NFL 2026 Season: Schedule, Kickoff Game and Super Bowl LXI

Eight teams are 2-0 after Week 2: in the AFC the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders; in the NFC the Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. Source: ESPN standings.

Eight teams are still looking for a first win: the Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans and Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC, and the Washington Commanders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons in the NFC. Two games out of seventeen: nothing is decided yet. Source: ESPN standings.

Thursday September 24 to Monday September 28, 2026. The international slate continues on Sunday September 27 with Ravens vs Cowboys at the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. Sources: NFL.com, NFL Media.

The Seattle Seahawks, 13-10 over the New England Patriots, on Wednesday September 9 at Lumen Field. The defending Super Bowl LX champions opened the season with a low-scoring home win, on a Wednesday night rather than the traditional Thursday. Sources: NFL.com, ESPN.

The San Francisco 49ers, 27-7 over the Los Angeles Rams, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday September 10. It was the first NFL regular-season game ever played in Australia, and the first of nine international games across seven countries this season. Sources: NFL.com, ESPN.

Sunday September 13 and Monday September 14. Only three games had been played before that: the Wednesday kickoff in Seattle, the Thursday game in Melbourne, and the rest of the slate fills the usual Sunday windows with Monday Night Football closing the week. Week 2 starts on Thursday September 17. Sources: NFL.com, ESPN.

The 2026 NFL regular season starts on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, with NFL Kickoff at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Unusually, the opener falls on a Wednesday rather than the traditional Thursday. The full Week 1 slate then runs through the following Monday. Sources: NFL.com, NFL Media.

The Seattle Seahawks host the New England Patriots in Seattle on Wednesday, September 9. The Seahawks earn the opener as reigning champions: the NFL always gives the Kickoff Game to the winner of the previous Super Bowl, and Seattle won Super Bowl LX. Sources: NFL.com.

The Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl LX, which is why they host the 2026 NFL Kickoff Game. They begin the 2026 season as defending champions with the target on their back, and open at home against New England. Source: NFL.com.

Super Bowl LXI is on Sunday, February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, kicking off at approximately 6:30 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN. It is the first Super Bowl ever played on Valentine's Day and the latest calendar date the game has ever been held, a knock-on effect of the 18-week regular season. Sources: NFL.com, Wikipedia.

Each team plays 17 games over an 18-week regular season, with one bye week. The format has been in place since 2021, when the league moved from 16 games to 17. The 2026 regular season runs from September 9, 2026 to January 10, 2027. Sources: NFL.com.

A record nine games are played abroad, spread across seven countries: Melbourne (49ers at Rams, September 10, the first NFL regular-season game in Australia), Rio de Janeiro (Ravens vs Cowboys at the Maracanã, September 27), three games in London at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley through October, Paris (Steelers vs Saints at the Stade de France, October 25, a first in France), Madrid (Bengals vs Falcons at the Bernabéu, November 8), Munich (Patriots vs Lions at the Allianz Arena, November 15) and Mexico City (Vikings vs 49ers at Estadio Banorte, November 22). Sources: NFL Media, NFL Operations.

Wild Card weekend is January 16-18, 2027, the Divisional round is January 23-24, and the Conference Championship games are on January 31. Super Bowl LXI follows two weeks later, on February 14. Sources: NFL.com, Wikipedia.

Several changes were approved for 2026. Onside kicks are now allowed at any point in a game, rather than only by a trailing team in the fourth quarter. Replay officials can now initiate a discussion about an ejection even when no flag was thrown on the field. The kickoff formation was adjusted to require five players rather than six at the setup line. And first-round draft picks now have eight minutes on the clock instead of ten. Source: NFL.com.

In the United States the package is split as usual between CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN/ABC and Amazon Prime Video, with the Kickoff Game on NBC and Peacock and Super Bowl LXI on ABC and ESPN. A notable change for 2026: ESPN has taken over distribution of NFL Network and NFL RedZone, which shifts where a lot of out-of-market coverage now lives. Sources: NFL.com, NFL Media.

Because of the 18-week regular season and the current playoff structure. With the regular season now finishing on January 10 and three rounds of playoffs plus the customary bye week before the final, the game lands on February 14, 2027, the latest date in Super Bowl history. Sources: NFL.com, Wikipedia.

Yes, and it is a first. The Pittsburgh Steelers face the New Orleans Saints at the Stade de France on October 25, 2026, the NFL's first ever regular-season game played in France. It is part of the league's record nine-game international slate for the season. Sources: NFL Media, NFL Operations.

Fourteen, seven from each conference. The top seed in each conference gets a first-round bye, and the remaining six teams per conference play on Wild Card weekend. The bracket then narrows through the Divisional round and the Conference Championship games to the two Super Bowl teams. Source: NFL.com.

It has already started. The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game opened the exhibition schedule on Thursday, August 6, 2026, in Canton, Ohio. The three regular preseason weeks then run from August 13 to August 29, with all 32 teams playing three games each, 48 games in total plus the Hall of Fame Game. Sources: NFL.com, FOX Sports.

The Carolina Panthers beat the Arizona Cardinals 33-30 in Canton on August 6. Rookie quarterback Haynes King ran in a 5-yard touchdown with no time left to win it, finishing 21 of 34 for 180 yards and two passing touchdowns plus 39 rushing yards. Cardinals third-round pick Carson Beck was the other story, completing 15 of 19 for 188 yards and a touchdown on his NFL debut. Sources: NFL.com, ESPN, Yahoo Sports.

No. Preseason results have no bearing on the standings, playoff seeding or any tiebreaker. What they decide is the roster: teams use the three exhibition weeks to evaluate rookies, undrafted free agents and depth players before cutting down to the 53-man regular-season roster at the end of August. Starters typically play very limited snaps, if any. Source: NFL.com.

All 32 teams must be down to 53 players by Sunday, August 30, 2026, at 6 p.m. ET (5 p.m. CT). That is earlier than the usual Tuesday deadline, a direct consequence of the season opening on a Wednesday. Waiver claims are due at noon CT on Monday, August 31, and practice squads are built once players clear. Sources: NFL.com, Raiders.com.

Teams carry up to 90 players through the preseason and must cut to 53 in a single deadline, rather than in stages. Any player with fewer than four accrued seasons goes on waivers, where clubs claim in reverse order of last season's standings; veterans with four or more seasons become free agents immediately. After waivers clear, teams sign back up to 16 players to a practice squad, and most of the Monday and Tuesday churn is exactly that. Sources: NFL.com, NFL Operations.

It opens with the Kickoff Game on Wednesday, September 9, Seahawks against Patriots in Seattle. The following night the league plays its first regular-season game in Australia, 49ers against Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 10. The main Sunday slate is September 13, with Monday Night Football on September 14 closing the week. Sources: NFL.com, NFL Media.

Most leagues draft in the last week of August and the first days of September, after the 53-man cuts on August 30 clarify who actually has a roster spot. Drafting before cutdown day is the classic mistake: a promising camp name can be waived on the Sunday and be worthless by the Wednesday opener. Source: NFL.com.

A group of up to 16 players kept outside the 53-man active roster, signed after waivers clear at the start of September. They practise with the team, can be elevated to the game-day roster up to three times each per season without a contract change, and can be signed away by another club to its active roster at any point. It is where most undrafted rookies who survive camp actually land. Sources: NFL.com, NFL Operations.

The 49ers against the Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 10 is streamed on Netflix, which carries it rather than a traditional US network. Kickoff is 8:35 p.m. ET, which is the middle of the day on September 11 in Australia. It is the first NFL regular-season game ever played in Australia. Sources: NFL Media, NFL.com.

8:20 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, September 9, Seahawks against Patriots at Lumen Field, on NBC and Peacock. Pre-game coverage starts earlier in the evening, and the broadcast window usually runs past 11:30 p.m. ET. Sources: NFL.com, NFL Media.

The league has not published a single stated reason. What the schedule shows is that Thursday September 10 is taken by the Melbourne game, the first NFL regular-season game in Australia, so the traditional Thursday opener slot was not free. The Kickoff Game therefore moved to Wednesday September 9. Sources: NFL.com, NFL Media.