The New England Patriots 2026 schedule was predicted to be one of the toughest in the NFL, since they made it all the way to the Super Bowl. Therefore, they were set to face a first-place schedule, and as we've seen from the release, it's clear they are about to embark on a tough road back to the Super Bowl.
The conference is projected to be even better this year, too, with stiff competition across the AFC, and the NFL did the Patriots absolutely no favors with how they lined up their schedule, at the start and at the very end.
The first month is headlined by three away games, starting with the season opener in a Super Bowl rematch against the Seahawks in Seattle. They follow that up at home against the Steelers, then go on the road to face the Jaguars and the Bills.
As if that wasn't bad enough, they also end the season with a brutal stretch of opponents, all of whom are in the AFC and could ultimately dictate their playoff seeding.
The Patriots are set to face a brutal stretch of games that will ultimately determine the AFC playoff picture
They start the gauntlet against the Chiefs in Kansas City in Week 15 on Monday Night Football. They then travel to New York to play the Jets, and then finish the season with back-to-back home games against the Broncos and Dolphins.
Although their divisional rivals aren't expected to be very competitive, they have improved a lot this offseason and could become more problematic for the Patriots to take down.
Regardless, the Chiefs and Broncos will be among the most difficult games on the schedule, especially since Patrick Mahomes will surely be back on the field by December after tearing his ACL last year, and the Broncos will seek revenge after losing to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game earlier this year.
Even better for them is disrupting their chance of either winning the division or placing higher in the AFC playoffs, and the Broncos have all the motivation in the world to ruin it all for New England.
That's not exactly how any team would want to end their season, even if it is a luxury to finish at home this year, which hasn't been the case for the Patriots in recent years. They'll have to start and end the season strong if they want to replicate last year's success, and this schedule gives them even more bumps in the road on their path.
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