By Tyler Dragon, USA TODAY
There aren’t any more leaks. The NFL schedule is officially released.
Teams typically look at their home opener, when their bye week lands, consecutive road games, games around the holidays and the final few weeks of the season as reference points to gauge the difficulty of their regular-season schedule.
Logistics can often play a role in how difficult a team’s schedule is. The San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams will each travel more than 30,000 miles this season. While the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers are set to travel the lowest number of miles, with each traveling under 10,000 miles.
Sometimes the regular-season schedule is inadvertently advantageous for some teams while conversely unfavorable to other clubs.
USA TODAY Sports list five NFL teams who could be in trouble based on their 2026 schedule:
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers are scheduled to travel an NFL-record 38,105 miles during the course of the 2026 regular season. The record amount of air miles is bound to take a toll on the team. The 49ers will play in two of the nine international games: Week 1 versus the Los Angeles Rams in Australia and Week 11 against the Minnesota Vikings in Mexico City. The 49ers are the designated “road team” in Week 1 and claim the “home team” designation in Week 11. Niners fans typically pack SoFi Stadium when they play the Rams, but the club won’t get to face their division rival in the revenue during the regular season.
Aside from all the travel, Week 10-17 could be a murderous row for San Francisco. The 49ers are at the Dallas Cowboys (Week 10), they are at home versus the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams in Week 12 and 14. Plus, the Niners have two tough road games against Los Angeles Chargers (Week 15) and Kansas City Chiefs (Week 16) before their final regular season home game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 17.
Miami Dolphins
The schedule makers didn’t do the Dolphins any favors.
The Dolphins’ winning percentage might be at the bottom of the ocean this year. They have the AFC’s toughest strength of schedule based on opponent winning percentage from the 2025 season despite coming off a 7-10 campaign.
The new-look Dolphins have a tough road ahead, literally, with road games against the San Francisco 49ers (Week 2), Indianapolis Colts (Week 10), Denver Broncos (Week 13) and Green Bay Packers (Week 15) in addition to their AFC East rivals.
Miami ends the season against six opponents who qualified to the postseason last year: at Denver Broncos (Week 13), vs. Chicago Bears (Week 14), at Green Bay Packers (Week 15), vs. Los Angeles Chargers (Week 16), vs. Buffal Bills (Week 17) and at New England Patriots (Week 18).
The Dolphins could easily close the regular season on a six-game losing streak.
New England Patriots
The Patriots open the regular season with a Super Bowl 60 rematch against the Seattle Seahawks, a team that pummeled them 29-13 with the Lombardi Trophy at stake. It doesn’t get much easier. The Patriots have one of the NFL’s most difficult first four games of any NFL team – a home opener versus the Pittsburgh Steelers (Week 2) before back-to-back road games against the Jacksonville Jaguars (Week 3) and Buffalo Bills (Week 4).
New England’s Week 11 bye week also is probably a little later than they would ideally like.
Overall, the Patriots have the sixth-toughest strength of schedule based on opponent winning percentage from the 2025 season. Five of New England’s road opponents made the playoffs last year. Plus, they have to face the Detroit Lions (Week 10) and Kansas City Chiefs (Week 15) on the road, two teams that figure to be much better in 2026.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs don’t have the luxury of easing Patrick Mahomes in if he returns from a knee injury in Week 1. The Chiefs host the Denver Broncos (Week 1) and Indianapolis Colts (Week 2), two playoff teams from a year ago.
The Chiefs have a very early bye in Week 5, which will force them to end the year with 13 straight games. The daunting 13-week stretch features road games against the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos in Week 7 and 8 in addition to three straight away contests against the Buffalo Bills (Week 12) on Thanksgiving, Los Angeles Rams (Week 13) and Cincinnati Bengals (Week 14).
Kansas City’s playoff fate will likely be decided from Week 12 through Week 17 when they are at the Bills, at the Rams, at the Bengals. They then host the New England Patriots (Week 15) and San Francisco 49ers (Week 16) before a final away game against the Los Angeles Chargers (Week 17).
Carolina Panthers
Bryce Young and the Panthers backed into the playoffs at 8-9 last year. Carolina’s schedule might produce another sub-.500 season in 2026.
The Panthers face a hungry Detroit Lions team in Week 4 before they have an early Week 5 bye. After that they’ll face a difficult four-game stretch at the Philadelphia Eagles (Week 6), versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Week 7), at the Green Bay Packers (Week 8) on a short week on a Thursday night and against the Denver Broncos (Week 9).
The Panthers do have two home games to close the regular season, albeit against the Seattle Seahawks and a divisional showdown versus the Atlanta Falcons.
Carolina is set to open the regular season with the 10th toughest strength of schedule based on opponents win percentage from 2025.
Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on X @TheTylerDragon.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL schedule release 2026: 5 teams who could be in trouble, including Chiefs