The 2026 Seahawks will be a poster child for how wacky the NFL schedule has become. With the league scattering games across almost every day of the week, thanks to a record number of international games and trying to fill up every holiday on the calendar, the Hawks will play on every day but Tuesday (which has no games scheduled).
It starts with the opener Wednesday, Sept. 9, against the Patriots — just the second NFL opener featuring the Super Bowl combatants from the previous season (Carolina and Denver kicked off the 2016 season after the Broncos won Super Bowl 50).
The Hawks also will play a Friday night game on Christmas – one of six prime-time games for them. That Week 16 game will come against the Rams, as the NFL anticipates yet another thriller like the three played by the division rivals in 2025. The teams then play again in Week 18, a potential winner-take-the-bye game just ahead of the playoffs.
Asked about those two late-season games against the Seahawks, Rams coach Sean McVay told ESPN: “Here’s what I know. I know there’s a ton of respect for the reigning Super Bowl champs. They earned it. They were a great team from the very beginning all the way through. But we’re going to take it one week at a time. When that game comes, we’ll be excited about it. I’m hoping for a good day after with the family after Christmas.”
The Seattle-L.A. season finale time and day are TBD, so it could be flexed into prime time. If the teams meet in the NFC title game again, that would be three matches in six weeks. (Also, the Super Bowl is at the Rams’ SoFi Stadium.)
The Hawks trolled the Rams with their cologne-themed schedule video, calling the Rams’ scent Conversion No 2 – a reference to Zach Charbonnet’s by-the-book but controversial two-point conversion in Seattle’s 38-37 overtime win last December.
Joel McHale, one of the Seattle celebrities enlisted by the team for the schedule video, said of Conversion No 2: “It smells of melancholy and ‘what the hell just happened?’ When you put this cologne on, you don’t even know you’ve already lost.”
Back to the rest of the schedule …
After the opener at home vs. the Patriots, the Seahawks go to Arizona and Washington. The latter game is one of just two 10 a.m. kickoffs for the Hawks (the other is at Carolina in Week 17).
From Week 4 to 14, the Hawks have seven home games and a bye. The bookends at the start and finish of that stretch are the teams coached by the Harbaugh brothers, Mike Macdonald’s mentors. He and the Hawks host Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers in Week 4 and John Harbaugh’s Giants in Week 14.
The Hawks host the 49ers in Week 5 and go to San Francisco in Week 12 – their return to Levi’s Stadium after winning the Super Bowl as the “home” team.
This is the first time since 2021 that the Hawks and Niners will not meet in prime time. Since 2012, they had played a prime-time game in all but three seasons.
After that first game vs. the 49ers in Week 5, the Hawks play three straight night games: Thursday at Denver, Sunday vs. Kansas City and Monday vs. Chicago.
The latter two games feature reunions/revenge games: Kenneth Walker III with the Chiefs and Coby Bryant with the Bears. In other reunions, the Hawks also face Klint Kubiak (Raiders) in Week 10 and Riq Woolen (Eagles) for a Saturday game in Week 15.
The bye is well placed in Week 11 (same as the Rams).
The Hawks’ schedule ranks 22nd based on Vegas win projections for all teams. But it is definitely a tougher slate than they had in 2025.
The Patriots and Broncos were the AFC semifinalists, with New England getting the honor of being the team to get blown out by Seattle in the Super Bowl. Neither team seems capable of overcoming Macdonald’s returning No. 1 defense, which figures to be even better with the additions of Bud Clark, Dante Fowler Jr. and Julian Neal to a more seasoned Devon Witherspoon, Nick Emmanwori and company.
The Rams, 49ers, Chiefs and Eagles are perennial contenders. The Bears were a very tough out in 2025, rallying for wins six times in the final two minutes.
That’s a very entertaining bunch of opponents.
The toughest stretches are Weeks 5-8 (49ers, Broncos, Chiefs, Bears) and Weeks 15-18 (Eagles, Rams, Panthers, Rams). That’s where the Hawks are most at risk of losing games.
None of the other opponents look capable of beating Seattle. Arizona and Las Vegas are bottom dwellers. The Giants and Panthers should be improved, but by how much? The Chargers are hoping they can score more points under new OC Mike McDaniel, and the Commanders and Cowboys are trying to fix terrible defenses.
Vegas projects the Hawks’ over/under at 10.5, and we see 13 wins – the same number we projected in 2025, when they went 14-3 and added three more postseason wins on the way to the NFL title.
CHAWK TALK: Everything being said about the Seahawks 
Should be a very exciting season for the Seahawks, with so many prime time games for the country to watch !!
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