The Buccaneers' 2026 slate is locked: divisional rivals, NFC North showdowns, AFC North battles, and intriguing cross-conference matchups await.
The 2025 season is officially over for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and it ends without a playoff appearance after the Atlanta Falcons defeated the New Orleans Saints to knock the Buccaneers out and send the Carolina Panthers to the postseason as NFC South champions. With 2025 in the books, the page now turns to 2026 and the Buccaneers officially know who they will play and where during the 2026 regular season.
As always, the Buccaneers will have their six divisional games, three at home and three on the road against the Falcons, Saints and Panthers.
The Buccaneers will have two full divisions as part of the schedule, based on a constant rotation each year. For 2026, those divisions are the NFC North and the AFC North. Out of the NFC North, Tampa Bay will host the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings while visiting the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions.
Their AFC North schedule will include visits from the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers and they will travel to the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals.
Those 14 games were already set based on the schedule rotations. The 2025 regular-season standings helped decide the final three games on the Buccaneers' schedule. The rotation set up the Buccaneers against the same-place finishers in the NFC West (at home) and the NFC East (on the road) within the conference and home against the AFC West (the "17th game").
With the Buccaneers finishing second in the NFC South, they will host both tenants of SoFi Stadium, the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers and will visit the Dallas Cowboys. Had the Buccaneers won the NFC South, those three games would have been against the Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles.
In total, the Buccaneers will face six teams in 2026 that reached the playoffs this season: Panthers, Bears, Packers, Steelers, Rams and Chargers.
Among some of the highlights of their road schedule, the Buccaneers will play in Detroit for the fourth straight time in their series. This will be the third regular season in a row and the teams also met in the 2023 NFC Divisional Playoffs. 2026 will be the second season in a row the Buccaneers visit the Cowboys. The Buccaneers will visit Chicago for the first time since 2020. They'll make trips to Baltimore and Cincinnati for the first time since 2018
To summarize, here is the full list of opponents for the Buccaneers in 2026:
Home: Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers
Away: Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys