The NFL is back, and the road to Super Bowl LXI officially begins this week.
Kickoff Weekend launches a 272-game regular-season journey for the league’s 32 teams, culminating with Super Bowl LXI on Feb. 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.
Week 1 wastes little time delivering marquee matchups. The defending champion Seattle Seahawks host the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl LX rematch, the NFL plays its first regular-season game in Australia, and several division rivals meet under the primetime spotlight.
Patriots-Seahawks Open With Super Bowl LX Rematch
One of Week 1’s biggest games arrives Wednesday night when the Seattle Seahawks host the New England Patriots at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC in a rematch of Super Bowl LX.
Seattle defeated New England 29-13 to capture last season’s championship.
It will be only the third Week 1 game in NFL history featuring the previous season’s Super Bowl participants, joining Kansas City-Minnesota in 1970 and Carolina-Denver in 2016.
The Wednesday kickoff is also just the second NFL season-opening game played on a Wednesday, following Cowboys-Giants in 2012.
Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold enters the season after becoming only the fourth quarterback in NFL history to win a Super Bowl during his first season with a team.
Wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is also coming off a historic campaign. He led the NFL with a franchise-record 1,793 receiving yards before helping Seattle win the championship.
New England quarterback Drake Maye, meanwhile, led all NFL quarterbacks with a 113.5 passer rating in 2025 while pacing the AFC with 31 touchdown passes and 4,394 passing yards.
The Patriots could also debut one of their biggest offseason additions, wide receiver A.J. Brown.
NFL Makes History With First Regular-Season Game in Australia
The league breaks new international ground Thursday when the San Francisco 49ers face the Los Angeles Rams at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The 8:35 p.m. ET matchup on Netflix will mark the first NFL regular-season game ever played in Australia.
It also features a pair of NFC West rivals that reached the playoffs last season and have produced plenty of close games, with four of their past five meetings decided by six points or fewer.
The Rams enter 2026 loaded with star power.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford is coming off an Associated Press MVP season in which he led the NFL with 4,707 passing yards and 46 touchdown passes.
Los Angeles also added reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, who recorded 23 sacks with Cleveland in 2025.
Then there’s the return of Aaron Donald, who is back with the Rams after retiring following the 2024 season. Donald recorded a franchise-record 111 sacks during his first 11 seasons with Los Angeles and is one of only three players to win Defensive Player of the Year three times.
With Garrett and Donald together, the Rams become the first team in NFL history to feature two players who have each won multiple Defensive Player of the Year awards.
Offensively, Puka Nacua returns after leading the league with 129 receptions last season, while Davante Adams led the NFL with 14 touchdown catches.
San Francisco counters with running back Christian McCaffrey, who amassed 2,126 scrimmage yards last season, and wide receiver Mike Evans, who could make his 49ers debut.
Cowboys-Giants Renew NFC East Rivalry
The Dallas Cowboys visit the New York Giants Sunday night at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC in one of Week 1’s featured divisional games.
It will be the 12th time the longtime NFC East rivals have met on Kickoff Weekend and their seventh Week 1 primetime matchup.
Dallas owns a 10-1 record against New York in season-opening meetings and has won the past three Week 1 matchups between the teams.
The game also marks John Harbaugh’s debut as Giants head coach following his 18-season tenure in Baltimore.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott enters the matchup having thrown multiple touchdown passes in four of his past five Sunday Night Football appearances.
Broncos-Chiefs Meet on Monday Night Football
Another division rivalry takes center stage Monday when the Denver Broncos visit the Kansas City Chiefs at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC.
Surprisingly, it will mark the first time Denver and Kansas City have faced one another on Monday Night Football in Week 1.
Denver has won four of the past five meetings between the AFC West rivals, although Kansas City has captured eight of their past nine primetime matchups.
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce enters the season with 13,002 career receiving yards and needs only 45 to pass Jason Witten for second place on the NFL’s all-time list among tight ends. Only Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez would remain ahead of him.
Denver quarterback Bo Nix enters his third season after helping the Broncos win the AFC West and 14 games in 2025.
Bills-Texans Highlight AFC Matchups
Two 2025 playoff teams meet Sunday afternoon when the Buffalo Bills visit the Houston Texans at 1 p.m. ET on CBS.
Houston has defeated Buffalo by four points or fewer in each of their past two meetings.
Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud enters his fourth season after becoming one of only four starting quarterbacks in league history to win a playoff game in each of his first three seasons.
Buffalo’s Josh Allen accounted for 39 touchdowns last season, including 25 through the air and 14 on the ground. It marked his third consecutive season with at least 25 touchdown passes and 10 rushing scores, the most such seasons by a quarterback in NFL history.
Bears and Panthers Meet After Remarkable Turnarounds
The Chicago Bears visit the Carolina Panthers at 1 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX in another matchup featuring two 2025 playoff teams.
Both franchises won division championships last season after finishing last or tied for last in their respective divisions in 2024.
Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams has an opportunity to become the first player in NFL history to record at least 3,500 passing yards, 20 touchdown passes and 10 or fewer interceptions in each of his first three seasons.
Williams, 24, will oppose 25-year-old Panthers quarterback Bryce Young in a matchup of former No. 1 overall draft picks.
Four Head Coaches Make Team Debuts
Week 1 will also feature several new faces on NFL sidelines.
Atlanta’s Kevin Stefanski and Pittsburgh’s Mike McCarthy make their debuts with their respective clubs when the Falcons visit the Steelers Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
Later Sunday, Klint Kubiak makes his head-coaching debut with the Las Vegas Raiders against fellow first-time head coach Jeff Hafley and the Miami Dolphins.
NFL’s Competitive Balance Resets the Field
If recent history is any indication, the 14 teams that eventually reach the postseason won’t simply be a repeat of last year’s field.
For 36 consecutive seasons, at least four teams have qualified for the playoffs after missing the postseason the previous year. Six teams accomplished the feat in 2025: Carolina, Chicago, Jacksonville, New England, San Francisco and Seattle.
The NFL has also produced at least two new division champions in 23 consecutive seasons, with seven new division winners emerging last year.
Perhaps most remarkably, at least one team has reached the playoffs after finishing last or tied for last in its division in 27 of the past 30 seasons.
That unpredictability begins again in Week 1, as 32 teams start their pursuit of a trip to Super Bowl LXI in Southern California.
Source: NFL
Photo: Wikipedia Commons
