Projected first loss: at Atlanta Falcons (Thursday, Oct. 3, 8:15 p.m. ET)