The NFL formally launched its schedule for the 2026 common season on Thursday evening. The league had already given its followers a number of crumbs by way of particular person video games all through the week, however on Thursday evening the whole entree was offered.
Let’s check out a few of the winners and losers from the schedule as issues look in the course of Might.
Winner: The NFL
Only for the truth that it’s such a monster of a sports activities league that it could actually flip one thing that would have been — and doubtless ought to have been — an electronic mail right into a week-long occasion that has held the eye of everyone that has even an informal curiosity within the league. No different league, and no different sport, may make the schedule this large of a deal.
Ultimately everyone goes to should play a global recreation, and if you’ll have to take action Paris is a reasonably good vacation spot for a piece journey. The issue? That’s technically one in all their residence video games for the season, so they’re dropping a recreation on the Superdome proper off the highest. However in addition they should play that recreation towards the Pittsburgh Steelers, a franchise with one of many largest fanbases on the planet, and one that tends to take over stadiums like this. The Saints not solely lose a house recreation by way of location, they could lose any resemblance to a home-field benefit within the crowd.
Winner: Thanksgiving week
When you like your Thanksgiving vacation filled with soccer, you’re in luck. Not solely as a result of there are video games Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of that week, however just about all of them seem like powerhouse matchups on paper that includes a few of the league’s most distinguished groups.
The Cowboys, Chiefs and Lions are the one two groups in that stretch of video games that missed the playoffs in 2025, and it’s fairly extensively assumed that the Chiefs and Lions seasons had been an outlier. Each ought to be among the many greatest groups within the NFL this season.
Loser: Packers bye week
The Packers may need the worst bye week state of affairs within the league this 12 months, as will probably be adopted by the aforementioned Thanksgiving eve recreation towards the Rams. On a Wednesday. Having a Wednesday recreation coming off the bye week means they actually solely have a week-and-a-half off between video games round that bye. That is not likely a lot of a bye week state of affairs.
Winner: Excessive-leverage division video games late within the season
The Los Angeles Rams don’t play the Seattle Seahawks till Week 16, after which play each of their video games towards each other within the closing 4 weeks of the common season.
It’s a comparable story within the AFC North with the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens who additionally don’t play till Week 16 after which play twice in a four-week stretch to shut the season. These video games may finally decide each divisions.
It’ll be a protracted season within the desert, and Cardinals followers may not have a practical probability to see a win at residence till December.
The Cardinals residence schedule opens with the Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Rams, Washington Commanders, and Philadelphia Eagles. Not solely will they be heavy underdogs in virtually all of these video games, there are a number of groups that journey effectively and can make these video games annexed residence video games.
Winner: Schedule launch movies
The most effective a part of schedule launch day is normally the artistic methods groups announce them. There are a number of good choices this season, however let’s give some credit score to the Chicago Bears for channeling their internal Bob Ross with a cheerful little schedule.
