The NFL is set to announce the full schedule for the 2026 season on Thursday night, following on from Wednesday’s announcement of the entire international slate for the coming campaign.
The Vikings were slated to face three teams who had previously been announced as hosting international contests this year, but it was the San Francisco 49ers’ game in Mexico City in week 11 for which the boys in purple were selected to serve as the road team.
The Vikings have nine home games and seven road games yet to be revealed, and all the info will be right here as soon as it’s released!
When will the schedule be announced?
Following the announcement of the International Series games on Wednesday, the remainder of the schedule, including every team’s preseason slate, will be confirmed on Thursday night at 8pm Eastern Time (1am on Friday morning in the UK).
Who are the Vikings scheduled to play in 2026?
In 2026, the Minnesota Vikings will play a 17-game schedule over the course of 18 weeks, comprising nine home games and eight road games. The numbers of home and road games alternate every year. This is to accommodate the potential loss of a home game if a team is selected to host an international game.
In addition to their annual home-and-away clashes with their NFC North rivals (Chicago, Detroit and Green Bay), the Vikings will also face each team from the NFC South and each team from the AFC East either home or away, as well as the teams from the NFC East, NFC West and AFC South who finished in the same division position as the Vikings in 2025.
The complete list of opponents is:
| Home | Road |
|---|---|
| Chicago Bears | Chicago Bears |
| Detroit Lions | Detroit Lions |
| Green Bay Packers | Green Bay Packers |
| Atlanta Falcons | New Orleans Saints |
| Carolina Panthers | Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
| Washington Commanders | San Francisco 49ers |
| Buffalo Bills | New England Patriots |
| Miami Dolphins | New York Jets |
| Indianapolis Colts |
Every team in the league also has a bye week that can be taken at any time between week 5 and week 14. Teams who play international games mostly take their bye in the week immediately after they play abroad, but this isn’t always the case. The Vikings’ bye week will be confirmed along with the rest of the schedule.
Are the Vikings playing an international game in 2026?
When the designated home teams for the 2026 international games were announced, there were three on the list who the Vikings were scheduled to play on the road: the Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers.
The Lions were viewed as unlikely opponents as they’re our divisional rivals, and we played the Saints in London in 2022, making them an unlikely choice to face again in Paris. In fact, the Vikings appearing in an international game at all in 2026 was considered unlikely, having played overseas four times in the last four seasons.
Nevertheless, after rumours started to emerge overnight on Tuesday, the Vikings were confirmed as the road team to face the San Francisco 49ers at Estadio Banorte (previously known as Estadio Azteca) in Mexico City. The game will be played at 7:20pm Central Time on Sunday, 22 November (1:20am on Friday here in the UK).
This will be the NFL’s sixth regular season game played in Mexico City (fifth under the International Series banner). San Francisco have appeared in two of the previous five, including the first regular season game at the Azteca in 2005, when they lost 31-14 to the Arizona Cardinals. However, they got one back on their division rivals with a 38-10 victory in the league’s most recent Mexico game in 2022.