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 when it comes to particular person video games all through the week, however on Thursday evening all the entree was introduced.
Let’s check out a number of the winners and losers from the schedule as issues look in the course of Could.
Winner: The NFL
Only for the truth that it’s such a monster of a sports activities league that it might flip one thing that might 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 off-the-cuff curiosity within the league. No different league, and no different sport, might make the schedule this large of a deal.
Ultimately everyone goes to need to play a world recreation, and if you will have to take action Paris is a fairly good vacation spot for a piece journey. The issue? That’s technically one in all their dwelling video games for the season, so they’re dropping a recreation on the Superdome proper off the highest. However additionally they need to play that recreation towards the Pittsburgh Steelers, a franchise with one of many largest fanbases on this planet, and one that tends to take over stadiums like this. The Saints not solely lose a house recreation when it comes to location, they could lose any resemblance to a home-field benefit within the crowd.
Winner: Thanksgiving week
In the event you like your Thanksgiving vacation stuffed with soccer, you might be 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 number 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 have been an outlier. Each must be among the many finest 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 it will likely 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 probably not 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 ultimate 4 weeks of the common season.
It’s a related 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 might finally decide each divisions.
It’s going to be a protracted season within the desert, and Cardinals followers won’t have a practical likelihood to see a win at dwelling till December.
The Cardinals dwelling 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 numerous groups that journey properly and can make these video games annexed dwelling video games.
Winner: Schedule launch movies
The perfect a part of schedule launch day is normally the artistic methods groups announce them. There are numerous good choices this season, however let’s give some credit score to the Chicago Bears for channeling their inside Bob Ross with a cheerful little schedule.
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