Worst games on 2026 NFL schedule: Will you watch these contests?
Updated May 23, 2026, 9:00 a.m. ET
The NFL revealed the entirety of its 2026 regular-season schedule a little more than a week ago. And while it’s fun to circle dates on the calendar that seem like the best matchups of the year, find who’s playing on the holidays − and, uh, the night before Thanksgiving − and get a sense of what the prime-time lineups will look like, it can also be fun to try and find a hate watch or two. Or seven.
Granted, this is the NFL − king of all North American sports. Fantasy, betting and, this year especially, the ramifications for the subsequent draft – notably as it pertains to the bad teams – mean almost no game is truly irrelevant … particularly if there is an Uber-Manning take shape in Austin. Yet we’ve certainly found a few contests that could get ugly − even when discounting Week 18 games, many inherently lopsided and/or laborious given the potential weather issues and likelihood good players could be resting when that option is on the table amid unbalanced matchups.
So, without further ado – and at this premature date – these are the seven contests shaping up as the worst of the 2026 season, listed chronologically:
It’s a meeting of head coaches, Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson, who previously served together as coordinators in Detroit. It’s a matchup of disparate squads, Glenn’s Jets the worst team in the league by the end of the 2025 season and Johnson’s NFC North-winning Bears among its toughest. And given Johnson isn’t one to take his foot off the accelerator, it wouldn’t be a surprise if his current team makes his former colleague’s outfit look pretty bad.
The Chiefs’ disastrous 2025 season concluded with a loss in Sin City – a game injured QB Patrick Mahomes missed. However the three-time Super Bowl MVP is 6-0 in his career at Allegiant Stadium – including Super Bowl 58 – the Chiefs averaging 33 points in those defeats of the Raiders. And while the Silver and Black have added a lot of pieces this offseason, including No. 1 draft pick Fernando Mendoza, for their rebuild, a Week 4 game against a dynasty could get ugly … as it often has against Mahomes and Co.
We’re not purposefully picking on the Cards, but c’mon. They went 0-6 in their division last year – little surprise given the 2025 NFC West is the only one in league history to feature three teams winning at least 12 games apiece, Arizona the lone exception. It seems quite likely the Cardinals take another divisional bagel in 2026, but their trip to L.A. could be the ugliest. Since Sean McVay became their coach in 2017, the Rams are 16-3 against Arizona – including six wins at home by double digits.
Las Vegas Raiders at Denver Broncos, Nov. 22
Flash back to last season’s Thursday night game in Denver, when the Broncos outlasted the Raiders 10-7, then you have some sense of how ugly this was and could be again. However, this time around, the defending AFC West champion Broncos will be coming out of a bye week when they host the Raiders, who will be on the road for the third time in a four-week span … and possibly with Mendoza in the lineup and tasked to face one of the league’s nastiest defenses. Mismatch or not, could be quite ugly aesthetically.
Miami Dolphins at Green Bay Packers, Dec. 20
What appears like a bad team, one used to Florida’s climate, heads to Wisconsin to face a perennial playoff team the day before winter officially starts – and with a quarterback, Malik Willis, the Pack know well. What could go wrong?
New York Jets at Arizona Cardinals, Dec. 20
These teams are projected to be two of the league’s most inept in 2026, so this game could be horrific on its face. And given the Week 15 slotting, it could theoretically also feature a pair of rookie quarterbacks if the Jets are assessing Cade Klubnik by then and/or if Carson Beck has entered the Cards’ lineup. Yet, unimportant as this matchup might be in terms of Super Bowl 61 implications, the draft ramifications could be massive – it might even be deemed the Arch Manning Bowl by the time it kicks off.
Los Angeles Chargers at Miami Dolphins, Dec. 27
By the time Week 16 rolls around, the Bolts will likely be jockeying for playoff position … while Miami will be settling into draft position. The weather shouldn’t be oppressive for the California-based Chargers, but they might be in a suppressive mood of their own. After all, former Fins coach Mike McDaniel, who was fired after last season, will be running the offense for Los Angeles – and this game will take place three years after McDaniel’s Dolphins hung 70 points on the Broncos, only the fourth time an NFL team had ever scored that many points in a single game. Think he’d have any problem doing it again? Against a rebuilding group that will likely be seriously overmatched? As the Bolts are trying to round into postseason form? Happy holidays.
All NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY’s 4th and Monday newsletter.
