The Green Bay Packers' 2026 schedule features nine home games, eight road games, and six night games, including a Thanksgiving Eve game and a Christmas Day game.
Key points
Packers' 2026 schedule includes nine home games
Eight road games are part of the schedule
Six night games are scheduled
Thanksgiving Eve and Christmas Day games included
Bye week is in Week 11
Green Bay PackersChicago BearsMinnesota VikingsNew York Jets
The Green Bay Packers now know their 2026 schedule. It includes nine home games, eight road games, six night games, a Thanksgiving Eve game and a Christmas Day game.
It's easy to look at a schedule and wince at three road games out of the first four to begin the year, but if Micah Parsons indeed misses time to start the year, he should still be available by Week 5 against the Bears and Week 6 against his old team, the Cowboys. And it's not as if those first four are juggernauts.
CBS Sports considers the Packers' easy start as one of the notable takeaways from the schedule release. All of the first four opponents missed the postseason a year ago, and none have particularly inspiring quarterback situations.
"Week 1 involves a road game at the Minnesota Vikings, a squad that will either start an injury-plagued Kyler Murray or the embattled J.J. McCarthy at quarterback," Garrett Podell wrote. "McCarthy ranked dead last in the league in completion percentage (57.6%), touchdown-to-interception ratio (11-12), and passer rating (72.6) in 2025. Then, Green Bay will head east to face the New York Jets, a squad who had the first defense in NFL history to not record an interception. New York's starting quarterback is projected to be Geno Smith, a player who became the sixth quarterback since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger to lead the league in both interceptions thrown (17) and sacks taken (55) in the same season in 2025 with the Las Vegas Raiders."
Week 3 against the Falcons at home means a meeting with Michael Penix Jr. off a torn ACL or Tua Tagovailoa, coming off a career-worst season. Then comes a trip to Tampa Bay, facing Baker Mayfield, who also had his worst season last year, and a team that lost seven of its last nine games last year.
GLENDALE, ARIZONA - OCTOBER 19: Micah Parsons #1 and Barryn Sorrell #99 of the Green Bay Packers celebrate after a sack in the fourth quarter of a game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on October 19, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, ARIZONA - OCTOBER 19: Micah Parsons #1 and Barryn Sorrell #99 of the Green Bay Packers celebrate after a sack in the fourth quarter of a game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on October 19, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
"If Green Bay can go 3-1 or 4-0 in that opening quarter of the season, which certainly seems attainable, they'll be able to hit the ground running before reincorporating their best player back into the lineup," Podell wrote. "Parsons' return will also be incredibly timely with a stretch that involves the Packers facing the Bears at home, the Cowboys at home, the Lions on the road and then the AFC champion Patriots on the road."
Given that the Packers get nine home games and zero international games, the overall layout of this schedule certainly feels like a good opportunity to win.
Loser: Early week work productivity in Green Bay
If you want to see the Packers in person, be prepared to stay up late.
The Packers' schedule includes seven national TV games (six at night), and five of those night games are at Lambeau Field. All five are part of the seven-game Green Package.
Heck, another game ā the season finale against Detroit ā could also move to prime time if necessary.
The Packers are guaranteed just two noon games at Lambeau Field this year.
Winner: Gold Package ticket-holders
Gold Package ticket holders don't have to deal with any truly late drives, with their games Oct. 11 against the Bears at 3:25 p.m. and Nov. 15 against Minnesota at noon.
It's a late start on the calendar for the Gold Package, but it's juicy with divisional foes, just like it was two years ago.
Not only do the Packers have two holiday or holiday-adjacent games in 2026, both of them will air on Netflix, requiring fans to have access to the popular streaming service.
Granted, most people probably do have Netflix, but what about Aunt Betty, who's hosting everyone for Christmas this year? The Packers have a Friday afternoon battle on Christmas Day at Soldier Field against the Bears ā only one of the biggest games of the year on a holiday! It's a noon start, so better unwrap that new smart TV in the morning and keep someone on hand who's quick enough to get that thing hooked up by kickoff.
And what about the night before Thanksgiving in Los Angeles? On the one hand, it gives you something to have playing on your smartphone while stuck in traffic as you try to make your way to your Turkey Day destination. On the other hand, if you wanted to enjoy a Los Angeles football game in traffic, you would simply move to Los Angeles (HONKS).
Loser: Jeff Hafley and the Dolphins
Former Packers quarterback Malik Willis and defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, now head coach of the Dolphins, didn't exactly get a plum time of year to visit Lambeau Field for a Florida team, with a Dec. 20 game scheduled for noon.
Welcome back, guys!
Loser: A restful bye week
The Packers' bye comes in Week 11, which is nicely situated in the middle of the NFL schedule on paper. But it's followed by that Wednesday game before Thanksgiving, meaning the Packers get 10 days off.
That's the same number of days off that they get on two other occasions this season, when they play Thursday night games Sept. 24 against the Falcons (followed by an Oct. 4 game in Tampa) and Oct. 29 vs. the Panthers (followed by a Nov. 8 game in New England). On the one hand, three "mini-bye" situations sound good. On the other hand, it means two weeks with just three full off days going into Thursday night and then only 10 days off on bye.
Loser: Schedule-release videos
This isn't a Packers problem specifically, but the unexpected arms race between teams' video staffs on schedule release day has become more of a chore to consume than a buzzy viral opportunity.
And the Packers had a pretty great one this year, a Claymation (emphasis on Clay) concept in which the team's top players must escape a killer arcade (and a villainous Packy Packer!). It avoids the pitfalls of teams trying to load up on every inside reference it can for each of the opponents, and it's far less cringe than past entrants across the league.
