Bullet point summary by AI

• The NFL’s 2026 schedule features expanded primetime slots, including additional Saturdays and international games, making it hard to fill quality matchups.
• Five perceived weak matchups landed in primetime, highlighting the difficulty of balancing entertainment value with broadcast commitments.
• The list includes games that could disappoint fans, with one matchup potentially exposing a struggling team to a national audience.

The 2026 NFL schedule is out and the league is continuing to try expanding its reach with primetime games. The new slate includes additional primetime slots with four straight Saturdays of games from Weeks 15-18, a Thanksgiving Eve Wednesday game, a New Year’s Eve game, and the NFL’s first-ever game in Melbourne, Australia on Thursday of Week 1.

Filling all of that inventory is a complex puzzle for the NFL, which has set limits of six primetime appearances per team, although they allowed the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams to start off at 7 this season due to international and holiday appearances. The NFL also chose not to schedule five of its perceived worst teams for any primetime games, meaning it needed to utilize the other 27 to fill those windows.

Stretching the product that much, while also ensuring that CBS and FOX have good matchups for the Sunday afternoon doubleheader windows, means that a few not-so-great matchups found their way into primetime. Let’s spotlight five of those questionable primetime games that you may want to skip if you’re feeling football-ed out on a given Sunday.

New York Giants at Los Angeles Rams: Week 2, MNF

While the Jets were one of the five teams shut out of primetime after a three-win season, the Giants ended up with four primetime slots off a four-win campaign. The presence of intriguing young quarterback Jaxson Dart certainly helps, but the NFL is clearly banking on the hiring of John Harbaugh as head coach to inflate the Giants’ record.

There is still a suspect core for the Giants and putting them on the road in Week 2 against a team that was in the NFC Championship Game is asking for a potential blowout. No one asked for the Giants to be in primetime during the first two weeks of the season, yet the NFL gave them both a Sunday night and Monday night slot to try and capitalize on fan interest in their new coach and quarterback. Expect a blowout here.

Indianapolis Colts at Kansas City Chiefs: Week 2 on SNF

It’s not shocking to see the NFL maximize its usage of Kansas City, which figures to bounce back off an uncharacteristic bad year in 2025. The Chiefs are also in primetime the first two weeks of the season with home games against Denver and Indianapolis, but the latter matchup raises some eyebrows.

There is no guarantee that Patrick Mahomes will be ready to roll for Week 1, and with a quick turnaround between Monday night’s Denver game and this one there’s a chance that Justin Fields gets two prime time matchups to start the season. Having the Colts here as well, who faded down the stretch and have their own quarterback coming off an Achilles’ injury in Daniel Jones, offers a potential for a very ugly matchup on Sunday night.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns: Week 4, TNF

Al Michaels’ complaints a few years ago resulted in the Thursday night package on Amazon getting a significant upgrade. We are well past the days of Jaguars-Titans being a Thursday night staple, but Week 4’s Steelers-Browns showdown has a chance to bring back that experience in a bad way.

The NFL wasn’t worried about the fact that the Steelers don’t have a quarterback in this game, clearly hoping that Aaron Rodgers comes back for one more spin with Mike McCarthy. There is a chance this game sees Mason Rudolph facing off against Shedeur Sanders on a short week, which could lead to some truly ugly football.

Carolina Panthers at Green Bay Packers: Week 8, TNF

The Panthers are getting significant primetime love this season after winning the NFC South in 2025, landing three primetime games with the potential for a fourth in Week 16 on Saturday. There is also significant risk with Carolina, which won the division with an 8-9 record and has seen Bryce Young perform unevenly over the course of his career.

One of the Panthers’ most memorable results of 2025 was a road upset at Lambeau Field, which may have inspired their Thursday night trip to Green Bay in Week 8. The problem is that the Packers have a superior roster and are at home on a short week, which could lead to an ugly result for Carolina in this one.

Buffalo Bills at Minnesota Vikings: Week 9, MNF

Few teams were more disappointing in 2025 than Minnesota, which got horrendous quarterback play that caused them to miss the playoffs in a highly competitive NFC North. The Vikings attempted to address that issue by adding Kyler Murray in the offseason, but there is no guarantee that Murray can be the savior their offense needs.

A Week 9 Monday night game against Buffalo will be a stiff test for the Vikings as the Bills are a prime Super Bowl contender. If Murray can’t step up to the plate or is injured, there’s a good chance a national audience will be forced to watch J.J. McCarthy flounder against a strong Buffalo defense.

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