When the Green Bay Packers kick off the 2026 season against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, they’ll do it in front of a huge national audience. The game is set for 3:25 PM Central time, and most of the country will get the matchup on local CBS stations.
That’s because Week 1 is one of the rare doubleheader weekends for both CBS and FOX, giving each network a game in both the early and late Sunday afternoon windows. In the late slot, CBS affiliates will carry either Packers-Vikings or Cardinals-Chargers, while FOX stations will choose between Commanders-Eagles and Dolphins-Raiders.
According to the initial broadcast map from 506sports.com, Packers-Vikings is the red game. The blue regions will get Cardinals-Chargers instead, with that broadcast also going to both home markets and the rest of the AFC West - the Raiders, Broncos, and Chiefs.
CBS is putting its top announcing crew on the Packers’ opener. Jim Nantz will handle play-by-play, with J.J.
Watt joining him as color commentator after moving up from the network’s No. 2 team. Watt is taking over the spot Tony Romo had previously held.
Romo was suspended from CBS programming this summer after being arrested in Milwaukee for OWI, a charge to which he later pleaded no contest, and the network is reportedly negotiating a buyout of his remaining contract.
This will be the first of four Packers games currently lined up for the late-afternoon “Game of the Week” window this season. All four are scheduled within the first nine weeks, and most of the country should get them - with the usual exceptions on the West Coast when home teams or divisional opponents are also in that late time slot.
In Other News...
Packers Practice Squad Move Hints At A Bigger Offensive Plan
The Packers filled their final practice-squad opening by signing rookie running back Damon Bankston, a move that fits neatly with the kind of backfield they seem to be building. Bankston first came through Green Bay as a pre-draft visitor, then landed with the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent before making his way back to the Packers, where his skill set lines up with an offense leaning into outside zone concepts.
For a team continuing to shape both its roster and its scheme, the addition is more than simple depth. Green Bay has been piecing together personnel that makes sense for what it wants to do on offense, and Bankstons fit in that system is hard to miss. Whether the move is mostly about competition, development, or something bigger in the playbook, it adds another clue about the direction the Packers are heading. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Rookie Trust Will Be Tested Right Away Against The Vikings
The Packers are heading into their 2026 season opener against the Vikings with an unusually heavy dose of rookie responsibility baked into the plan. Without a Day 1 draft pick in this class, Green Bay will need its younger additions to fill in more than just the margins, and that makes the early season evaluation especially important for a team that wants to know quickly which newcomers can handle real work.
J. Michael Sturdivant is part of that picture after making the initial 53-man roster as an undrafted rookie wide receiver, but his immediate role against Minnesota is expected to be limited. Even so, his presence on the roster underscores how much the Packers are leaning on unproven talent right out of the gate, with the opener offering an early look at which rookies are ready when the stakes rise. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Have An Early Opportunity Fans Couldn't Count On Last Year
The Packers are heading into 2026 with something they did not always have a year ago: a healthier roster and a better chance to settle in before the schedule tightens. Most of the group has been on the field in practice ahead of Week 1, with Warren Brinson and Micah Parsons among the few exceptions as Parsons continues his recovery from injury. That alone gives Green Bay a different kind of runway entering the season, especially compared with the constant juggling act of the previous year.
The early slate also looks more forgiving than what this team has had to navigate in other seasons, and that matters for a club trying to build momentum quickly. When the offense under Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love has had its core available, it has shown a steadier level of play, which is part of why there is some quiet confidence around this group. If the Packers can take advantage of this opening stretch, they could spend a lot less time surviving and a lot more time proving they belong in the conversation. [Read more 🡒]