Football Is Back: NFL Kicks Off 2026 Season as Lions Prepare for Home Opener

1 day ago

2 min read

Football season is officially here. The NFL returns this week with a full slate of opening-week action, beginning Wednesday night as the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks host the New England Patriots in a rematch of Super Bowl LX. The Patriots-Seahawks matchup kicks off Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Opening week will also include the NFL’s first regular-season game in Melbourne, Australia, when the San Francisco 49ers face the Los Angeles Rams Thursday night.

All Eyes on Detroit

For Michigan football fans, Sunday is the date to circle. The Detroit Lions open their 2026 regular season at home against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. at Ford Field. The game will air on FOX. Detroit enters a season that will give Lions fans plenty of national exposure. The Lions are scheduled for eight nationally televised games, and later this season will travel to Munich, Germany, to face the New England Patriots in Detroit’s first international game since 2015.

NFL Week 1 Highlights

Opening week stretches across four days.

Wednesday features the Patriots and Seahawks, followed Thursday by the 49ers and Rams from Melbourne. Sunday brings the traditional full afternoon schedule before the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants meet on Sunday Night Football. The week concludes Monday night with Denver visiting Kansas City.

The NFL’s kickoff materials also invite fans to begin looking much further ahead — all the way to Super Bowl LXI in Los Angeles on Feb. 14, 2027 — with early fan predictions already underway.

For now, however, Michigan fans have a much closer question: Can the Lions start 2026 with a win at Ford Field? Kickoff against New Orleans is Sunday at 1 p.m. The Chronicle will continue following the Lions, Michigan teams and other sports stories throughout the season.