NFL.com has published its list of the top 10 games of the 2026 NFL season, a prelude to next Thursday's Nfl Schedule Release at 8 p.m. ET on NFL Network, ESPN2, the App and NFL+. The order of those games has not yet been revealed, but the list already puts the Seahawks and the Patriots team they beat in February in the spotlight three times apiece.
The Rams, Chiefs, Ravens and Bills show up twice apiece, while six more teams are featured once, giving the list a clear set of headliners before the full slate arrives. The ranking is built around matchups with recent history, and few fit that description better than Seattle and Los Angeles, whose Week 16 game at Lumen Field was NFL Media’s No. 1-ranked Game of the Year for 2025.
That game ended in overtime on Seattle’s third two-point conversion in the final 15 minutes, a finish that swung the NFC race and gave the Seahawks a major edge in securing the conference’s top seed. The Rams were dropped to the fifth seed after the loss in Seattle, and the rematch finished on the final play, sending Los Angeles home and pushing Seattle on to Super Bowl LX, which the Seahawks won handily.
The Seahawks-Rams series has already supplied three high-drama meetings, including a third clash in which Matthew Stafford and Sam Darnold each threw for 300-plus yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. NFL.com’s ranking reflects the kind of rivalry that can dominate a schedule release because it carries both playoff stakes and fresh memory.
The Chiefs-Bills matchup brings a different kind of gravity. Kansas City and Buffalo have met 10 times in the 2020s, splitting those games 5-5 overall, even as Buffalo owns a 5-1 regular-season series edge and Kansas City is 4-0 in playoff matchups. That balance, and the fact that the meeting is one of the showcase battles at the new Highmark Stadium, keeps it near the top of the league’s most watched pairings. In the same way the NFC West showdown drew attention for Seattle and Los Angeles, the Chiefs-Bills game remains one of the NFL's most anticipated recurring matchups, the sort of fixture that can anchor a schedule release without needing any help from the rest of the calendar.
Another game carrying extra tension is the first meeting in Chicago between the Bears and Packers. The league has not yet said where any of these matchups will land on the calendar, but the ranking makes the point before next Thursday's reveal does: the 2026 season is already being framed by rivalries that have recent history, playoff consequences and a built-in audience.
