It’s finally time for the NFL to release the full 2026 schedule. We’ve been hyping it up for over a week now, but the date is finally here. In less than 12 hours, we will know when and where every game this season will be played, but we do already know who every team is playing.
Way before the schedule is ever released, the NFL announces every team’s 2026 opponents, but don’t tell you the dates for the games. So, even though the schedule is yet to release, we know everyone’s opponents, and therefore we know who has the toughest and easiest strength of schedule.
A team’s strength of schedule is calculated by taking the average of their opponents’ win percentage from last year. If you’re SOS is .500, that means when you add up your opponents’ wins and losses from last year, they were perfectly even. Anything above .500 is on the harder side, while anything below .500 is on the easier side.
With that said, let’s see who has the toughest and easiest path to the playoffs.
Toughest: Chicago Bears
SOS: .550
Toughest Games: Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots
Easiest Games: New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons
The Chicago Bears are the team with the toughest strength of schedule, based off of last year’s records. After winning the NFC North, they are forced to play a ton of other first place teams, so it’s not going to be an easy path for them to repeat as NFC North champions.
The Bears must go to Seattle, Buffalo, Detroit and Green Bay this season. Those are four extremely tough road games, but they also have to host New England and Philadelphia. As good as this team is, you can’t guarantee a win in any of those games. I doubt they’ll go 0-6, but there’s a world where they only win one or two of those games.
On top of that, outside of Miami and New York, their easiest game is against Atlanta, who isn’t half bad. This is just a brutal schedule, there’s no way around it.
Easiest: Cleveland Browns
SOS: .429
Toughest Games: Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars
Easiest Games: New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders
The Cleveland Browns come in with the NFL’s easiest schedule in 2026, at least on paper. Their opponents had an average win percentage of .429 in 2025, but I actually think this schedule is a lot tougher than it appears.
Cleveland has some pretty tough games. They have to play Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Baltimore twice, all of whom are improved from last season. They also have to play Houston and Jacksonville, two playoff teams, and even their “easy games” are against teams that made massive improvements (Saints, Giants, Titans, Raiders).
This schedule is nowhere near as brutal as Chicago’s, but don’t be surprised if Cleveland ends up more in the middle of the pack in terms of SOS by the end of the season. I think it’s going to be tougher than people think.
Toughest: Miami Dolphins
SOS: .542
Toughest Games: Buffalo Bills, Denver Broncos, Chicago Bears
Easiest Games: New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders, Minnesota Vikings
The Miami Dolphins were one of the worst teams in the league last year, and they only got worse this offseason, and now they have to face the second-toughest schedule in the league. And let me tell you, this schedule is actually as hard as it seems on paper.
Since the Dolphins play in the NFC East, they have to face Buffalo and New England twice each. Outside of their division, they then have to take trips to Denver, Green Bay and San Francisco while hosting Chicago, Cincinnati, Kansas City and Los Angeles. That is nine games against playoff teams last year, and two games against teams that will be in contention this year (Chiefs and Chargers).
Jeff Hafley was already set up to fail in year one with the roster they’ve constructed, and their schedule is doing him little favors.
Easiest: New Orleans Saints
SOS: .434
Toughest Games: Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals
Easiest Games: Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders
The New Orleans Saints have the second-easiest schedule in the league on paper, and from a quick glance, I’d have to agree that it’s pretty easy.
The NFC South will be more competitive this year, but it’s still one of the worst divisions in the league, and their toughest games are against Baltimore and Chicago (both of which are on the road, though). Outside of those two, I’d say Cincinnati, Green Bay and Detroit are their toughest matchups, but if they can win one of those three, they’ll be in good shape.
The Saints will already play six games against opponents with a sub-.500 record in 2025 just in their division, but they also get to play Cleveland, Arizona, Las Vegas and Minnesota this year, all of which are at home.
Kellen Moore has built a strong roster this offseason, and he should be able to take advantage of a weak schedule. It’s playoffs or bust for the Saints this year.
Toughest: Arizona Cardinals
SOS: .538
Toughest Games: Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers
Easiest Games: New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, Washington Commanders
The Arizona Cardinals have one of the toughest schedules in the NFL by virtue of playing in the NFC West, which is easily the most stacked division in football. But even when they get outside of their division, it’s going to be incredibly difficult.
The Cardinals have to play the Rams, 49ers and Seahawks twice this season. That’s already six playoff teams, but on top of that, they also have to play the Eagles, Broncos, Lions, Cowboys, Chiefs and Chargers. That’s 12 games against playoff caliber teams, and we haven’t even talked about some of the sleepers.
For their other five opponents, the Cards have to play the Saints, Commanders, Giants, Raiders and Jets. The Saints, Commanders and Giants should be much improved this year, and expect to be in the playoff hunt. The Raiders and Jets might still be a couple of years away, but they’re both better than they were a year ago.
The Cardinals have the third-hardest schedule on paper, but when you really dive into it, this is probably the toughest schedule in the league. Good luck, Mike LaFleur.
Easiest: Cincinnati Bengals
SOS: .450
Toughest Games: Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars
Easiest Games: Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins
The AFC North isn’t easy, but it isn’t super hard either. Pittsburgh and Baltimore will be formidable opponents, but the Bengals are talented enough to at least split those games, 2-2. Outside of their division, they have some tough matchups against teams like the Texans, Jaguars and Chiefs, but those are all winnable games, if they take a step forward like I believe they will.
The Bengals also get the pleasure of playing the Browns twice and the Titans, Dolphins and Falcons once. Those are five games that should be wins pretty much no matter what.
Don’t be surprised if the Bengals end up winning the AFC North this year. The only thing that can stop them is another big injury to Joe Burrow, which, unfortunately, you can never really count out.
Toughest: Green Bay Packers
SOS: .538
Toughest Games: Buffalo Bills, Houston Texans, New England Patriots
Easiest Games: New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings
The Packers have to make trips to Chicago, Detroit, New England, New Orleans, Tampa Bay and Los Angeles this season. Those are six teams that fully believe they can make the playoffs in 2026, and that’s just their road schedule. They will also host Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Houston and Dallas. In total, that’s 11 very losable games.
The Packers do have a handful of easy matchups, though. They should be able to beat the Jets, Dolphins, Falcons and Vikings (2x), but they’re going to have to grind out some tough victories if they want to make the playoffs again in 2026.
Easiest: Indianapolis Colts
SOS: .465
Toughest Games: Houston Texans, Philadelphia Eagles, Jacksonville Jaguars
Easiest Games: Miami Dolphins, Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns
The Indianapolis Colts were one of the best teams in the league at the start of last year before Daniel Jones went down, but if one good thing came from their late-season fall off, it’s the fact that their 2026 schedule got much easier.
The Colts still have some tough games in their division. The Texans and Jaguars figure to be two threats in the AFC playoff picture, but they also have to face the Eagles, Ravens, Bengals and Chiefs this year.
But the easy part of their schedule makes up for some of their tough matchups. The Jags get to face the Titans twice and the Dolphins, Giants, Browns and Vikings once. If they can win two or three of their harder matchups, they’ll put themselves in a pretty good place to secure a Wild Card spot.
Toughest: Kansas City Chiefs
SOS: .536
Toughest Games: Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots
Easiest Games: Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins
I feel bad for the Kansas City Chiefs. They had their worst season of the last decade, but they still have one of the toughest schedules in the league in 2026.
Let’s start with the bad. In their division, they have the Broncos and Chargers, who both made the playoffs last year, so that’s already four games against playoff teams. But they will also have to play the Patriots, Rams, Bills, 49ers, Seahawks and Bengals this season. You know when the Bills aren’t in your top-three toughest games, your schedule is pretty brutal.
They do have some layups, though. The Chiefs get to face the Raiders twice and the Dolphins, Cardinals and Jets once. But that doesn’t even come close to making up for how hard their schedule is at the top.
Can Patrick Mahomes and Co. overcome this tough schedule? Or will they miss out on the playoffs for the second year in a row?
Easiest: Atlanta Falcons
SOS: .465
Toughest Games: Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Ravens
Easiest Games: Cleveland Browns, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints
The Atlanta Falcons’ SOS is only this low because of the NFC South’s poor performance last year, but I don’t think this .465 number is truly indicative of their schedule. I think it’s going to be much harder than that number suggests.
Starting with the NFC South, everyone else got better this offseason. Carolina added some key defensive pieces, New Orleans added some key offensive pieces and Tampa Bay had one of the best draft classes in the league. Meanwhile, Atlanta didn’t do a whole lot except add more uncertainty to their quarterback room.
The Falcons don’t play any exceptionally hard games, outside of hosting the Bears and 49ers, but they also don’t play many easy ones. The Browns should be a cake walk, but I can’t tell you with absolute certainty that Atlanta will win any other game on their schedule. Maybe Minnesota, but I’m not even confident in that.
Atlanta has a ton of teams that are going to be in playoff contention, but not necessarily in contention for a top seed on their schedule. There are a lot of slightly above average teams on their schedule, so I’m fascinated to see how their season plays out.
