On Thur, May 14, the entire NFL schedule for the 2026 regular season was released. After some leaked games were revealed to the public via social media posts in the days, weeks and months leading up to the full schedule release, every single game on the 272-game schedule was revealed. 17 games each for all 32 teams, with some of them being heavyweight primetime games in different and diverse windows. The Minnesota Vikings already had one of their games leaked as part of the NFL’s International Series slate for the 2026 season as they are slated to face the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City in a Week 11 Sunday night game. Now, the rest of their games are available with plenty of interesting high-stakes games against opponents in the tight NFC North. Minnesota was only a couple of close results away from potentially making the playoffs last season in J.J McCarthy’s redshirt rookie season. Some other important games will come against NFC South and AFC East teams along with a couple of games against teams from the NFC East and AFC South. Let’s see what all the games look like in correlative order and which ones could be the most vital in the team’s attempt to return to the playoffs and the top of the division.
First Two Weeks Feature Games Against Green Bay & Chicago, With The QB1 Being Either Kyler Murray or J.J McCarthy
The Vikings’ slate starts with not one but two games against NFC North division foes. The opening week game will be at U.S Bank Stadium against the Green Bay Packers, who were the seventh seed in the NFC playoff picture last season. If not for a tie against the Dallas Cowboys on their record, the Vikings could have caught the Packers and overtaken them for that final playoff spot in the NFC. Alas, a loss against them in Week 12 of last season at Lambeau Field made that Week 18 game at the Big Bank less important than it could have been. The unknown factor in this matchup is who the starting quarterback for Minnesota will be in Week 1. McCarthy had himself a tough and bumpy season with only 10 starts due to multiple injuries to his ankle, head and passing hand. With inefficient offensive stats, McCarthy will have to prove himself and try to hold off Kyler Murray from taking the starting job. Sun, Sept 13 could serve as Murray’s first start in purple colors and his first one overall in the regular season since Week 5 of last season with the Arizona Cardinals. On a one-year veteran’s minimum deal, Murray is seeking to have a career resurrection and join a long list of QBs to have success when wearing a Vikings jersey after coming over as a free agent. So, the Week 1 game against Jordan Love and a solid Packers offense that might not have tight end Tucker Kraft back by then off a torn ACL will definitely be worth watching to see if it will be the beginning of either J.J McCarthy or Kyler Murray’s redemption tour. Also, Micah Parsons might not return in time for the season opener after a torn ACL in Week 15 of last season, so the defense for the Packers might not be as volatile as it was last season.
The first road game on the Vikings’ schedule will be at Soldier Field against the Chicago Bears, who won the division last season with 11 wins and they defeated Green Bay in the NFC Wild Card Round before losing to the Los Angeles Rams in an epic overtime defeat in the Divisional Round. With Caleb Williams coming off an incredible sophomore surge of a season in leading so many game-winning drives in close games, including in Week 11 of last season against the Vikings at the Big Bank. With a solid defense as well, Chicago is seeking to defend its division title, but they will face a hard test in their home opener against the Vikings, who beat them last season in a Monday night opener as McCarthy led an 11-point comeback in the fourth quarter. The Bears haven’t won a home game against Minnesota at Soldier Field since 2019, with six straight defeats in this decade. With most of their roster back along with a few new free agents(including former Vikings’ center Garrett Bradbury), the Bears will look to try and run it back while having to play a harder schedule in 2026. The Packers game is scheduled for the late afternoon window and will be broadcast on CBS while the game in Chicago will be a traditional noon local time kickoff and is set to be shown on FOX. The two-game pairing against two division foes will be important for the Vikings to perform well in to get an early edge in the NFC North.
In a Similar Setup as Last Season, a Trio of Games Before a Week 6 Bye Week, With Two of Three Being On The Road But in the South This Time & Not Overseas
Last season, the Vikings had to play two straight games in different countries other than America when they took on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dublin, Ireland and the Cleveland Browns in London, England. That occurred during Weeks 4 & 5 of 2025 and a Week 6 bye week followed. McCarthy didn’t play in either of those games due to an ankle sprain that kept him out for five games. This season, the Vikings will travel for two road games to the South as they take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium in Week 3 and Caesars SuperDome against the New Orleans Saints in Week 5. The middle game in Week 4 will be a home game against the Miami Dolphins in the first of four games versus AFC East opponents. All three of those teams finished under .500 last season, with the Buccaneers and Saints both competing in the weakest division in football for these past four years in the NFC South.
This three game stretch occurs before a bye week in Week 6, making this the third straight season that Minnesota won’t be playing on the gridiron in the sixth week of the 18-week regular season. The game in Tampa will occur in a very warm climate likely on the Gulf Coast of Florida in late September. However, the game will have a late afternoon kickoff and the conditions will hopefully be bearable with no thunderstorms in the forecast. As for the Buccaneers, they will have Baker Mayfield back for a fourth straight season and have a good offense around him. Despite having a couple of star players such as running back Rachaad White and wide receiver Mike Evans depart in free agency, Tampa Bay still has a stout offense and a solid defense featuring a couple of new key additions such as linebackers Alex Anzalone and Rueben Bain Jr. In Week 4, the Dolphins will make their first visit to U.S Bank Stadium since 2018 as they have a new QB in Malik Willis, who is slated to be the starter after playing in a good fill-in role for the Packers when Jordan Love was inactive. With new head coach Jeff Hafley, Miami is likely to be in a rebuild year, although they just signed De’Von Achane to a long extension. Letting star players such as Tyreek Hill, Tua Tagovailoa, and Minkah Fitzpatrick leave in free agency, the Dolphins are a far cry from the playoff contenders that they were under former head coach Mike McDaniel. The Vikings defeated Miami at Hard Rock Stadium in 2022 and this will be defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ first chance to coach against his old team that he led for three years since being fired after the 2021 season. In Week 5, the Vikings will play their first game in New Orleans since 2020, when they lost an empty Christmas Day game to Drew Brees and Alvin Kamara went off for a boat load of TDs. Both rosters have changed massively since then and Minnesota won two consecutive games versus the Saints in 2022 and 2023. So, the Vikings look to have another solid record heading into a Week 6 bye in 2026.
Post-Bye Week Schedule Features Important Games Against Detroit, Buffalo and Green Bay Before Mexico City Game Vs. San Francisco
After the Week 6 bye, the Vikings will play their third home game of the season when they host the Indianapolis Colts on Sun, Oct 25. This will be the fourth time in seven seasons that both these teams located in cities ending in the suffix -apolis face off against each other. The Vikings last faced the Colts in 2024 and defeated them in a Sunday night game with Sam Darnold as the QB. The more epic victory over Indy came in Week 15 of the 2022 season when Minnesota overcame a 33-0 halftime deficit to win an improbable NFC North clinching victory 39-36 in overtime. Matt Ryan was the QB for the Colts in that game. In fact, in each of the past five meetings against Indianapolis, there has been a different QB for the horseshoe team. Daniel Jones will more than likely be the fifth in a line that includes Andrew Luck and Phillip Rivers that the Vikings have faced in Colts colors. Jones spent roughly six weeks as a backup QB on the roster for Minnesota in 2024 after the New York Giants let him go and he signed with Indianapolis in the 2025 offseason. Jones had a solid season as the QB for the Colts, who were atop the AFC South before he suffered an Achilles tear in Week 14 and a seven-game losing streak ended their season in missing the playoffs for the fifth straight season. The more notable ex-Viking on Indy is safety Cam Bynum, who was good at getting interceptions and leading the choreographed celebration dances that the defense did for a couple of years.
After the Week 7 game against the Colts, a tough stretch of games leading up to the Mexico City one against the 49ers will occur. Firstly, a road matchup against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Sun, Nov 1 shall take place. Last season, the Vikings beat the Lions in both meetings as the defense forced a lot of turnovers against Jared Goff and a mediocre Detroit team that finished in last place(barely below Minnesota due to both results in head-to-head matchups) after a 15-win season in 2024. Injuries hampered the Lions on both sides of the ball along with a load of close defeats, including a 27-24 loss against the Vikings in Week 9 of last season at Ford Field. McCarthy led the team in a valiant return from injury to win the tight and close game. Unfortunately, that is where the “Nine” meme was birthed inside the visiting locker room. So, it will either be the return of “Nine” or it will be Kyler Murray’s first game against the team that he made his pro debut against in 2019 in Vikings colors.
In Week 9 of this season, U.S Bank Stadium will play host to a Monday night football game versus one of the most successful teams in the NFL in terms of regular season winning percentage in the past several years. That team is the Buffalo Bills, who have suffered so much playoff heartbreak in the past six years with Josh Allen as the QB and Sean McDermott as the head coach. Well, the Bills now have a new head coach in Joe Brady, who is the offensive play caller for a dynamic Buffalo offense that features James Cook, DJ Moore, the tight end combo of Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid and a stout offensive line. The defense for the Bills is also very dangerous, providing a test of attrition for a Vikings offensive line that acquired a former Buffalo tackle in Ryan Van Demark in the offseason who could serve as an important backup behind Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill. This will be the first Monday night game at U.S Bank Stadium since Week 15 of the 2024 season when the Vikings defeated the Bears 30-12.
Then in Week 10, the team will take a trip to Lambeau Field to face the Green Bay Packers, who defeated the Vikings 23-6 in a tough low-scoring game on their home turf last season. McCarthy had a hard time dealing with the pass rush led by Parsons while the Brian Flores defense had a hard time dealing with the relentless rushing offense of the Packers. With Aaron Jones still on the roster, he could make his third appearance at Lambeau as a Viking and hopefully don his sombrero in victory before the team heads off to Mexico City to face the San Fransisco 49ers. The Sunday night game at Estadio Banorte will conclude the NFL’s International slate and feature an important matchup against a Niners team that has undergone a massive backlog of injuries that they powered through to make the Divisional Round last season before being demolished by the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. A couple of former 49er players on the current Vikings roster are Jordan Mason and Jauan Jennings, who will have a chance to score touchdowns against their old team. They will just have to settle for dancing the salsa in Mexico instead of in Santa Clara, Calif.
Third Quarter of Schedule Features Two More Games Vs. NFC South Teams, Back-to-Back Primetime Games Against Two Teams Who Will Play Each Other in Germany in November
Now onto the third quarter of games on the Vikings’ schedule, or the back end of it leading from Thanksgiving Week to right before Christmas. After playing in Mexico, Minnesota returns home to play against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 12 and Carolina Panthers in Week 13. This will be the fourth straight season that the Vikings play Atlanta, with them winning the first two of the current stretch behind amazing QB play from Joshua Dobbs in 2023 and Sam Darnold in 2024. Last season in Week 2, the Falcons won at the Big Bank by a final score of 22-6 as Michael Penix Jr did much better than J.J McCarthy, who sprained his ankle and committed quite a few turnovers. Ironically, the head coach of Atlanta this season is Kevin Stefanski, who was a longtime offensive assistant on the Vikings coaching staff for a lot of years before going off to be the head coach of the Cleveland Browns last season. Stefanski was hired by the Falcons after being let go in Cleveland and inherits a team with talented offensive players such as Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts. Who the quarterback of this Atlanta team will be shall be determined by competition and health between Penix and Tua Tagovailoa, who has never faced the Vikings in his career before. So, there is a real chance that there could be four different QB matchups in the four-year period of the Vikings and Falcons playing each other. In 2023, it was Jaren Hall(replaced by Dobbs when he got concussed) and Taylor Heinicke(who is now retired from football along with Hall). In 2024, it was Kirk Cousins(who made his return to the Big Bank after six seasons in purple) versus Sam Darnold. Last year, it was Penix and McCarthy. This year, it could be Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray who are the starters in this game. Fancy that.
In Week 13, the Panthers come to town for their first real game ever at the Big Bank. Carolina did visit in 2020, but there were no fans in the stands due to restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Teddy Bridgewater was the starting QB for the Panthers and his return to Minnesota was a very empty and hallow one. But the game was still close and tight as Justin Jefferson caught a couple of TD passes from Cousins, who threw a game-winning TD to Chad Beebe to have the Vikings barely win this Week 12 matchup 28-27. Now in modern times, Carolina is coming off their first playoff appearance since 2017 with Bryce Young as the QB and a set of solid offensive pieces around him. With Dave Canales as the head coach, the Panthers won the NFC South division title with a mediocre record of 8-9. So, that matchup should be interesting to say the least.
A short week of preparation will test Minnesota as they are slated to play a Thursday night football game at Gillette Stadium against the New England Patriots, who lost Super Bowl 60 to the Seattle Seahawks. Drake Maye had a fabulous 2025 season that nearly granted him an MVP award, but he faltered in the playoffs with a load of turnovers and inefficient offense. The defense for New England is powerful and this will be only the third time ever that the Vikings will be playing at Gillette Stadium, with the previous three games all being losses to Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Now Mike Vrabel is the head coach of the Patriots, but there are rumors of him potentially being replaced before this season due to a scandal that had him entrenched in an extramarital relationship with former NFL reporter Dianna Russini, who resigned from her position at The Athletic because of the negative headlines coming her way from pictures of her and Vrabel hanging out at a romantic resort in Arizona. Brian Flores is also a former defensive assistant on those Patriots teams under Belichick and he won a trio of Super Bowl rings in the 2010s decade.
After the tough game in Foxboro, the Vikings will have extra time to prepare for a high-stakes Sunday night game against the Lions at the Big Bank. With this game occurring in Week 15 and not on Christmas Day in Week 17 like last season, this game could play a big role in determining the NFC North division winner. The Lions are slated to play three of their last four games on the road and their three opponents will be the other teams in the division. They play in Chicago in Week 17 and Green Bay in Week 18. Their only home game in that stretch is a Monday night home game versus the New York Giants. This game will be the second Sunday night game between these two teams in three seasons as the regular season finale in 2024 at Ford Field determined the winner of the division that year,. The Lions won that game on their home field and they were the number one seed with 15 wins, while the Vikings had to settle for being a 14-win Wild Card team and they lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card Round in a game that occurred at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz due to wildfires that scoured the L.A area at the beginning of 2025. This time on Sunday night, the Vikings are the home team and they will hopefully be in a powerful position to control their playoff and division destiny in this game.
The Final Three-Game Stretch: A Post-Christmas Clash with the Commanders, A Trip to Frigid North Jersey in the New Year and a Home Finale Versus Chicago
To conclude the regular season schedule, the Vikings will play host to the Washington Commanders on Sun, Dec 27 in a time that is yet to be determined because it could meld into a potential Saturday game on the day after Christmas. Last season, Minnesota blew out Washington 31-0 in a game where they dominated Jayden Daniels and Marcus Mariota. The Commanders finished 5-12 one year after they went 12-5 and made an appearance in the 2024 NFC Championship Game. A potential bounce back could be in order and this game could serve as a crucial game for playoff positioning for both of these teams. In Week 17, to ring in the New Year of 2027, the Vikings will make a trip to the Big Apple to play the New York Jets, who might be in a better position than they were last season. Or they might not. Their QB situation is unknown, Aaron Glenn remains the head coach for now and after a solid draft there is at least some hope for the Jets, who will be aiming for their franchise QB in next year’s draft. For now, they have Geno Smith back in Gang Green colors and Cade Klubnik as a rookie backup. Breece Hall might be traded before the deadline, Garrett Wilson is one of the least fortunate receivers in the league and they have an assortment of veteran and rookie players on the defense as well. It could be a trap game due to the potential for wintry weather, but last season when the Vikings faced the New York Giants at Metlife Stadium, it was pretty clear and sunny. Might not be so lucky two winters in a row in East Rutherford.
Finally, the regular season finale for the Minnesota Vikings will come at home against the Chicago Bears. This game could very well decide the division or a couple of playoff spots or both. Either way, it will be the first time these two teams have met in the final week of the regular season since 2022 and the first time in Minneapolis since 2021 for Week 18. This schedule has some tough challenges in it, but if this team can rise up to be the powerful unit it is capable of being and led by the correct team captains and coaches, then the sky is the limit for the Vikings in the 2026 NFL season. With four months until opening kickoff and a couple before training camp and preseason play, football is ever so closer to being back in action.
Kent Bewley's News Story Collection 
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