What will be the Season Opener next season?

[The Legend]

So the NFL has a tradition of opening the season with a Thursday Night game with the reigning champion at home. So with today being a Super Bowl, who do you think will host the season opener and who will they face? For reference here's the Bronco and Panther home opponents:

Broncos: Chiefs, Raiders, Chargers, Texans, Colts, Falcons, Panthers, Patriots

Panthers: Falcons, Saints, Buccaneers, Cardinals, Niners, Chiefs, Chargers, Vikings

To me, if the Broncos win it will either be Patriots or a SB re-match against the Panthers. If the Panthers win it will either be the Cardinals or possibly the Vikings if they want to choose an upstart candidate.

I'll pick Panther vs Cardinals.

[Everlong]

Well Broncos won. I don't think they'd do a SB rematch right off the bat. My guess is home vs. Patriots is going to be the matchup the NFL wants to schedule the most. If Peyton retires that won't be quite as big a matchup, but it'll still be a huge seller.

[The Legend]

I think my favorite possible scenario now would be New England @ Denver with Peyton and Tom Brady both retiring and both teams moving on without their Hall of Fame QB's. If Manning retires, but Brady doesn't, I'd much rather see a Super Bowl re-match. That would be the most competitive option of the marquee teams.

An outlier option would be Denver hosting Oakland in a divisional matchup against an up and coming team.

[Everlong]

There's zero chance Brady is retiring, but I'll be shocked if Manning is still playing.

[The Legend]

There's zero chance Brady is retiring, but I'll be shocked if Manning is still playing.

If I remember right, there was quite a bit of buzz at the start of the year that Brady and Belichick were so pissed at the NFL for Deflategate that they may have wanted a one-year revenge tour before both just left the NFL high and dry together.

If Manning does play, I would bet on it being with the Houston Texans.

[DBSoT]

Manning is done. If he came back, it would be purely for money and he doesn't need it. I would like to see a Super Bowl rematch, but with Osweiler at QB.

[War Daddy]

Brady will play another ten years, bank on it.