Month: May 2026

The release of the NFL regular-season schedule can be exciting, but also a bit overwhelming. We finally found out when all 272 regular-season games in the 2026 NFL season will be played on Thursday night, causing us all to scroll around to find out when the biggest games will be played. But you can now take a deep breath, as we’re able to pinpoint the 10 best games set to be played in the regular season. This year’s 272-game slate should be a thrilling one, too. We’ve got a Super Bowl rematch to open the season, and plenty of matchups featuring fierce division rivals who should be contenders this season, including one on Christmas Day. So, as you can take your time scrolling through your favorite team’s schedule and optimistically check off wins, let’s take a closer look at the top 10 games to watch for the upcoming season. A big AFC West tilt between the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers offers a good opportunity to see how new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel creates a scheme that gets the most out of talented quarterback Justin Herbert. The Bolts face the Seattle Seahawks the previous week on the road, so hopefully they make it through that game unscathed and ready to host Denver. For the Broncos, it’s a tough early-season test to see whether quarterback Bo Nix is fully healthy after finishing the season with a fractured ankle. The defending AFC West champs, it’s another chance to show they are still kings of the division. The Detroit Lions look to rebound from a disappointing season after missing the playoffs last year. They have an easier schedule this season and face a New England Patriots squad that has a much more difficult schedule after reaching the Super Bowl in Mike Vrabel’s first year leading that team. The Patriots play in Germany for the second time in franchise history, while it’s the first time the Lions will play there. This game also pits two potential MVP candidates against each other in Drake Maye and Jared Goff. Kenneth Walker III said he knew the entire season last year that he would not return to Seattle in 2026. The Memphis native and Super Bowl MVP gets an opportunity to face his old team at Lumen Field on the road in Seattle. Walker should be adjusted to the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense by this point in the year and comfortably leading the running game. For Seattle, it’s an opportunity to show out in front of a national audience on “Sunday Night Football” as it seeks to become the second team to repeat as Super Bowl champs in the last two decades. Head coach Mike Madonald is leading one of the best defenses in the NFL again, going up against the best quarterback in the league in Patrick Mahomes. The San Francisco 49ers have owned this series of late, winning the last four games against the Dallas Cowboys. However, this game is on the road at AT&T Stadium and who knows how healthy San Francisco’s roster will be at this point in the season. The Cowboys look improved on defense, with first-round draft picks Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence. And with one of the most explosive offenses in the league led by Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, the Cowboys should make things interesting in this matchup between two playoff hopefuls. The two teams expected to compete for the AFC North title meet for the first time here. Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow remain two of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, but both have had trouble staying healthy for the duration of a marathon NFL season. This game also marks the first time talented edge rusher Trey Hendrickson plays against his old team, signing with the Baltimore Ravens in free agency after the team rescinded their trade for star edge rusher Maxx Crosby. Two of the best young quarterbacks match up in this NFC North division battle between two heated rivals in the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. Bears head coach Ben Johnson has made it plain he does not care for the Packers and head coach Matt LaFleur, adding juice to this storied rivalry. All three games last season were decided by one score. The Packers won the game at Lambeau thanks to a game-sealing interception of Caleb Williams in the final seconds. Two weeks later, the Bears dramatically took down the Packers at Soldier Field after they tied the game in the final minute before Williams threw a game-winning touchdown pass in overtime. But the drama from the playoff matchup trumped them all, with Chicago coming back from an 18-point deficit to beat Green Bay. A Super Bowl rematch to start the season. The last time these two teams met, it wasn’t much of a contest as Seattle dominated from start to finish. However, the Seahawks lost Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III to Kansas City in free agency. Along with losing that key contributor on offense, the Seahawks must replace edge rusher Boye Mafe and defensive backs Coby Bryant and Riq Woolen, who also left in free agency. And with the anticipated arrival of A.J. Brown via trade and another year of development for Drake Maye, the Patriots could make things interesting. At this point in the season, we will know if Jalen Hurts can function at an elite level in new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion’s offense, and if the Philadelphia Eagles have enough playmakers on the perimeter with A.J. Brown potentially out of the picture. The Eagles have won back-to-back NFC East titles, but can they hold off an improved Cowboys squad looking to reclaim their title as the best team in the division? Prescott still owns a 10-5 record against Philadelphia, and both games came down to the wire last season, decided by a combined seven points. Two of the best quarterbacks on the planet face off again, making this game must-see TV. Josh Allen and Mahomes are 5-5 against each other in 10 meetings, although Mahomes holds a 4-0 record in the playoffs. Allen failed to take advantage of a rare opportunity to reach the Super Bowl with Mahomes, Burrow and Jackson not in the postseason last year. But with a new head coach in Joe Brady and a new No. 1 receiver in D.J. Moore, Allen must figure out a way to get back to the playoffs. And that run starts in this late-season matchup against another team fighting to get back into the postseason in the Chiefs. How much more do we need to say? In a rematch of the NFC Championship Game, these two teams face off in two of the final three weeks of the season. And if last season was any indication, we’re in store for some late-season dramatics. The Rams and Seahawks split the two regular-season contests, as the two games were decided by one score. But Seattle won the rubber match 31-27 in a hard-fought game to advance to the Super Bowl Both teams are favorites to reach the Super Bowl again this season, and if you look at most power rankings, the Rams and Seahawks occupy the top two spots, too. So, the expectation is another highly charged contest.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

In Driver’s Eye with James Hinchcliffe, the six-time INDYCAR winner will bring you inside the mind of a racer while breaking down the nuts and bolts of the sport for fans. The Indianapolis 500 is the biggest race in the world. More than 300,000 people show up on race day. Millions more watch on TV. The pre-race ceremonies last an hour and build up the anticipation for the start of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. It’s unlike any other sporting event on the planet. But before you get the privilege of experiencing that moment on the starting grid of the Indy 500, you first must qualify for the race. The stakes, and the speeds, will never be higher. THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE FAST: INDY 500 QUALIFYING The Indy 500 is unique in many ways, but one of the most famous is the tradition of starting 11 rows of three cars. Thirty-three drivers in 33 cars take the green flag after the field is set in qualifying. And that qualifying session is, by far, the most intense, most terrifying but most rewarding thing an INDYCAR driver will do all season. Qualifying for the Indy 500 is done by posting your best average speed of a four-lap run around Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s iconic 2.5-mile oval. Speed is measured down to one-thousandth of a mile an hour, and sometimes that makes the difference. We’re talking about four laps, 10 miles, faster than 230 miles per hour, and every thousandth counts. The level of preparation for teams’ speedway cars for those four laps — and the Indy 500 itself — cannot be overstated. Countless hours are dedicated to special body work on the cars to reduce and eliminate every seam and every gap. Teams build special uprights to allow the wheels to turn freely and gearboxes with less internal friction to transfer more of the power from the engine to the rear wheels. These parts aren’t built to last. They are built to go as fast as possible for exactly four laps around IMS. When it comes time to make your qualifying run, it’s just you, the car and the track. You have the speedway all to yourself and the pressure is immense. There is no point in the year when the speeds will be higher than this moment. With faster speeds comes higher risk, and the driver needs to be willing to risk it all to come out on top. In my career, I ran the gambit of emotions during qualifying. I’ve started near the front, in the middle, on the last row. One year I didn’t qualify for the Indy 500, which was one of the hardest days of my career. On the other hand, I was lucky enough to start the famed race from the pole position back in 2016. Starting on pole for the Indy 500 is a big deal for these teams and drivers. Because of all the work that goes into building the cars, if you build the fastest one, every member of the team feels tremendous pride that their hard work paid off. For the drivers, it’s the fastest you go all year. Under colossal pressure, a slight misstep could end in the biggest wreck of your career. So to come out on top — to be the one who walked the line between victory and tragedy the finest — it’s something to be proud of. For sure, in a 500-mile race, starting up front is neither a guarantee of, nor a prerequisite for, success on race day. But it definitely helps your chances by keeping you up front and out of some of the potential trouble that could be brewing mid-field or further back. [VICTORS AND HOPEFULS: What Makes The Indy 500 So Hard To Win?] SOUND LIKE AN INDYCAR EXPERT: PRANK SEASON As big a deal as the Indy 500 is for every driver, when you are living at one race track for nearly an entire month — and I do mean living, as most drivers reside in motorhomes inside Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the Month of May — you can get a bit of cabin fever. And that can manifest itself in different ways, the most entertaining of which is pranks in the bus lot. It seems every year, somewhere in the middle of Week 2, drivers start looking for ways to decompress, and pulling a fast one on your friends and colleagues seems to be a popular method. And no one is safe. Making sure your motorhome is locked is key to survival in the bus lot. I made that mistake once and came home to a bus where all the toilet seats had been removed. Conor Daly once arrived back after a long night of sponsor dinners to find his bus packed to the brim of helium balloons that were too big to fit out of the door, so they had to be popped one by one. Only, they weren’t only filled with helium, and each “pop” resulted in a shower of glitter across the floor, which also was scattered with Solo cups filled with water. Another time, Marco Andretti awoke to find his two golf carts Saran-wrapped together. Romain Grosjean’s scooter magically found its way to the roof of the pagoda. And who can forget when Daly’s inflatable hot tub was filled with Orbeez and rendered useless?! As much as these pranks are a needed (and hilarious) release for drivers during a stressful month, it really highlights that while we are all fierce competitors on the track, there is a camaraderie between us. Drivers in this series know that we take big risks out on track and can have each other’s lives in our hands. We travel the country together week in and week out for half the year. It becomes like a big family. A traveling circus. It’s nice to see that people who drive 230 miles an hour, inches apart from one another, can still disconnect and cause a little chaos in the bus lot together. Oh, and just FYI, Daly brought the hot tub to the track again this year… [INDY 500: The Definitive Guide To Choosing Your Favorite INDYCAR Driver] 1 FOR THE ROAD INDYCAR recently implemented a rule change — one that most people agree is a good step for the series. It came off the back of the Indy Grand Prix — another reason drivers live at IMS all month — where a car was stopped on the frontstraight with a mechanical issue. But because the leaders were in the middle of a pit cycle, a local yellow was thrown to give everyone a chance to pit before a full-course caution was displayed, which would close the pit lane for service. Employing local cautions is a protocol we have used for years and was actually implemented at the behest of the teams and drivers. It could be advantageous, depending on where you are on track. Teams always advocate for consistency in these types of calls, and race control has done a great job of that recently. Teams and drivers also always advocate for driver safety. And unfortunately, those two things were at odds last weekend. By being consistent with the procedure, it arguably put a driver at risk. Race control was in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario. As has always been the mentality of INDYCAR racing, driver safety is paramount and must come first and foremost. Given that, the decision about full-course cautions being thrown will no longer take pit cycles into account and will be solely dependent on the situation with the car or cars in question. It’s a good step for driver safety, and it has a knock-on effect of making strategy that much tougher to call for drivers running up front. The risk of staying out too late and a yellow affecting your race has gone up, and every time the strategy is harder to call, the fans at home benefit. MORE DRIVER’S EYE:​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports