Thursday September 10th marked the beginning of a holy season for many Americans. One might wonder, wasn’t the Pope’s visit to the United States slated to start two weeks after this date? The answer to this question is yes, but if you asked any one of the 27.4 million viewers of the NFL’s season opener – the second-most-watched Thursday season opener since 2002, according to deadline.com – you might seem a little sacrilegious.

This Thursday night showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots, played at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA, officially put an end to the dreary seven-month football hiatus. The defending Super Bowl champion Patriots cruised for much of the game, and managed to hold on for a 28-21 victory over the Steelers. Quarterback Tom Brady had a magnificent game, passing for all four touchdowns; however, how he got to play in the game was the result of controversial offseason proceedings.

In the aftermath of Deflategate, the highly publicized scandal in which Brady was accused of deflating footballs before the Patriots’ AFC championship game matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell handed Brady a four-game suspension. Though appeals to the commissioner’s office proved unsuccessful, Brady had his suspension erased on September 3 when U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell went too far in affirming punishment (the NFL has chosen to appeal this decision). With Brady on the roster, who was allowed to participate in preseason games and is already up to game speed, the Patriots’ title defending efforts received a strong boost. Coming into the season, Vegasinsider.com placed the Pats’ title odds at 5:1, trailing only those of the Green Bay Packers, whose odds were placed at 3:1.

At the season’s midpoint, these teams have lived up to their expectations. With a record of six wins and two losses, the Packers stand tied atop their division with the Minnesota Vikings. More remarkably, the Patriots have yet to lose a game. Joined by the unbeaten Cincinnati Bengals and Carolina Panthers, the Patriots are a part of the first trio of teams in NFL history to start the season with eight consecutive wins. These teams are far from the only ones to start off the season hot. The Atlanta Falcons kept pace with their division rival Panthers through five weeks, but cooled down considerably, losing three of their next four games. Out west, we find another previously unbeaten team. The Denver Broncos began the season at 7-0, but suffered their first loss of the season against the Indianapolis Colts.

Elsewhere in the NFL, the offseason issues of domestic abuse and substance abuse persisted. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, going into week 1 of the season, an astonishing forty-four players were suspended for at least one game of the NFL season. This figure is not so surprising, however, when considering that over 700 arrests of NFL players have been made since 2000. The NFL’s public image was not helped by the newcomers, either. Two players, Randy Gregory and Shane Ray, took huge hits to their 2015 NFL Draft stock when each failed drug tests for marijuana at the NFL Combine. In fact, the draft’s number one overall selection, Jameis Winston, has a troubled past of his own. From his arrest for the theft of crab legs to his suspension for obscene behavior in college, Winston has the makings of another talented-but-risky player that fails to meet their full potential due to immaturity and their inability to stay on the field because of outside conduct.

Coming into the NFL season, most fans knew what to expect – lots of trouble and lots of hits. For the remainder of the season, these very factors may make or break a team’s title hopes. If the past is any indicator, many of these teams’ hopes will be broken.