Mitchell had waited two weeks for his first win. Week 3 handed him an unbeaten opponent with an unusually familiar face: Cesar. At 3:34 p.m. ET Sunday, Mitchell led 75.00–41.50, but a 33.50-point edge was not the same thing as a finished game. Cesar still had Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, Chris Olave and Brock Purdy to start. ESPN’s live estimate gave Mitchell only a 55% chance of holding on.

This is not a random early-season matchup. Mitchell beat Cesar 142.04–135.14 in the 2025 playoffs, a 6.90-point escape. He also beat him in the 2018 playoffs, 142.04–134.54. Across their 12 recorded regular-season and playoff meetings through 2025, Mitchell leads 9–3; that count excludes a 2016 consolation game. Last year’s playoff win is the important bit this Sunday: Cesar has recent reason to want this one back, and Mitchell has very little room to start 0–3.

Mitchell’s early points came in part from Sam Darnold’s 19.90 and Evan McPherson’s 11.80. His own Brock Bowers, Courtland Sutton and Kyle Monangai had yet to play. Cesar’s 2–0 record was on the line, but his late lineup made the live score a poor obituary for an unbeaten start. Mitchell was ahead; the history made the lead interesting, and the remaining starters made it fragile.

Will’s answer to 0–2 was louder

In the other League 1 first-win chase, Will was doing something less subtle. He led Darnell 96.28–47.62 at the same snapshot, the highest live total among all 24 BakaBois teams checked that afternoon. Kenneth Walker III had 21.60 for Will and Ja’Marr Chase had 19.80. Darnell was 1–1 and still had Davante Adams and J.K. Dobbins to play, but ESPN put Will’s win chance at 99% with the games unfinished.

There is an older Week 3 echo. In their recorded 2024 meeting, Will beat Darnell 98.96–80.84. Two years later, Will had nearly reached that entire winning total before this Week 3 Sunday was over. It does not settle the rematch, but it makes the 0–2 record feel like a problem Will was trying to erase in one afternoon. He still had Colston Loveland, Luther Burden III and Jeremiyah Love awaiting their games, too.

Mitchell and Will were both chasing a first win; they were taking very different routes. Will had built the kind of lead that lets an 0–2 owner exhale. Mitchell was trying to make a third win over Cesar in meaningful recent meetings while Cesar’s biggest names were still on deck. If Week 3 becomes their turnaround, Will may have supplied the exclamation point. Mitchell still had to survive the sentence.