The 2026 NFL regular-season schedule is now official, and every Washington Commanders fan is thinking the same thing.
This team is in for an absolutely brutal start.
Washington opens its season with two road contests against its biggest division rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys. Then, in a Week 3 home opener, the Commanders get the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. After that? They go to London to play the Indianapolis Colts.
Add in a Week 6 prime-time showdown in Santa Clara against the San Francisco 49ers, and the Commanders could be staring at 1-5 or 2-4 headed into the Week 7 bye.
Not great.
Jayden Daniels holds the key to Commanders' fortunes, especially late, in 2026
But let's not focus on that. What nobody is talking about enough is the opportunity to get hot when it matters.
Washington gets two more 2025 playoff teams immediately after the bye, hosting the Eagles and the Los Angeles Rams. But then, they get four extremely winnable games in a row: the New York Giants in East Rutherford, the Cincinnati Bengals at home on Monday Night Football, and then the Arizona Cardinals and Tennessee Titans on the road.
This is where the Commanders' season will need to turn around.
Momentum is real in the NFL, and you'd rather finish strong than start strong if you can't do both. If the Commanders take care of business by beating up on these projected sub-.500 teams, they'll be feeling good about themselves heading into more serious matchups against the Houston Texans, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Dallas at home in four of their final five.
Every year, there's that one team that starts out on the wrong foot but finds a rhythm around the midway point and never looks back. Last year, it was Houston. This year, the Commanders will be a prime candidate. Of course, this is all dependent on whether or not quarterback Jayden Daniels can bounce back from his injury-riddled 2025 campaign.
It will be key for Washington to have its star quarterback settled in by the time the easier part of the schedule arrives. If he's able to return to his rookie form, he could not only help guide the Commanders back to the postseason, but could find his name thrown into the discussion for NFL Most Valuable Player along the way.
The prevailing thought regarding the Commanders' schedule is that hitting the ground running will be crucial. Really, though, it's going to be all about finding that extra gear as they round the turn into the home stretch.
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