2026 NFL Schedule Release: What We’re Watching For In Every America’s Game Of The Week

For over three decades, many of the NFL’s top regular-season matchups have taken place on FOX’s “America’s Game of the Week.” That will certainly be the case for the 2026 season, too. Several of the NFL’s best teams will be featured in “America’s Game of the Week” in 2026, with FOX Sports announcing the nine games that will be featured in that window as part of Thursday’s schedule release. Six of the matchups are between division rivals, including a rematch of one of last season’s epic playoff games. And this slate doesn’t even include what will happen on Thanksgiving Day, when the Dallas Cowboys host the Philadelphia Eagles on FOX, and Christmas Day, when the Seattle Seahawks host the Los Angeles Rams on FOX. So, as we now know where Tom Brady, Kevin Burkhardt, Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi will be spending several Sundays this fall, let’s take a look at the early storylines we’re watching for in each of the America’s Game of the Week matchups announced on Thursday: The season launches with two NFC East showdowns. The Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders met twice in the final three weeks of the regular season last year, and they’re back at it in their 2026 opener. The Commanders actually opened last year 3-2 and then went 2-10 the rest of the way. Can a healthy Jayden Daniels get back to his phenomenal rookie form of 2024? Washington’s pass defense ranked 31st in average yards per pass play, so it’s a major test for them to open against an upgraded Eagles pass game, which will likely be without A.J. Brown but added first-round pick Makai Lemon and veterans Dontayvion Wicks and Hollywood Brown at wide receiver. Watch out for running back Saquon Barkley, who has averaged 143 rushing yards in his last three games against Washington, with a combined five touchdowns. The Dallas Cowboys haven’t won more than one playoff game in any season for 30 years, but one thing they can hang their hat on is handling the Washington Commanders. They swept their divisional rival last year and have an 8-2 record since the start of 2021. Dak Prescott threw for 571 yards and five touchdowns and no interceptions against Washington last year, and if the Commanders are to get back to anything closer to their 2024 breakout, they’ll need to hold their own in the division. Can rookie linebacker Sonny Styles lead a defensive bounce-back year for Washington? The Commanders ranked dead last in total defense and 31st in the red zone, and this is a chance to show what’s changed against a dangerous offense. The Green Bay Packers have been a wild-card team three years in a row, and a home division game like this is a must-win if they are going to catch the Chicago Bears for an NFC North title. The two games at Soldier Field last year were epic for Chicago’s Caleb Williams — rallying from 10 down with two minutes left to win in overtime in the regular season, then another comeback from 11 down with five minutes to play for a huge win in the playoffs. Jordan Love had three touchdown passes in last year’s win over Chicago at Lambeau Field. After 32 touchdown passes in his first year as a starter, Love has had 25 and 23 in the last two seasons. Can he find a connection with second-year receiver Matthew Golden to get back to his 2023 form? A healthy part of the Lions’ slide from 15-2 in 2024 to 9-8 in 2025 was going from sweeping the Lions to being swept. Detroit’s defense dropped from seventh in points allowed in 2024 to 22nd, and the Packers averaged 29 points in the wins over the Lions. Can a retooled offensive line get Detroit back into playoff form? New Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon should have Micah Parsons back healthy by this game, though starting the season without him could get Green Bay out to a slow start. Detroit’s health is a key, and you’ll see how they’re better with defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike back after missing all of last season. For the first time since he joined FOX Sports in 2024, Tom Brady is set to call a game featuring the New England Patriots. Brady is slated to be in the booth when the Patriots host the Packers in Week 9 in Foxborough. For Green Bay, it gets featured on America’s Game of the Week three times in a span of five weeks, this time going on the road to face the defending AFC champs. New England flipped so much from 2024 to last year’s breakout success, but that included going 1-4 against NFC teams in 2024 and then 5-0 in the regular season last year. Brady went just 4-3 against the Packers in his career — one of his least successful career records — playing long enough to lose to Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers alike. Drake Maye was especially good against NFC opponents last year, with 11 touchdown passes against just two interceptions. New San Francisco 49ers receiver Mike Evans is just 1-3 at AT&T Stadium with two touchdowns in his four games there. Can his playmaking ability take San Francisco’s offense to another level? The 49ers ranked fifth in red-zone efficiency and first on third downs last season, and Evans could help them end a surprising drought — San Francisco hasn’t had a receiver catch 10-plus touchdowns in a season since … Terrell Owens in 2002. (Tight ends have done so, but no receivers). Dallas had the NFL’s worst scoring defense last year, allowing 30 points per game, so rookie safety Caleb Downs will lead the efforts to improve there. The Cowboys had just 12 takeaways in all of 2025, the third-lowest total in the league. The NFC West has perhaps three of the top eight teams in the NFL. Last year, the Seattle Seahawks bookended their regular season with the 49ers, losing the opener and then winning in Week 18, followed by a 41-6 thrashing in the playoffs. Seattle’s home-field advantage isn’t what it once was. The Seahawks were 34-6 at home from 2012-16 in their “Legion of Doom” heyday, but they were 16-18 at home from 2021-24 before bouncing back with a 6-2 mark (plus two home playoff wins) last season. Will the NFC West powers beat each other up enough that the division doesn’t get the NFC’s top seed? If the division is to send a team to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in six years, they might have to be road warriors in January. Alas, the Cincinnati Bengals defense — over the last two seasons, Cincinnati has seven games in which it has scored at least 33 points and lost. No other team in the NFL has more than two such games in the same span. Will that be the case for Joe Burrow and friends in 2026?  The Bengals acquired defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence and imported Boye Mafe and Jonathan Allen for their defensive front. If they can just get a top-20 defense, that might be enough to get them into the playoffs. Can Patrick Mahomes have a healthy bounce-back season after going 6-8 as a starter and throwing only 22 touchdowns? By this game, Kansas City Chiefs rookie corner Mansoor Delane should have played enough to have confidence trying to cover another LSU standout in Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase. The Ben Johnson Bowl is back. Chicago went 11-6 and won the division last year despite Johnson getting swept by his old team, including a 52-21 drubbing in Week 2 in Detroit. This is a game that could have major playoff implications, in the division and the conference. Watch for Chicago’s two second-year pass-catchers to shine, with tight end Colston Loveland leading the team in receptions as a rookie last year and receiver Luther Bolden emerging in the final month of his first season. Which quarterback will throw more touchdown passes in 2026? It’s a close call between Detroit’s Jared Goff (who threw 34 last year) and Chicago’s Caleb Williams, who threw for 27 himself.