According to the latest rumours, the NFL appears set to open its 2026 season with an immediate Super Bowl LX rematch between the defending champion Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots.

In what would be a fairly dramatic pivot from earlier league-wide expectations that Seattle would instead host the resurgent Chicago Bears in Week 1, multiple reports on Wednesday indicated that the Seahawks and Patriots will meet at Lumen Field on Wednesday 9th September in the NFL Kickoff Game, just seven months after Seattle’s 29-13 victory over New England in Super Bowl LX.

The match-up would mark the first time since the 2016 season-opener between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers that the NFL has immediately replayed the previous season’s Super Bowl as its opening game. Yet as recently as earlier this week, much of the speculation surrounding the schedule release centred on Chicago heading to the Pacific Northwest rather than New England.

With several Seattle home opponents already committed elsewhere during opening weekend — including the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams travelling to Melbourne for the NFL’s Australian opener, plus the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants locked into Sunday Night Football — analysts increasingly narrowed the Seahawks’ likely Week 1 opponents to four realistic options: New England, Chicago, the Los Angeles Chargers or the Arizona Cardinals.

From there, a strong theory emerged that the NFL would prioritise the Bears — and the logic was fairly straightforward. With the Seahawks’ division rival Cardinals lacking the necessary ‘kerb appeal’ as they continue to struggle, Chicago entered the offseason as reigning NFC North champions behind quarterback Caleb Williams, and the league has spent the past year aggressively elevating the team’s national profile. A Seahawks-Bears opener would have delivered a fresh NFC contender match-up, a possible NFC title game preview, a showcase for Williams and a potentially cleaner narrative than revisiting the Super Bowl immediately.

Former Seattle defensive back Coby Bryant, now with Chicago, even publicly embraced the possibility of a Week 1 return to Seattle, saying earlier this week that ‘the whole world will be watching’ if his former and current teams are pitted against each other first up.

There was also uncertainty surrounding New England’s suitability for the spotlight due to a controversial offseason. Reports and online discussion alike have suggested the league could shy away from centring opening night around the Patriots because of ongoing media examination of head coach Mike Vrabel’s extra-curricular activites.

Instead, however, the NFL now appears to have chosen spectacle and familiarity. A Super Bowl rematch guarantees immediate narrative continuity, gives Seattle the opportunity to unveil its latest championship banner in front of a national audience, and instantly places quarterbacks Drake Maye and Seattle counterpart Sam Darnold back under the brightest of lights.

Seattle, meanwhile, is also reportedly expected to receive a Christmas Day showcase later in the season, further underlining the franchise’s elevated status after its Super Bowl-winning campaign.