The Seattle Seahawks are the Super Bowl champions, and with that, they are guaranteed to open the 2026 season on Thursday night. Here are the teams slated to travel to Seattle’s Lumen Field this upcoming season, with my thoughts on each potential matchup.
New England Patriots – A Super Bowl XL rematch would have felt more likely had last night’s game been more competitive.
Kansas City Chiefs – Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Taylor Swift will surely bring eyes to the game, but they’re coming off
a six-win season.
Los Angeles Rams – The Rams and Seahawks split in the 2025 regular season with each team winning by 2 points, before Seattle beat the Rams in the NFC Championship game, 31 to 27. But the L.A. market isn’t necessarily known for popping a huge ratings share.
Los Angeles Chargers – See last sentence above.
San Francisco 49ers – The ‘Niners also split the regular season with their NFC West rivals, but Seattle throttled them in the Divisional round, 41 to 6.
Dallas Cowboys – The Cowboys opened up the 2025 season at the Philadelphia Eagles, so I doubt they get the game again.
New York Giants – Nah.
Arizona Cardinals – Nah 2: Electric Boogaloo
Chicago Bears – If the NFL wants the team that will give them the biggest rating, then the Bears are a no-brainer: Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams, and Chicago’s offense vs Mike Macdonald and Seattle’s relentless defense.
This feels like the Bears or the Rams are the most obvious choice to open up in Seattle, but if the NFL picks the Rams (or another team), then a Bears Sunday Night Football opener against the Green Bay Packers makes a lot of sense.
One thing to keep in mind is that the NFL has been putting an International game on the first Friday of the season, and with the 49ers and Rams already announced for Melbourne, Australia, that may be the Friday night game.
