The Buffalo Bills are heading into 2026 with a schedule that wastes no time testing them, and the final month-and-a-half looks especially unforgiving. Josh Allen and a new-look roster will have to survive a brutal five-game run that starts on Thanksgiving night against the Kansas City Chiefs and rolls straight through road trips to the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers, a primetime meeting with the Chicago Bears, and then a Christmas Night trip to the Denver Broncos.
That late stretch is the headline, but the early part of the year matters too. Buffalo opens with a road game at the Houston Texans on September 13, then comes home for three straight games from Weeks 2 through 4. The Bills host the Detroit Lions on Thursday night, the Los Angeles Chargers, and the New England Patriots before heading to Los Angeles for a Monday night matchup with the Rams.
The Bills’ 2026 slate also stacks up with plenty of conference work. They play seven AFC games before the Thanksgiving showdown with Kansas City, and five of their last seven opponents come from the AFC. On top of that, all five of Buffalo’s NFC games are in primetime, which gives the schedule a spotlight-heavy feel all year long.
Even with Joe Brady stepping in as the first-time head coach and Jim Leonhard taking over as first-time NFL defensive coordinator, the betting market is still high on Buffalo. FanDuel Sportsbook has the Bills at 10.5 wins for the regular season, placing them among the league’s top contenders before the first snap.
Here’s the full Bills schedule, including preseason:
Preseason
Week 1 - vs. Carolina Panthers
Date: Saturday, August 15
Time: 1 p.m.
EDT
TV: WIVB (Buffalo) / WROC (Rochester)
Location: Highmark Stadium - Orchard Park, NY
Week 2 - at Cleveland Browns
Date: Saturday, August 22
Time: 1 p.m. EDT
TV: WIVB (Buffalo) / WROC (Rochester) / NFL Network
Location: Huntington Bank Field - Cleveland, OH
Week 3 - vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
Date: Thursday, August 27
Time: 7 p.m.
EDT
TV: WIVB (Buffalo) / WROC (Rochester) / NFL Network
Location: Highmark Stadium - Orchard Park, NY
Regular Season
Week 1 - at Houston Texans
Date: Sunday, September 13
Time: 1 p.m. EDT
TV: CBS
Location: Reliant Stadium - Houston, TX
Week 2 (TNF) - vs. Detroit Lions
Date: Thursday, September 17
Time: 8:15 p.m.
EDT
TV: Prime Video
Location: Highmark Stadium - Orchard Park, NY
Week 3 - vs. Los Angeles Chargers
Date: Sunday, September 27
Time: 1 p.m.
EDT
TV: FOX
Location: Highmark Stadium - Orchard Park, NY
Week 4 - vs. New England Patriots
Date: Sunday, October 4
Time: 1 p.m.
EDT
TV: CBS
Location: Highmark Stadium - Orchard Park, NY
Week 5 (MNF) - at Los Angeles Rams
Date: Monday, October 12
Time: 8:15 p.m. EDT
TV: ESPN/ABC/ESPN Deportes
Location: Sofi Stadium - Inglewood, CA
Week 6 - at Las Vegas Raiders
Date: Sunday, October 18
Time: 4:25 p.m. EDT
TV: CBS
Location: Allegiant Stadium - Paradise, NV
Week 7 - BYE WEEK
Week 8 - vs. Baltimore Ravens
Date: Sunday, November 1
Time: 1 p.m.
EST
TV: CBS
Location: Highmark Stadium - Orchard Park, NY
Week 9 (MNF) - at Minnesota Vikings
Date: Monday, November 9
Time: 8:15 p.m. EST
TV: ESPN/ABC/ESPN Deportes
Location: U.S.
Bank Stadium - Minneapolis, MN
Week 10 - at New York Jets
Date: Sunday, November 15
Time: 1 p.m. EST
TV: CBS
Location: Metlife Stadium - East Rutherford, NJ
Week 11 - vs. Miami Dolphins
Date: Sunday, November 22
Time: 1 p.m.
EST
TV: FOX
Location: Highmark Stadium - Orchard Park, NY
Week 12 (Thanksgiving Night) - vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Date: Thursday, November 26
Time: 8:20 p.m.
EST
TV: NBC/Universo
Location: Highmark Stadium - Orchard Park, NY
Week 13 - at New England Patriots
Date: Sunday, December 6
Time: 4:25 p.m. EST
TV: CBS
Location: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough, MA
Week 14 (SNF) - at Green Bay Packers
Date: Sunday, December 13
Time: 8:20 p.m. EST
TV: NBC/Universo
Location: Lambeau Field - Green Bay, WI
Week 15 (Saturday Night Football) - vs. Chicago Bears
Date: Saturday, December 19
Time: 8:20 p.m.
EST
TV: CBS
Location: Highmark Stadium - Orchard Park, NY
Week 16 (Christmas Day) - at Denver Broncos
Date: Friday, December 25
Time: 4:30 p.m. EST
TV: Netflix
Location: Empower Field at Mile High - Denver, CO
Week 17 - at Miami Dolphins
Date: Sunday, January 3
Time: 1 p.m. EST
TV: CBS
Location: Hard Rock Stadium - Opa Locka, FL
Week 18 - vs. New York Jets
In Other News...
Dion Dawkins Just Gave Bills Fans Another Reason To Be Proud
Dion Dawkins has long been one of the Bills most visible off-field presences in Buffalo, and his latest gesture fit right into that pattern. At a Black Achievers Inc. ceremony, the left tackle helped celebrate 10 Buffalo high school graduates by stepping in to boost their scholarship awards, adding his own money to make sure the students left with a bigger head start.
The move underscored how much Dawkins has become part of the citys fabric beyond football, balancing his NFL career with steady community involvement. And in a nice twist for the students, another donor later added even more to the awards, turning a generous moment into an even bigger one for the next wave of Buffalo graduates. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Latest WR Move Says A Lot About Their Bigger Problem
The Bills kept sorting through their receiver depth during training camp, and the latest move was a familiar kind of camp shuffle. Buffalo designated Jalen Virgil as waived/NFI to clear a spot and then signed Dante Pettis, a former second-round pick who has bounced around the league since entering it in 2018, with stops in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and New Orleans.
It came after the team held tryouts for multiple wideouts, which says plenty about where the position stands heading into the rest of camp. Pettis gives Buffalo another experienced body to evaluate, but the bigger issue is still the same one the Bills have been circling all summer: they keep looking for answers at receiver, and the search is not exactly settled yet. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Allen Just HintED At What Changed With DJ Moore
Training camp is giving the Bills their first real chance to see how Josh Allen and DJ Moore fit together, and the early signs are encouraging. Buffalo brought Moore in from Chicago to be a major part of the passing game, and the expectation around him is clear: he is supposed to step in as the teams top target and give Allen a dependable option on the outside.
Allen said the key has been simplifying his approach and trusting the throw instead of trying to make every pass perfect. Once he made that adjustment with Moore, the connection started to come together in workouts, which is exactly the kind of progress Buffalo wanted to see before the preseason ramps up. The trade that brought Moore to Orchard Park came with draft-pick movement attached, so the Bills have every reason to keep watching this pairing closely. [Read more 🡒]