The 2026 NFL schedule will be released this week on May 14th. The Seattle Seahawks, as defending Super Bowl champions already know that they will be kicking off the season on Wednesday, September 9th on NBC. Although there are rumors that the Seahawks opening night opponent will be the Chicago Bears, there is still nothing concrete.
Well, some more news came out that can concretely cross off two other potential opening night opponents for Seattle. It was announced that the New York Giants and Dallas
Cowboys will play each other on Sunday Night Football in week one. What this means for Seattle is that the only options would be the aforementioned Bears, New England Patriots, Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Arizona Cardinals. In case you don’t remember, the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers play each other in Australia on Thursday Night. Add on top of this, the Chiefs’ owner said they likely won’t be playing against the Seahawks in week one (likely due to the concern over whether Patrick Mahomes will be healthy or not).
The Cardinals are likely out since they are not considered to be at the same competitive level as the Seahawks this season. Would the NFL really want another Super Bowl matchup immediately after Seattle dominated the Patriots all 60 minutes back in February? Probably not. This likely points to why there is a lot of heat around the Bears being the choice for the opening opponent. However, don’t count the Chargers out as the choice, either. Justin Herbert (like Caleb Williams) is an exciting quarterback, and now with a new offensive coordinator, Mike McDaniel. The Chargers are in a large market, Los Angeles. And there is of course the Mike Macdonald-Jim Harbaugh connection.
All of this guess work will be over soon. Who do you think the Seahawks will play on opening night?
