Details of the 2026 NFL schedule continue to trickle out, with the schedule set to officially be released on Thursday, May 14.
For example, we know that the first-ever NFL game in Australia will feature the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers on Thursday, Sept. 10. We also know that the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants will open the Sunday Night Football season, the Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills will open the Thursday Night Football season in Week 2 for the first-ever game at Highmark Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens will play the first-ever NFL game in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the Cowboys will host the Philadelphia Eagles on Thanksgiving Day.
But the NFL season opener, which will be televised by NBC on Wednesday, Sept. 9, has remained a mystery, aside from the knowledge that the defending champion Seattle Seahawks will host the game.
Kirk Minihane, a Barstool Sports podcaster and former radio host in Boston for WEEI, says that the Seahawks will be playing the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl LX rematch to open the 2026 NFL season.
“Patriots will open the season in Seattle on 9/9, per sources,” Minihane posted to X.
Patriots will open the season in Seattle on 9/9, per sources.
— Kirk Minihane (@kirkmin) May 11, 2026
The Seahawks’ 2026 home opponents are the Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots, New York Giants, and San Francisco 49ers.
Seattle can’t play the Rams, 49ers, Cowboys, and Giants in the opener, because those teams already have Week 1 games.
That leaves the Bears, Cardinals, Chargers, Chiefs, and Patriots as possibilities.
The Cardinals look like possibly the worst team in the league, so it’s been easy to assume it won’t be them. Patrick Mahomes is recovering from a torn ACL that has his Week 1 status in question, so it’s unlikely the league would want to chance it with the Chiefs. The Chargers are a good team, but without the ratings appeal that the NFL and NBC would prefer to kick off the season.
So, that’s left the Patriots and Bears as the most sensible options.
Most of the recent rumors have speculated that the Bears, coming off a thrilling season in year two of Caleb Williams at quarterback and year one of Ben Johnson at head coach, would be the choice. They were the most entertaining team in the league last year, and they always deliver strong viewership numbers as a major-market, highly popular franchise.
ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, for example, said on Monday’s edition of The Pat McAfee Show, “My guess today, and it’s a guess, would be the Bears in Seattle on that Wednesday night game before we get to the Thursday night Rams-49ers game.”
“Every day there seems to be another element of the schedule that comes out..
We’re gonna get the international games on Wednesday..
My guess right now is that it will be the Bears in Seattle for the Wednesday night opener against the Seahawks” ~ @AdamSchefter #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/y6SVTpDI9e
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 11, 2026
But Minihane is hearing it’s the Patriots, and that would certainly be an interesting decision by the NFL and NBC.
For one, Super Bowl LX was an absolute dud, with Seattle dominating from start to finish in a 29-13 win.
And then of course there’s the saga involving NFL reporter Dianna Russini, formerly of The Athletic, and Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel.
While Roger Goodell and the NFL generally love any attention and buzz they can get, do they really want more talk about the Russini-Vrabel situation as a leading storyline going into the NFL Kickoff Game? There are already many people questioning whether Vrabel should be allowed to keep coaching the Patriots, as new details surrounding the scandal continue to come out. It’s a story that’s definitely not going away anytime soon, especially when it comes to Vrabel as the NFL season approaches.
So, to only increase that spotlight would be a fascinating, and some might say puzzling, choice by the league. It would also put more attention and pressure on NBC — with announcers Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth in the booth — for how the broadcast would address the scandal and handle coverage about Vrabel.
We’ll get firm answers on the season opener and the entire schedule release over the next few days.