The Seattle Seahawks already reached the top. Now comes the challenge of doing it again. Seattle went 14-3 in 2025, won the NFC West, earned the NFC’s No. 1 seed and finished the run by beating New England 29-13 in Super Bowl LX. The Seahawks’ defense overwhelmed the Patriots, keeping them scoreless through three quarters while producing six sacks and three takeaways. It was Seattle’s second Super Bowl championship and one of the best seasons in franchise history.
That completely changes the tone around 2026. Seattle isn’t trying to prove that Mike Macdonald can build a contender or that Sam Darnold can lead a championship-caliber team. They already answered those questions. This season is about whether the Seahawks can stay at that level when every opponent knows exactly what they’re facing. For fans, following the encore can still get complicated. Regional CBS and FOX coverage can leave an out-of-market Seahawks fan with another game on television, while travel can create location restrictions on streaming services you normally use.
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The Hard Part: Winning Again
There’s a reason Mike Macdonald has resisted talking about “defending” anything. Seattle’s own message entering training camp has been about “running it forward” rather than trying to recreate 2025. Jaxon Smith-Njigba has echoed that approach, describing 2026 as an opportunity to create a new story rather than living off the championship.
That mentality makes sense because championship teams rarely return unchanged. Opponents spend an offseason studying what worked, expectations rise, and the margin for improvement becomes smaller. Seattle also gets a schedule worthy of a champion: 10 games against teams that reached the 2025 postseason and a franchise-record six primetime appearances.
The good news is that this doesn’t look like a champion being dismantled immediately after reaching the top. Seattle retained important pieces, including Rashid Shaheed, and enters 2026 with many of the players responsible for last season’s success still together. Smith-Njigba is coming off a historic receiving season, Darnold returns at quarterback, and Macdonald still has the defensive core that drove the championship run.
The question isn’t whether Seattle can look exactly like the 2025 Seahawks. It’s whether this version can evolve enough to win again.
Seattle Seahawks 2026 Schedule and TV Guide
The NFL certainly isn’t easing Seattle back into the season. The Seahawks open the entire 2026 NFL schedule on a Wednesday night with a Super Bowl LX rematch against New England. From there, the schedule includes six primetime games, a Christmas night matchup with the Rams and a Week 18 trip to Los Angeles to face the team Seattle defeated in the NFC Championship Game.
| Week | Date | Opponent | Time (PT) | TV / Streaming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sept. 9 | vs. New England Patriots | 5:20 PM | NBC |
| 2 | Sept. 20 | at Arizona Cardinals | 1:25 PM | FOX |
| 3 | Sept. 27 | at Washington Commanders | 10:00 AM | FOX |
| 4 | Oct. 4 | vs. Los Angeles Chargers | 1:25 PM | CBS |
| 5 | Oct. 11 | vs. San Francisco 49ers | 1:25 PM | FOX |
| 6 | Oct. 15 | at Denver Broncos | 5:15 PM | Prime Video |
| 7 | Oct. 25 | vs. Kansas City Chiefs | 5:20 PM | NBC |
| 8 | Nov. 2 | vs. Chicago Bears | 5:15 PM | ESPN |
| 9 | Nov. 8 | vs. Arizona Cardinals | 1:25 PM | FOX |
| 10 | Nov. 15 | at Las Vegas Raiders | 1:05 PM | CBS |
| 11 | — | BYE | — | — |
| 12 | Nov. 29 | at San Francisco 49ers | 1:25 PM | FOX |
| 13 | Dec. 7 | vs. Dallas Cowboys | 5:15 PM | ESPN |
| 14 | Dec. 13 | vs. New York Giants | 1:25 PM | FOX |
| 15 | Dec. 19 | at Philadelphia Eagles | 2:00 PM | FOX |
| 16 | Dec. 25 | vs. Los Angeles Rams | 5:15 PM | FOX |
| 17 | Jan. 3 | at Carolina Panthers | 10:00 AM | FOX |
| 18 | TBD | at Los Angeles Rams | TBD | TBD |
Seattle’s official schedule currently leaves the Week 18 date, kickoff time and broadcaster against Los Angeles to be determined. Eligible games later in the year can also be affected by NFL flexible scheduling.
Home, Away and Everything Else
Seattle’s geography has always made its schedule a little different. A trip east can mean a 10 a.m. Pacific kickoff for fans back home, while visiting teams heading to Lumen Field make one of the longer domestic trips in the NFL. Seattle has two 10 a.m. PT kickoffs scheduled in 2026, at Washington in Week 3 and Carolina in Week 17. The Seahawks have gone 24-5 in that early time slot since 2018, according to the team.
The middle of the schedule is much friendlier geographically. After traveling to Denver in Week 6, Seattle plays five of its next six games at Lumen Field before the Week 11 bye. The closing stretch becomes tougher again, with trips to Philadelphia and Carolina before finishing the regular season at the Rams.
There’s also a viewing wrinkle that comes with being the champion: Seattle is on national television a lot more. NBC, Prime Video and ESPN all appear on the schedule, so fans shouldn’t assume every Seahawks game will follow the normal regional FOX/CBS setup.
How to Watch Seahawks Games Based on Where You Are
The easiest way to find Seattle each week is to start with where you’re watching.
Watching in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest
If you’re within Seattle’s normal television market, start with the broadcaster listed in the schedule above. Regional Sunday games will generally be available through the appropriate local CBS or FOX affiliate, while Seattle’s primetime games move to NBC, Prime Video or ESPN depending on the week. The Seahawks also open the NFL season nationally on NBC against New England, so there’s no regional FOX/CBS question for that Super Bowl rematch.
Watching the Seahawks Out of Market
Living somewhere else in the United States changes Sunday afternoon viewing. CBS and FOX distribute many NFL games regionally, meaning the FOX affiliate in Seattle can carry the Seahawks while a FOX station elsewhere shows another team. For eligible Sunday afternoon games that aren’t available through your local affiliate, check NFL Sunday Ticket. This is one of the most important distinctions on this page: being out of market isn’t necessarily the same as experiencing a Seahawks blackout.
Watching While Traveling
Travel creates a different situation. You might already subscribe to the correct service but discover that the content available to you changes when your location changes. If a streaming service you normally use becomes unavailable specifically because of your temporary location, a VPN may help by changing the IP location associated with your connection. That doesn’t replace the service carrying the game, and it doesn’t turn a regional Sunday game into a local broadcast.
Watching Outside the United States
NFL broadcast rights differ by country, so fans living internationally should check the official NFL viewing options available where they live. For U.S. fans who are only abroad temporarily, the issue can be different. If your normal streaming service becomes unavailable because of your travel location, a VPN may help with that location restriction. You’ll still need legitimate access to the broadcaster carrying Seattle that week.
The Defense That Won Seattle a Championship
Seattle’s 2025 defense didn’t just complement the offense. It became the defining force behind a Super Bowl championship. The Seahawks finished the regular season as the NFL’s No. 1 scoring defense, the first time Seattle had accomplished that since 2015. Then the defense became even more disruptive when the season reached its biggest stage.
Against New England in Super Bowl LX, Seattle recorded six sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, eight tackles for loss and 11 quarterback hits. The Patriots gained only 78 yards and five first downs through the first three quarters while failing to score. Uchenna Nwosu added a 45-yard interception return for a touchdown, and a Derick Hall strip-sack helped set up Seattle’s only offensive touchdown.
That performance looked familiar to anyone who had watched Macdonald’s defense throughout the year. Seattle wasn’t dependent on simply overwhelming opponents with one star pass rusher. The unit could disguise intentions, create pressure and get contributions from multiple levels of the defense. That’s what makes 2026 so interesting. Seattle doesn’t need the defense to discover an identity; it needs the unit to maintain one after the rest of the league has spent months studying it.
The Seahawks also continued investing in that side of the ball during the draft. After using the final pick of the first round on Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price, Seattle selected TCU safety Bud Clark in Round 2 and Arkansas cornerback Julian Neal in Round 3. Five of the Seahawks’ eight 2026 draft selections were defensive players. Macdonald has already demonstrated what his system can become when the personnel fits. The challenge now is staying ahead of the adjustments that inevitably come after a championship season.
Why Is Another Game on FOX Instead of the Seahawks?
This is where the word blackout can cause confusion. Imagine Seattle’s schedule says FOX. You turn on your local FOX affiliate expecting the Seahawks, but another NFL matchup is being shown instead. It can certainly feel like a Seahawks blackout, but regional NFL coverage is often the actual explanation.
CBS and FOX don’t necessarily show the same Sunday afternoon game throughout the country. The network listed on Seattle’s schedule tells you which network owns that broadcast; it doesn’t guarantee that every local affiliate in America will carry it.
If you’re outside Seattle’s regional market and your FOX or CBS affiliate has another matchup, check whether the Seahawks game is eligible for NFL Sunday Ticket. If your normal streaming service instead tells you that its content is unavailable because of your current location, that’s potentially a geo-restriction rather than an out-of-market broadcast issue. So before trying to unblock a Seahawks game, determine which problem you actually have.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba Doesn’t Need a Breakout Season Anymore
Going into 2025, it would have made sense to talk about Jaxon Smith-Njigba taking the next step. That conversation is over. Smith-Njigba led the NFL with a franchise-record 1,793 receiving yards, earned first-team All-Pro honors and was named AP Offensive Player of the Year. Seattle subsequently rewarded him with a long-term contract, firmly establishing him as one of the centerpieces of the franchise.
Now he faces essentially the same challenge as the team around him: what does an encore look like when the breakthrough already happened?
Defenses know where Darnold wants to go with the football. They know Smith-Njigba can take over a game. Coordinators will spend considerably more time designing coverage specifically around preventing him from dictating matchups.
Seattle at least has other options. Rashid Shaheed was retained after arriving in a midseason trade, while the receiving group also returns Cooper Kupp and other contributors from the championship roster. Kupp’s postseason value was particularly noticeable, as he led Seattle in receiving in two of its three playoff games, including Super Bowl LX.
That supporting cast matters because Seattle shouldn’t need Smith-Njigba to reproduce 1,793 yards for the offense to succeed. The better question is whether his presence can continue creating opportunities elsewhere while he remains the receiver opponents build their coverage plans around. For a team trying to win another championship, that’s more important than chasing another individual breakout.
Can a VPN Unblock Seahawks Games?
A VPN may help unblock a Seahawks stream while traveling if your temporary location is the reason a streaming service you normally use has become unavailable. The process is fairly simple. First, check the schedule to identify the service actually carrying Seattle. If you already have access to that service but encounter a location restriction while traveling, connect to an appropriate VPN server and reopen your normal streaming app.
A VPN doesn’t provide NFL Sunday Ticket or replace CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN, Prime Video or another required subscription. If your local FOX station is carrying another NFL game, you’re probably dealing with regional out-of-market coverage rather than the kind of location restriction a VPN may help address.
Quick Seahawks VPN Setup
We recommend ExpressVPN for sports streaming while traveling.
- Check which network or streaming service has the Seahawks game.
- Open ExpressVPN and connect to an appropriate server.
- Reopen the streaming service you normally use.
- Sign in with your existing account.
- Check the Seahawks stream again.
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The 2026 Schedule Looks Like a Champion’s Schedule
Winning the Super Bowl changes more than expectations. It changes the kinds of games that get put under the brightest lights. Seattle has a franchise-record six primetime games in 2026, five of which are at Lumen Field. There is also a standalone Saturday game at Philadelphia.
It starts immediately with New England. The NFL could hardly create a more obvious opening statement than putting the Super Bowl LX rematch in the league’s kickoff game. Seattle gets to raise its championship banner and then immediately play the team it beat to win it.
Later comes Kansas City on Sunday Night Football, Chicago on Monday night, Dallas on another Monday night and a Christmas night home game against the Rams. That Christmas matchup is Seattle’s first Christmas game in franchise history.
The Rams games may ultimately matter most. Seattle defeated Los Angeles 31-27 in the NFC Championship Game to reach Super Bowl LX, and the division rivals now meet twice late in 2026: Christmas night in Seattle and Week 18 in Los Angeles.
That creates a very different type of schedule from one built around finding out whether a young team is ready. Seattle already knows it can beat elite opponents. Now the league is giving the Seahawks plenty of opportunities to prove they can keep doing it.
Seahawks Blackout or Geo-Block? Ask Two Questions
If you’re having trouble finding the game, you don’t need a long troubleshooting process.
- Is another NFL game showing on your local CBS or FOX station? You’re probably dealing with regional coverage. Check whether Seattle is out of market and whether the game is eligible for NFL Sunday Ticket.
- Does the streaming service you normally use specifically say the content isn’t available because of your location? That’s more likely a geo-restriction, and a VPN may help while you’re traveling.
Both situations can look like a Seahawks game is blacked out, but they aren’t the same problem.
The Hardest Part Comes After You Win
Seattle doesn’t need to spend 2026 proving that the 2025 season happened. The banner will be hanging at Lumen Field. The Lombardi Trophy isn’t going anywhere. Macdonald’s defense already delivered on the biggest stage, Darnold already quarterbacked a Super Bowl champion, and Smith-Njigba already established himself as one of football’s premier receivers. The challenge is building something new from that success.
Seattle reinforced the roster through the draft, retained important pieces from the championship team and enters the season with a defense that already knows what its identity should look like. The Seahawks also used the 32nd pick on running back Jadarian Price, giving the offense another young piece rather than simply assuming last year’s formula will automatically work again.
And the schedule isn’t going to let Seattle ease into its title defense. New England arrives for the opener. Kansas City comes to Lumen Field. The 49ers are waiting twice. Philadelphia appears in December, and the Rams are sitting there on Christmas and again in Week 18. Ten of Seattle’s games are against teams that reached the playoffs last season. That’s exactly what should make this season fun for Seahawks fans. 2025 was about reaching the top. The story of 2026 is whether Seattle can win it all again.
