The Seattle Seahawks are Super Bowl champions, which you probably know by now but I’m just going to keep repeating it in at least one article for the rest of this month. We won’t see the Seahawks in a meaningful game until Thursday, Sept. 10, when the banner indicating Seattle are now two-time Super Bowl champs will be unfurled at Lumen Field. It’s tradition to have the opening game of the NFL regular season at the home of the reigning champions, and the Seahawks’ home schedule is looking delicious.
Seahawks 2026 home opponents
- San Francisco 49ers
- Los Angeles Rams
- Arizona Cardinals
- Dallas Cowboys
- New York Giants
- Los Angeles Chargers
- Kansas City Chiefs
- New England Patriots
- Chicago Bears
We can cross the 49ers and Rams out as possible Seahawks Week 1 foes, for they’re going to be playing in Australia. That leaves us with the Cardinals, Cowboys, Giants, Chargers, Chiefs, Patriots, and Bears.
Ranking Seahawks Week 1 opponents from most to least probable
1.) Kansas City Chiefs (with a caveat). If Patrick Mahomes is not ready for Week 1 after his ACL tear, then throw this out the window because there is no way Chiefs-Seahawks kicks off the season. If he is ready and it’s clear by May that he’s on track to be ready, the NFL wouldn’t hesitate to have Mahomes as the headline name ready to announce his return from a serious injury by taking on “The Dark Side.“
2.) Chicago Bears. Flip this to the top spot if Mahomes’ recovery isn’t on track to have him ready for Week 1In another world, Ben Johnson goes for two at the end of regulation and converts (or kicks field goals instead of fail on 4th down earlier in the game), and the Bears are playing the Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game. Do not discount the Bears being a huge draw again with Caleb Williams leading an exciting offense that gave us the most thrilling finishes last season. Ben Johnson and Mike Macdonald are two of the brightest minds in the NFL, and Johnson made an immediate impact in his first year as Chicago head coach.
3.) New England Patriots. Yes, the Patriots-Seahawks is a Super Bowl rematch. Instinctively, it should be high up on the list. But when a game is that non-competitive does it make sense to open with that? We’ve seen it before with the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers in 2016, so I suppose it’s possible. This feels more like a prime time or late afternoon feature game that happens a little later in the season.
4.) Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys just opened last year with a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. They missed the playoffs in year one under Brian Schottenheimer and trotted out a defense so bad that Matt Eberflus got to experience getting fired as a coordinator instead of as a head coach. I know the Cowboys are a media darling and therefore always have a chance to be in a key prime time game, but I’m not feeling their chances of playing in Week 1 for a second year in a row.
5.) Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers better fix their offensive line quickly, because Justin Herbert playing this Seahawks pass rush seems criminal. There’s no real interesting storyline here.
6.) New York Giants. John Harbaugh got dumped by the Ravens and now has to try and rebuild the Giants, who do have promising talent on offense in Jaxson Dart, Cam Skattebo, Malik Nabers, and Theo Johnson, but they’d have to make a ton of huge offseason moves before May or any consideration as a Week 1 opponent.
7.) Arizona Cardinals. This is just not going to happen.
My prediction is that it’ll be Bears at Seahawks to open things up. There’s every reason to believe the NFL will be all-in on the Bears in 2026 and it’d be amusing to see this get a night time slot after the 6-3 disaster that was the 2024 meeting between these two. Needless to say, both organizations are in a better place right now.
What’s your prediction? Sound off in the comments! The correct answer will be revealed in May.
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