A Look at the Anatomy of a NFL Team's Schedule

The 2026 NFL season is upon us, and I just want to take this time to discuss how a team's 17-game schedule is made. The NFL is quite fascinating, as it's the only league out of the main four where a team does not play against literally all of the other teams in the league. The 17-game schedule is now at Season Six, having first become a regular thing in 2021. Regarding the team I want to select as an example, well, I have the perfect one:

The Green Bay Packers. We had a bit of a tough go in the latter half of the season, going 9-7-1 and then we were eliminated by our most hated rivals. I chose the Packers because we do have quite a schedule this year. For some reason, we're being overlooked. I don't know why. We have a great coach, a good receiving core, we have Micah Parsons, and we have a top 5 QB. How anyone can look past this team is just nuts.

Let's look at the schedule. Out of the 17 games, 12 of them are conference games, and of course, conference games are very important when it comes to playoff placement. The conference games are divided into three groups:

Divisional Games

This goes without saying, but the most important half of the conference schedule is the division matchups. Since 2002, the year that the divisions were realigned into what they look like now, a team plays six divisional games, facing each of their three rivals twice. Three of the six game are at home, while said team heads to each site once. The Packers' 2026 regular season starts in Minnesota, and we head to Detroit on Week 7, and to Chicago on Christmas (Week 16). As for the home half of our divisional schedule, we host the Bears on Week 5, the Vikings on Week 10, and the Lions on the final week of the regular season.

In-Conference Division

Out of the six remaining conference games, four of them are against an entire division outside of a team's own group. This year, it's NFC North vs NFC South, meaning that it's NFC East vs NFC West elsewhere. The Packers will face each of the four teams in the NFC South, two at home, two on the road. In chronological order, we'll host the Atlanta Falcons on Week 3 (our home opener on TNF), we will visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Week 4, we host the Carolina Panthers on Week 8 (also on TNF), and we'll visit the New Orleans Saints on Week 13.

Standings Games

The remaining two conference games are against each of the two remaining divisions, and in our case, it's the East and West. In addition, a team has to play those games against teams who finished in the same placement as said team. The Packers finished second in the NFC North last season, so we will face the runners-up in the NFC East and the NFC West: the Dallas Cowboys and the Los Angeles Rams. One game will be at home, while the other is a road game. Chronologically, the home game is first, as we will host the Cowboys on Week 6 on SNF (last time the Packers and Cowboys were on SNF together, it was last year's 40-40 tie). This means that the Packers will be in SoFi against the Rams, and that will kick off Week 12 on Thanksgiving Eve on Netflix.

Interconference Games

With 12 games inside the conference, that leaves the remaining five games of the season, and those games are all interconference games. Out of the five games, four of them are against a single division outside of the team's conference, and it rotates every year. This year, the Packers will play against the entire AFC East, with two games being at home, while the other two are road games. First off, the Packers will be at MetLife Stadium against the New York Jets (Week 2), and then we'll be at Foxboro against the New England Patriots (Week 9). At Week 14, we'll host the Buffalo Bills (on SNF), and on the following week (Week 15), we'll host the Miami Dolphins.

As for the remaining interconference game, it's a standings placement game. Since the addition of a 17th game to the regular season in 2021, the 17th game has always been a standings placement interconference game against a team from any of the other three divisions in the other conference, on a rotating basis. This year, in that exact game, it's the NFC North vs the AFC South, and the Packers will face off against the Houston Texans, who finished in second place in the AFC South last season. That game will be a home game for the Packers, and will be our Monday Night game on Week 17.

So that's how a team's 17 game schedule works. 12 conference games (six divisional, four against a different division, and one placement game against each of the other two divisions) and five interconference games (one game against each team in a single division, and a placement game against one of the other three divisions). The conference games are always important, but out of all of them, the division games are the most important. Division record is always listed 2nd behind H2H (Head-to-Head) when two divisional foes are tied, and it usually comes into play if the teams split the season series. When it's two teams in the same conference, but in different divisions, chances are that H2H won't come into play, and that moves conference record up to the #1 tiebreaker. Regarding interconference games, they usually only affect the common opponents tiebreaker, or even the dreaded Strength of Victory and Strength of Schedule tiebreakers. Those last two are rare, but remember, the Rams won the NFC West in 2024 thanks to SOV.

The 2026 NFL season begins on September 9 with the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots facing off in a rematch from Super Bowl LX.