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I suppose you would say that I’ve modified my tune over time in terms of schedule launch. Just a yr in the past, I in contrast it to a pizzeria revealing its menu (shock: pizza). But as I’ve realized over time, having talked to many coaches and gamers, that the order during which recognized video games are positioned, how far these video games are from a rising slate of worldwide video games and which worldwide video games the workforce is chosen for issues an amazing deal. In reality, it may be largely predictive of how the approaching season will play out, as I wrote extra about this week.
What hasn’t modified is the best way I have a look at “great” video games. I might merely write a put up concerning the “best” video games of the upcoming season and simply listing the prime-time individuals in some order. This is actually what the networks do because the clamor for profitable and dependable tv programming hits a fever pitch. But my definition of “great” can carry many alternative connotations. What is at stake, each domestically and globally? Whose success and failure does this matchup actually boil all the way down to? Writing concerning the NFL has given me an exquisite alternative to view even the worst soccer at its highest stakes. I hope by looking at my finest 11 video games of the season (listed right here in chronological order), you’ll agree.
2026 NFL schedule | AFC report predictions | NFC report predictions | The Rams and the league’s ‘creative Super Bowl’
Week 2: Lions at Bills, Thursday at 8:15 p.m. ET
I’m not usually a brand new stadium man. The different day, an aggregation outlet posted an inventory of the ten most “iconic” NFL stadiums, they usually virtually all seemed like some company insurance coverage associate rebranding, and one of many stadiums listed was MetLife—a huge cheese grater that swallows up some of the stunning skylines on this planet. Most of them have been constructed after 1990 and had all of the traits of faux barnwood. But the Bills deserved a brand new stadium. The authentic Highmark had opened in 1973 (as Rich Stadium), throughout that hideous period of stadium building that made all the pieces appear to be an unsafe spaceship.
Seeing the Bills open their new place in a stand-alone Monday evening recreation towards the Lions will, on the very least, be extremely aesthetically pleasing. This is the one spot on this listing that I’ll enable the matchup to be secondary (although on this case it is a pair of groups which were contenders who’ve failed in recent times to recover from the hump and into the Super Bowl). Football is nice as a result of it’s completely suited to tv, and a few newer stadiums handle to offer the printed expertise a theatrical really feel. I’d count on as a lot for the opening of the brand new stadium, although I’ll possible plan on muting a big phase of the printed during which I’m positive the commentators will make the entire thing appear to be a benevolent reward from possession when a big quantity of it was funded by the state of New York.
Week 3: Eagles at Bears, Monday at 8:15 p.m. ET
Beating the Eagles in a stand-alone Black Friday recreation was a cut-through-the-clutter win for Chicago in 2025 after having overwhelmed a handful of lesser groups. This yr it is going to be an early-season Monday Night Football contest that may present a vital temperature examine because it pertains to the well being of Jalen Hurts’s relationship with new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, towards the well being of a Bears protection that in all probability wanted extra reinforcements than it bought this offseason. Obviously, extra consideration is positioned on the previous, with anemic prime-time performances usually serving because the launching level for mass Eagles hysteria associated to the age-old query of whether or not the offense is ineffective due to Hurts’s preferences, or if that has been a handy excuse for sure coordinators that haven’t carried out effectively. On its face, a Ben Johnson vs. Vic Fangio matchup is beautiful with none added elements. But this seems like it is going to be the primary prime-time recreation of the season that harbors the load of actual penalties for the workforce that loses.
Week 5: Texans at Titans, Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET
I’d be completely shocked if DeMeco Ryans’s and Matt Burke’s unit in Houston doesn’t end because the league’s No. 1 protection. On paper, this is among the most proficient defenses heading right into a season that we’ve seen up to now decade. And it’s price noting how effectively Cam Ward fares towards that protection a few month right into a pivotal second yr. The Titans needed to erase almost all the pieces about Ward’s first season, which is simply concerning the worst case situation for a No. 1 choose. While the depth of dysfunction wasn’t, say, Trevor Lawrence and Urban Meyer–esque, Ward was left to fend for himself in an offense that not often offered smart solutions.
The Texans are certain to make any younger quarterback look silly, however with Brian Daboll helming the Titans’ offense and Tennessee investing in a real No. 1 vast receiver in Carnell Tate with the No. 4 choose, the query turns into: How silly? Ward’s efficiency towards the Texans improved recreation over recreation considerably in 2025, together with his first recreation towards Ryans leading to a shutout and a career-worst 35.4 quarterback ranking. The second recreation noticed the Titans claw inside three factors, Ward throw a landing and no interceptions, and full virtually 65% of his passes.
Week 6: Jaguars vs. Texans (London), Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET
Not to overload this slate with Texans speak, or the AFC South for that matter, however right here’s yet one more. The Texans and Jaguars went a few pivotal offseason a lot in a different way. Jacksonville leaned on its course of, comfortably let go of some key contributors and honed in on a hyper-specific draft technique that noticed common supervisor James Gladstone taking gamers that have been, maybe, not essentially aligned with the nationwide consensus. To be honest to Gladstone, he’s not an outlier. Coaches from the Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay bushes, like Jacksonville head coach Liam Coen, have had a bent to seek for hyper-specific traits, which might weigh their significance in terms of a workforce’s particular grading scale. This is a rambling means of claiming that the Texans wanted offensive line assist, for instance, and signed a handful of gamers we’re accustomed to. The Jaguars wanted assist, too, however opted for in-house reinforcements. This recreation is necessary as a result of it’s a benchmark in a burgeoning rivalry and a official postseason take a look at for 2 groups that ought to have sensible, deep postseason aspirations. It will even present proof of idea from two groups approaching a winnable division and vast open convention with differing urgency.
Week 10: Lions vs. Patriots (Munich), Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET
My working idea is that even preseason power of schedule, which individuals usually calculate based mostly on the earlier season’s information, issues to a point. The 49ers and Patriots had the 2 best strengths of schedule going into final yr, and San Francisco was capable of climate some horrendous luck on the harm entrance, whereas the Patriots have been capable of glide to a completely surprising Super Bowl berth in Mike Vrabel’s first season.
This yr, it’s the Lions who personal the very best theoretical power of schedule, whereas additionally boasting a brand new offensive coordinator (Drew Petzing) and a renovated offensive line. Last season, a lot of Detroit’s struggles have been blamed on mind drain, as Ben Johnson took a job inside the division and Aaron Glenn left to turn out to be the top coach of the Jets. However, much less is claimed about the truth that Detroit went into the season with the league’s third-hardest schedule when it comes to carryover win proportion and took on a slate of video games that provided little or no when it comes to respite. Seeing the Lions towards a workforce that represented the AFC within the Super Bowl can and may supply a type of recalibration of optics—even when that recreation is in Germany on what quantities to a impartial subject. Here is a workforce that in all probability benefited an excessive amount of from a schedule and bought overrated versus a workforce whose theoretical window was obliterated by a tough schedule, however is probably not almost as unhealthy as we expect. Vegas appears to agree, with the Lions’ season win whole set at 10.5 and the Patriots’ at 9.5.
Week 10: Seahawks at Raiders, Sunday at 4:05 p.m. ET
How is Maxx Crosby doing? It’s a good query, particularly after this matchup towards the Seahawks, which can be lower than 48 hours earlier than the commerce deadline. Obviously, the priority with Crosby’s knee is long-term and, at the very least within the eyes of the medical neighborhood, extra of a matter of danger evaluation. If Crosby has eight sacks on the deadline and is then only a yr and alter away from being at a cut-off level in his contract, is he price a first-round choose and maybe some extra sweetener (the Ravens’ deserted pact with Las Vegas mirrored an asking value of two first-round picks, which was a step down from the Micah Parsons deal)? If he begins sluggishly after which pummels Charles Cross on this specific week, will it revive the market? The onus is, sadly, on the participant to remain injury-free in a league with a 100% harm fee. Crosby might maintain an harm that’s primarily unrelated to his surgically repaired knee and nonetheless obtain discriminatory therapy from groups that received’t need to half with priceless (for now) 2027 draft capital. This can be a pleasant analysis level. Is Crosby nonetheless double-teamed persistently? Has he maintained his efficacy, particularly towards the run? Does he match into the brand new ecosystem being put in round Fernando Mendoza? This is the ultimate likelihood to point out contenders searching for an in-season improve.
Week 12: Commanders at Cardinals, Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET
This is, on the floor, a Sonny Styles vs. Jeremiyah Love choice, but it surely additionally branches into some broader ideas concerning the state of each franchises. Arizona’s schedule this season is, by all accounts, completely brutal. The Cardinals have one of many hardest preseason strengths of schedule, and there was virtually no means for schedule-makers to protect them from weeks- and months-long hailstorms (that is what occurs when three of the opposite groups in your division are Super Bowl contenders and also you additionally face a division just like the AFC West, during which three of these groups are Super Bowl contenders).
The Commanders have been, on paper at the very least, one of many worst defenses within the NFL final yr and enter the 2026 season as such (the Jets have been additionally very unhealthy, however we’ve put one Jets recreation too many on this listing). So, I’m marking this recreation by myself private viewing calendar as a result of I need to see how a flexible linebacker like Styles—who’s billed as somebody who makes the Commanders’ protection far much less weak towards backs who can influence the passing recreation like Love—suggestions the scales towards … Love himself. Love is billed (by me particularly) as one of many higher short-yardage backs we’ve seen popping out of the draft up to now 5 years. One of his fundamental attracts is his capacity to create yards in unfavorable circumstances, and the Cardinals are a workforce that desperately wants assist in producing offense. Love was the selection with the No. 3 choose after a determined interval of making an attempt to commerce down over a number of promising offensive line candidates.
Week 14: Giants at Seahawks, Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET
Brian Daboll by no means had an offensive line ok to cease the onslaught. This was true for Daniel Jones, who redeveloped poor habits and tried to make use of his mobility to the purpose of self-destruction. This was true regardless of the years during which the workforce had been boasting about identity-building on the place. Going again to 2015, we’ve seen the Giants line up Ereck Flowers, Will Hernandez, Andrew Thomas, Matt Peart, Evan Neal, Joshua Ezeudu, John Michael-Schmitz and now Francis Mauigoa, because the workforce continues to try a sea change in physicality (or merely functionality) up entrance. Jaxson Dart was cellular sufficient in his rookie season to reduce the quarterback loss of life march, ending as one of many seven most prolific sack avoiders within the NFL.
All of that’s to say that this recreation will characteristic new head coach, John Harbaugh, a brand new offensive line coach, Mike Bloomgren, and Mauigoa towards the very best protection within the NFL and, fairly probably, some of the maddening defensive fronts we’ve seen up to now half-decade {of professional} soccer. The Seahawks are extremely well-versed in dissecting a line participant by participant and exposing gaping weaknesses. I label this among the best video games of the season as a result of it’s an exquisite proof-of-concept matchup for the younger Harbaugh regime. Did promoting out for the biggest-named coach within the cycle yield what the Giants so desperately wished straight away, which was to play in video games like this and preserve their followers’ curiosity at the very least by means of the top of the third quarter?
Week 15: 49ers at Chargers, Thursday at 8:15 p.m. ET
In the prodigal son bowl, Mike McDaniel will host former boss and mentor Kyle Shanahan with an offense that McDaniel could have solely conjured in a NyQuil-induced fever dream. The Chargers are almost as deep as McDaniel’s Dolphins groups when it comes to footspeed on the playmaking positions and are eons deeper when it comes to offensive line depth, physicality and quarterback play. This would be the finest set of instruments at McDaniel’s disposal since he coordinated the run recreation for … Shanahan and the 49ers.
Similarly, the 49ers needs to be sporting a extra advanced offense that takes the stress off Christian McCaffrey. Mike Evans is essentially the most archetypal Shanahan receiver to truly play for him since Julio Jones. And whereas it’s necessary for us to mood our pleasure based mostly on Evans’s age, the 49ers are doing in 2026 what I’d hoped they might do in ’25: pour as many assets as doable into the chance that that is actually the final likelihood to win a Super Bowl with Trent Williams, George Kittle, McCaffrey and Kyle Juszczyk. I do know we’ve been saying this about each iteration of the Chargers since 2017, however this workforce has the possibility to be spectacular and will take over as a No. 1 appointment viewing entity based mostly on how effectively the McDaniel–Justin Herbert relationship goes.
Week 16: Rams at Seahawks, Friday (Christmas) at 8:15 p.m. ET
This one is simple. Just because the Rams-Seahawks trilogy was, in impact, the 2025 NFL championship, their first assembly subsequent season (the second is in Week 18) can be a precursor to a official playoff recreation, assuming each groups keep wholesome. Seattle will endure one thing of an offensive adjustment interval below new coordinator Brian Fleury, and the Rams will enter the season as unquestioned Super Bowl favorites after retaining their whole 2025 employees and making night-and-day enhancements to their secondary. But to imagine the Seahawks will sit on their arms schematically after clobbering New England within the Super Bowl is a mistake.
Every yr on this train, I choose one recreation that I consider will encapsulate the story {of professional} soccer in a single tidy three-hour window. While, sadly, I’ll most definitely watch this on tape delay (we’re an open Christmas presents when the solar goes down type of household, and Netflix went above and past to avoid wasting the flatlining Christmas soccer collection after a dismal 2025 the place accidents decimated each video games), I can assure that it is a matchup between essentially the most copied offense (Rams) and most copied protection (Seahawks) within the NFL.
Week 17: Ravens at Bengals, Thursday at 8:15 p.m. ET
I do know it is a good distance out to undertaking a Bengals workforce as related, given the unreliability of quarterback Joe Burrow, who has began 10 or fewer video games in two of the previous three seasons. That mentioned, the Bengals and Ravens have the 2 finest odds to win the AFC North. While I believe the Browns will overperform their anticipated 6.5 win whole, I don’t suppose it is going to be sufficient to issue into the playoff dialog. Similarly, I’d count on Pittsburgh to underperform its projected 8.5 win whole, leaving the Bengals and Ravens in a New Year’s Eve recreation that might basically be a win-and-in situation just like the Ravens-Steelers matchup final yr. Cincinnati was one in all my most clearly improved groups this offseason, and I believe its rotational cross rush will problem a newly rebuilt Ravens offensive line. Plus, there’s all the time the chance that new Raven Trey Hendrickson punishes a workforce he has lengthy harbored some resentment towards, given how his contract scenario with the Bengals ended. Baltimore can be price watching all season, having modified head coaches for the primary time in almost twenty years, however this can be an important late-season take a look at outlining how the experiment goes by means of 16 video games.
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