The Seattle Seahawks opened the 2026 NFL season on Wednesday night by hosting the New England Patriots at Lumen Field in a rematch of Super Bowl LX, which Seattle won in February. The game marked the official kickoff of the NFL’s regular season and drew national attention as the league’s reigning champions returned to the field for the first time since their title run.
Seattle enters the year looking to defend its title behind the same core that carried the Seahawks through the playoffs last season. New England, which fell short in the Super Bowl, spent the offseason retooling its roster in an attempt to close the gap with the AFC’s top contenders. The kickoff game was broadcast nationally on NBC and served as the marquee event of Week 1.
Lumen Field has hosted Seahawks games since 2002 and is known for one of the loudest crowds in professional football, a factor that has historically given Seattle a home-field edge in high-profile matchups. Wednesday’s game carried extra weight given the Super Bowl history between the two teams, with both fan bases treating it as an early measuring stick for the season ahead.
The season opener sets the tone for a 2026 NFL schedule that will run through the playoffs and Super Bowl LXI early next year. Analysts have pointed to the Seahawks-Patriots rematch as one of the storylines to watch throughout the year, given the teams’ recent postseason history and the possibility of another meeting in the playoffs.
For Seattle, the opener represented a chance to show that its championship roster can carry that success into a new season, while New England used the game to gauge how far its roster changes have brought the team since February. Both franchises will play 17 regular-season games before the postseason field is set in January.
