The final four months of the year will be headlined in part by the NFL regular season, as it is every year. So, the release of the schedule is always exciting. The full 2026 NFL schedule includes a Super Bowl rematch to kick off the season, the most stacked holiday schedule—all of Thanksgiving Eve, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day—yet, and what should be a bunch of exciting games from Week 1 to Week 18.
Here’s the full schedule grid, which is always one of the best ways to view the NFL regular season schedule:
🚨 THE GRID – all 272 regular season games for the 2026 @NFL regular season 🚨 pic.twitter.com/E9xWUxaoH8
— Jack Andrade (@RealJackAndrade) May 15, 2026
As mentioned, holiday games are arguably the highlight. The NFL went all out with how it scheduled those games. Thanksgiving Eve is a new slot, and it’ll feature two hopeful NFC contenders in the Packers and the Rams. Thanksgiving itself is insane, with Bears-Lions, Eagles-Cowboys, and a stunner with NBC getting Chiefs-Bills to cap things off.
Then on Christmas Eve, the Eagles will host the Texans on Thursday Night Football. That’ll be followed up by a Christmas Day schedule of Packers-Bears, Bills-Broncos, and Rams-Seahawks. How loaded is that stretch?
The NFL certainly leans into the holidays more each year, and it makes sense from a business perspective. After the games were disappointing last Christmas, these should be much safer choices.
Netflix is becoming a huge partner for the NFL, getting that first Thanksgiving Eve game and the first two Christmas games again. They also get the Thursday night Week 1 Australia game between the 49ers and Rams and a Saturday Week 18 game.
The league will also have a record nine international games this fall.
And it all begins on Wednesday, September 9 when the defending champion Seahawks host the Patriots in the 2026 NFL Kickoff Game on NBC.