NFL (2026-2027 Season)

[ZLoth]

What is in store for the NFL 2026-2027 season?

[JayhawkCO]

What is in store for the NFL 2026-2027 season?

Me paying less attention than ever probably. I've sworn off fantasy football, which was the main reason I still paid some notice to what was going on.

[jgb191]

Well the Texans play the AFC North and the NFC East, so our schedule would look something like this:

HOME GAMES
NY Giants
Dallas Cowboys
Cincinnati Bengals
Baltimore Ravens
LA Chargers

AWAY GAMES
at Green Bay Packers
at Cleveland Browns
at Pittsburgh Steelers
at Buffalo Bills
at Washington Commanders
at Philadelphia Eagles

Along with our annual division games

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The Houston Texans have never beaten the Philadelphia Eagles in their entire franchise history!  Please remember that critical fact this coming fall when they square off against each other.

[NWI_Irish96]

Vikings did themselves a disservice by beating the Packers to end the season. That locked up 3rd place, which brings with it 2026 games against the Commanders, 49ers and Colts.

The Lions finished last and instead get games against the Giants, Cardinals and Titans.

[JayhawkCO]

Vikings did themselves a disservice by beating the Packers to end the season. That locked up 3rd place, which brings with it 2026 games against the Commanders, 49ers and Colts.

The Lions finished last and instead get games against the Giants, Cardinals and Titans.

My Vikings? Doing themself a disservice? Never....

[ZLoth]

I've sworn off fantasy football, which was the main reason I still paid some notice to what was going on.

I hardly watched the games this season beyond the highlight reels. As for fantasy football, I haven't even looked at it because I felt it was time sink.

[JayhawkCO]

I've sworn off fantasy football, which was the main reason I still paid some notice to what was going on.

I hardly watched the games this season beyond the highlight reels. As for fantasy football, I haven't even looked at it because I felt it was time sink.

The only sport I really care about at this point is soccer. I have a passing interest in both college and pro basketball, but nothing compared to how I used to feel about NFL.

[ZLoth]

For the Cowboys.... beyond the usual NFC East opponents, we have the NFC West and AFC South, plus two second-place NFC teams and one second-place AFC team.

Home

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2nd Place - NFC South)
• Arizona Cardinals (4th Place - NFC West)
• San Francisco 49ers (3rd Place - NFC West)
• Jacksonville Jaguars (1st Place - AFC South)
• Tennessee Titans (4th Place - AFC South)
• Baltimore Ravens (2nd Place - AFC North)

Away

• Green Bay Packers (2nd Place - NFC North)
• Seattle Seahawks (1st Place - NFC West)
• Los Angeles Rams (2nd Place - NFC West)
• Houston Texans (2nd Place - AFC South)
• Indianapolis Colts (3rd Place - AFC South)

[gonealookin]

The Las Vegas Raiders will still suck.

In 23 seasons since their Super Bowl loss following the 2002 season, the Raiders have 2 winning seasons, 3 .500 seasons at 8-8, and 18 losing seasons.  Those two winning seasons (12-4 in 2016 and 10-7 in 2021) ended with one-and-done losses in the Wild Card round.  They have had 14 head coaches in those 23 years and are currently looking for #15, which suggests that the head coach might not be the fundamental problem.

They drafted a top college running back, Ashton Jeanty, who would probably be valuable on a good team with an actual offensive line, but on the Raiders he consistently got blown up behind the line of scrimmage.  If they use their #1 draft pick on a quarterback, he would likely suffer the same fate.

They should probably trade that #1 pick and Maxx Crosby and draft a whole bunch of quality offensive linemen.  Just rent a Geno Smith-type QB for next year.  Once those offensive linemen have a year of experience, then they could draft some skill-position players and start building a legitimate offense.

[webny99]

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The Houston Texans have never beaten the Philadelphia Eagles in their entire franchise history!  Please remember that critical fact this coming fall when they square off against each other.

Well, the New York Jets went 0-12 against the Eagles over a 40-year span starting in 1973 before finally beating them in 2023, so it could be worse.

[Ted$8roadFan]

John Harbaugh is out as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. He has been there since 2008.

[ZLoth]

John Harbaugh is out as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. He has been there since 2008.

Maybe he and Jim can team up.

[Great Lakes Roads]

Steelers schedule in 2026-2027 NFL season:

HOME
Ravens
Bengals
Browns
Falcons
Panthers
Broncos
Texans
Colts

AWAY
Ravens
Bengals
Browns
Jaguars
Patriots
Saints
Eagles
Buccaneers
Titans

Looking at this schedule in person, it's honestly not too bad! We might win 9-12 games.

[webny99]

Looking at this schedule in person...

How else would one look at a schedule? 

[Henry]

John Harbaugh is out as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. He has been there since 2008.

Maybe he and Jim can team up.

Not on Jim's life! If he has his way, John's next job will be in the NFC; that way, they can once again be the coaching equivalent of the Mannings (remember 2013?).

[ZLoth]

Not on Jim's life! If he has his way, John's next job will be in the NFC; that way, they can once again be the coaching equivalent of the Mannings (remember 2013?).

It was a speculative jest since both brothers faced each other in a Super Bowl. John would be a good addition to any NFL team.

And, it bothers me to have a "one-and-done" head coach. A certain legendary head coach's first season was an abysmal 2-14 which was the team's second consecutive 2-14 year. The following year, they improved to 6-10. The year after that, they won the Super Bowl.

[webny99]

Drama unfolding in NFL free agency as the Ravens have supposedly backed out from a reported deal to trade for Raiders DE Maxx Crosby for two first-round picks: https://www.nfl.com/news/raiders-ravens-backed-out-of-trade-for-pass-rusher-maxx-crosby

[1995hoo]

I just realized I posted the following in last season's thread instead of the current one, so I'll just quote it here. The reports say this could take effect as early as this fall's season.

Multiple reports this morning (here's one from ESPN) say the NFL is considering adding a game the night before Thanksgiving, i.e., Wednesday night.

I think it's a terrible idea, at least in the northeastern part of the country. Traffic is already horrendous that night with Thanksgiving travel and now you want to mix in NFL traffic? Anyone who's passed through Baltimore or the DC area the night before Thanksgiving would shudder at the thought.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

My first thought was because it's the largest drinking night of the year that the NFL sees a captive audience there, but it's still an incredibly stupid idea.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

One problem I'm already seeing with how they're going to do this are logistics. The NFL can't play the Saturday before Thanksgiving because it falls in the Sports Broadcasting Act window. The teams involved would almost have to be coming off a bye.

[kphoger]

The NFL can't play the Saturday before Thanksgiving because it falls in the Sports Broadcasting Act window.

They can play, just not televise.

[1995hoo]

One problem I'm already seeing with how they're going to do this are logistics. The NFL can't play the Saturday before Thanksgiving because it falls in the Sports Broadcasting Act window. The teams involved would almost have to be coming off a bye.

Maybe they could play the Thursday before. We've already seen Dallas routinely seems to play a Thanksgiving game and then a Thursday night game the following week. So surely they could have someone else play on Thursday night the week before, then Wednesday night, and then the standard schedule the following weekend.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The NFL can't play the Saturday before Thanksgiving because it falls in the Sports Broadcasting Act window.

They can play, just not televise.

Which means they won't play.

[kphoger]

The NFL can't play the Saturday before Thanksgiving because it falls in the Sports Broadcasting Act window.

They can play, just not televise.

Which means they won't play.

  Well, then, they've got nobody to blame but themselves.

[1995hoo]

One problem I'm already seeing with how they're going to do this are logistics. The NFL can't play the Saturday before Thanksgiving because it falls in the Sports Broadcasting Act window. The teams involved would almost have to be coming off a bye.

Maybe they could play the Thursday before. We've already seen Dallas routinely seems to play a Thanksgiving game and then a Thursday night game the following week. So surely they could have someone else play on Thursday night the week before, then Wednesday night, and then the standard schedule the following weekend.

I realized that, as written, my comment above doesn't quite work insofar as there is normally one Thursday night game each week. It would be extraordinarily rare for the same teams to play each other in consecutive weeks (I'm sure it's happened, I just don't know when). But one solution might be to have two Thursday night games the week before Thanksgiving and then have one team from each of those play the Wednesday night game. That's not as far-fetched as it may seem. At least three times in the past several years, Dallas has hosted its traditional Thanksgiving Day game and then played again the following Thursday, so it doesn't seem out of the question to have two other teams play on Thursday night and then on Wednesday night. In terms of turnaround time, it's no different from playing on Monday night and then the following Sunday, although I suppose if neither of the teams had off the weekend before the Thursday night game they might have a legitimate complaint about back-to-back short weeks (Sunday–Thursday and then Thursday–Wednesday).