The Los Angeles Rams, along with the NFL, have released their 2026 schedule, detailing when and where the Rams will be playing this season. With a tough slate of games ahead of them, here are five instant takeaways from the schedule release.
Rams will face teams dealing with injuries to kick off season
To kick off the season, the Rams will play the San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, and Denver Broncos in the first three weeks. All three teams had a star player suffer late-season injuries that they’re still working through. George Kittle, Malik Nabers, and Bo Nix will all be racing to be back to full health.
However, in the race, the quality those players possess might not be there yet as they have to get used to live-action football again. Keep in mind that Matthew Stafford took two weeks to return to his normal form after missing most of the lead-up to the 2025 season with injury.
The first six weeks of the season could be a trap
On top of facing the 49ers and Broncos, both of whom made the playoffs last season, the Rams will also play the Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills, and Arizona Cardinals in the first six weeks of the season. The Rams open the season in Australia, before hosting the Giants. They’ll have a back-to-back road trips to Denver and Philadelphia before hosting the Bills.
The Eagles and Bills also made the postseason last year, and the Giants have John Harbaugh as a new coach. That’s five weeks of hard-hitting action with international/cross-country travel thrown into the mix. Within the span of a month, the Rams will play a game near the southern-most point of Australia, a game a mile above sea level, and a game on the East Coast.
They’ll do all that before playing the Cardinals, who are coached by former Rams assistant Mike LaFleur and have one of the fastest running backs in football with Jeremiyah Love. Plus, four of those six games are in prime time, and the Rams don’t playing in prime-time games – especially on the road – because they’re forced to wait around all day.
If the Rams can hold the line, they’re in position to steal the NFC West to end the season
With all that being said, if the Rams are able to enter the final five weeks of the season within striking distance of the division title, odds are that they’ll be able to control their own destiny. They’ll rematch with the 49ers in Week 14, and they’ll play the Seattle Seahawks in Weeks 16 and 18.
They’ll also play the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers; thus, wild-card implications could be in play against two NFC foes.
The Rams might have the worst stretch to end the year in the NFL
The last five weeks provide an opportunity, but it’s a daunting schedule. The Rams have a bye in Week 11. After that, they’ll play the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs before entering that final stretch. The Packers made the postseason last year, while the Chiefs are reloaded with Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III joining the squad.
In those final five weeks, the Rams play on the road three times, including a Week 17 road trip to Tampa before hosting the Seahawks in the season finale. Tampa was one win away from winning its fifth straight division title last year. The Rams went 0-2 in regular-season road games against NFC South opponents in 2025.
Sean McVay can not afford a fourth slow start in five years
While the schedule sort of eases up in the middle of the season, it doesn’t do much, especially with another East Coast trip to Washington in Week 9. This is a gauntlet. The Rams have no room to slip and they have slipped up out of the gates often in recent years. Second-half turnarounds rewrote narratives in 2023 and 2024, all for the Rams to start hot in 2025, to then lose momentum in a meltdown to end the last regular season.
With this schedule, there’s no room to fail. The Rams have to be detailed from the start of the year.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: 5 takeaways from the Rams’ 2026 schedule
Reporting by Brock Vierra, Rams Wire / Rams Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
