2026 NFL schedule: 20 bizarre quirks and oddities around the league

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There are always some crazy quirks when it comes to the NFL schedule, and this year is no different. Although the league office does its best to make all 32 teams happy, the fact of the matter is that making everyone happy just isn’t possible when you’re putting together a schedule that consists of 272 games.

Some teams will be happy about the quirks on their schedule while plenty of other teams won’t be.

So who got the craziest quirks? That’s a great question. Let’s find out.

Here are 20 of the weirdest quirks on the 2026 NFL schedule, starting with the New England Patriots, who got hit with a brutal slate of games to start the season.

Patriots might get off to rough start. After getting the easiest schedule in the NFL last year, the Patriots will be getting an early reality check in 2026. Their first four opponents have a combined strength of schedule of .721, which is the highest any team has faced in the first four weeks in 40 years (1986 Eagles). To make things worse, the Patriots will have to play three of their first four games on the road (at Seahawks, Steelers, at Jaguars, at Bills). The Patriots’ first three games are against teams that won their division last year, making New England the first team in six years (2019 Dolphins) to open a season with games against three straight division winners from the prior season.
Seahawks will play on six different days of the week. The Seahawks will have at least one game on every single day of the week this year, except for Tuesday, making them just the third team in 99 years to play on six different days of the week. The Seahawks will get a rare Wednesday game with their opener against the Patriots. In Week 15, they have a Saturday game against the Eagles and they follow that up with a Week 16 game on a Friday against the Rams, which will fall on Christmas. And of course, they also play on Sunday, Monday and Thursday. Only two other teams have played on six different days in a single season. Back in 1927, the New York Yankees played on every day except for Monday. In 2024, the Chiefs played on every day except for Tuesday. The Rams and Packers could also end up playing on six different days if they get flexed to a Saturday game during this season. That could happen in Week 17 or 18 for the Rams. As for the Packers, they’ll have a chance to play on Saturday in Week 18.
Ravens set up for hot start. The Ravens will open the season with SEVEN straight games against teams that finished under .500 last season, marking just the third time over the past 56 years that we’ve seen that happen. Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the 1983 Falcons and 2025 Panthers are the only teams to open with at least seven games against sub-.500 teams. The Panthers ended up winning the NFC South last year.
Wild Wednesdays. For the first time in 78 years, the NFL will be playing on TWO different Wednesday during the season. The NFL has held multiple Wednesday games in a season before, but those were played on the same day (Christmas 2024 was the last time we saw that). This year, there will be a Wednesday game in Week 1 (Patriots-Seahawks) and a Wednesday game in Week 12 (Packers-Rams). That marks the first time since 1948 that we’re seeing action on two different Wednesdays. Fittingly, the Rams were also involved in the Wednesday games back in 1948.
Rams are going primetime. If you turn on your TV at any point this fall, there’s a good chance you’re going to see the Rams. Matthew Stafford’s team will play seven primetime games, which is tied for the most in NFL history with the 2023 Bills, 2025 Chiefs and 2025 Ravens. The Rams will actually open the season with four primetime games in the first five weeks.
Steelers’ ugly Thursday winless streak could continue. Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the Steelers have gone 0-9 when they’re forced to play a Thursday night game on the road against a divisional opponent. And well, the schedule makers clearly have a sense of humor, because look at what we have here: The Steelers have been scheduled for a Thursday night divisional road game once again. The game will come against the Browns in Week 4. The Browns are actually 4-0 in franchise history in Thursday home games against the Steelers, so that matchup could be juicy.
Home sweet home for Browns. The Browns are the only team in the NFL this year that will get to play FOUR straight home games. From Week 10 (Nov. 15) thru Week 14 (Dec. 13), the Browns play four home games, plus they have a bye sandwiched in there, so they’ll go five weeks without leaving Cleveland. This will mark just the ninth time over the past 35 years that a team has been given four straight home games (2025, Titans, 2021 Ravens, 2020 Steelers, 2016 Raiders, 2016 Dolphins, 2016 Packers, 2015 Titans, 2008 Texans). Of the previous eight teams to play four straight home games, six of them went either 4-0 or 3-1 during their homestand. The Titans are the only team that didn’t finish above .500, going 0-4 in both 2015 and 2025, so the Browns just need to make sure they don’t go full Titans during that stretch.
Teams coming off international games in for a rough ride. Over the past 18 years, there had only been two instances where a team coming off an international game in Europe had to play a team coming off a bye. This year, that will happen three times. The Eagles will play in London in Week 5 and then play a Panthers team in Week 6 that will be coming off a bye. The Bengals will play in Spain in Week 9 and then play a Steelers team in Week 10 that will be coming off a bye. And finally, the Lions will play in Germany in Week 10 and following that up in Week 11 against a Bucs team coming off a bye. It’s a small sample size, but teams coming off a Europe game are 0-2 facing a team off a bye.
49ers will be racking up the frequent flier miles. No team will be doing more traveling this year than the 49ers. Kyle Shanahan’s team will be logging 38,105 miles this season, which is not only the most in the NFL, but it’s the most that any team has ever traveled in a single season in NFL history. The good news for the 49ers is that of the five teams that traveled the most miles last season, all five of them made the playoffs and San Francisco was one of them (Chargers, Rams, Seahawks, Jaguars, 49ers).
49ers making international history. Part of the reason that 49ers will be traveling so much is because they have two international games. The Niners will be playing in Australia (Week 1) and Mexico City (Week 11) and with that slate, they’ll become the first team in NFL history to play two non-consecutive international games in the same season.
Jaguars making international history. The Jaguars will be playing two games in London this year for the third time in franchise history, but this season, it’s a little different. For 2026, the Jags will be the HOME team in BOTH games, marking the first time in league history that a team has played as the home team in back-to-back international games.
Jaguars will be spending an entire month away from home. Due to their two London games, the Jags won’t play a single game in Jacksonville during the month of October. The Jags will open the month with a game in Cincinnati in Week 4. After that, they’ll head to London for two games (Eagles in Week 5, Texans in Week 6), and then they’ll close out October with a bye in Week 7. This marks the first time in seven years that a team will go a full calendar month without playing a single home game. The last time it happened came in November 2019 when both the Cardinals and Jags BOTH did it.
Two teams pulling off a holiday double-dip. The Bears and Bills will each be playing on both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. The Bills will be just the third AFC team to pull off the holiday double-dip over the past 10 years. As for the Bears, it’s not as rare in the NFC with the Cowboys and Lions both playing on Thanksgiving every year, those two teams have pulled off numerous holiday double dips, including last year when the both did it.
Home sweet home for Cardinals. When you’re an indoor team, you always want to play as many indoor games as possible late in the season and the Cardinals are definitely getting that this year. The Cards get to close out the season with an unprecedented stretch that will see them play five of their final six games at home. The Cards are the first team since the 1976 Jets to finish a season with five of their final six at home.
Panthers get rare Sunday night game. The Panthers will be hosting the Lions on Sunday night in Week 4, which will mark the first time in 10 years that they’ve played on Sunday night and the first time in 11 years that they’ve hosted a Sunday night game.
Rough road to start the season. There are only five teams in the NFL that will have to play their first TWO games on the road this year, and those teams are: the Browns, Packers, Dolphins, Saints, Commanders. Out of those five teams, the Commanders are the only one that will be facing two divisional opponents (at Eagles, at Cowboys), so they could be in a huge hole in the NFC East before the season even gets to Week 3.
Rough road to end the season. There are five teams that will close out the season with two straight road games, and those teams are: the Lions, Raiders, Eagles, Steelers, Seahawks. Someone in the NFL scheduling department must really dislike the Seahawks, because this will mark the third straight season they’ve closed out the year with two straight road games. Even worse, the Seahawks haven’t played a Week 18 game at home since 2022 and their next chance to do that won’t come until 2027.
Really rough road to end the season. We mentioned that the Lions will be closing the season with two straight games on the road, but it actually gets worse: The Lions are the only team in the NFL that has to close the season by playing THREE road divisional games in the final four weeks (at Vikings in Week 15, at Bears in Week 17, at Packers in Week 18). This is so rare that it’s only happened to two other teams over the past 10 years (2016 Raiders, 2021 Commanders).
Bye, bye, bye to the Eagles and Chargers. The Eagles and Chargers will be facing an NFL-high FOUR teams that will be coming off a bye this year, which is the most in the NFL. Last year, the Commanders were in that situation and they went 1-3 in the four games where they played against a team coming off a bye. In 2024, the 49ers also went 1-3 in that same situation. Basically, teams have struggled when they lead the league in facing opponents off a bye, so the Eagles (who will play the Panthers, Colts, Giants, Commanders) and Chargers (who will play the Chiefs, Raiders, Texans, Patriots) could be in trouble in those four games.
Bears will be well rested for their games. The Bears have the most difficult strength of schedule, but there is one upside to their difficult slate of games: They have one huge advantage over everyone else and it has to do with rest. The Bears have a +15 rest differential this year, according to ESPN, which means they’ll be getting a total of 15 more rest days than their opponents. Not only is that the highest number for any team this year, but it’s also the second-highest rest differential since the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002. The only team with a bigger rest differential over the past 24 years was the 2024 Ravens, who went 12-5. One big reason for the differential is because the Bears will face zero opponents coming off a bye. The Bears will get a full week of extra rest when they come off their own bye to face the Saints in Week 11. They also get three days of extra rest before facing the Seahawks on Monday night in Week 8. And they’ll get one extra day of rest on the Packers before their Christmas matchup in Week 16.
Five teams got shut out of primetime. When it comes to primetime games, there are five teams that didn’t end up landing a single late game: the Raiders, Jets, Titans, Dolphins and Cardinals. This marks the first time since 2011 that there were at least five teams that got shut out of primetime. The fact that the Jets got left out was especially surprising, because this marks the first time since 1981 that they weren’t given at least one primetime game.
Extra long road trip. The Browns, Jaguars and Chiefs all have one big thing in common this year: They’re the only teams in the league that got scheduled to play three straight road games. So is that a bad thing? Kind of. Over the past four seasons, we’ve seen a total of 15 teams hit with a three-game road trip and they’ve combined to go 19-26, which is a winning percentage of just .422.