5 Takeaways From Colts 2026 Schedule
- Colts face 8 playoff teams in first 9 weeks, setting up a challenging start to the season.
- Bye week comes late in Week 13, after playing in London and a short week in Week 5.
- Colts' struggle to win in Jacksonville continues, with the Week 8 matchup in the middle of the season.
5 Takeaways From Colts 2026 Schedule
INDIANAPOLIS – What are the takeaways from the schedule of a Colts season that has been labeled as one with a higher sense of urgency?
Here are 5 thoughts on the Colts 2026 schedule (a game-by-game look here):
Frontloaded Schedule
On paper, this Colts schedule is very, very frontloaded.
In the first 9 weeks, you have 8 opponents who have made the playoffs in the last two years. The Titans are the lone opponent in there who doesn’t fit that script.
That’s a start to the season as followed: Ravens, at Chiefs, Texans, at Commanders (London), at Steelers, Titans, at Vikings, at Jaguars, Cowboys.
When you look at the closing stretch, a road trip to the Eagles in Week 14 is the one that truly stands out.
Long Wait For Bye Week
For the second straight year, the Colts will play overseas, but this time they won’t have their bye week to follow.
With the Colts and Commanders (a Washington home game) playing in London on October 4th, the Colts will adopt what the franchise did in 2016 and play a game stateside the immediate week after the International game.
It’ll be the Colts traveling, albeit a short flight, to take on the Steelers and Michael Pittman Jr. in Week 5.
The Colts actually won’t have their bye until Week 13 (December 6th). There is a mini bye via a Thursday night game, but that doesn’t come until Week 11 (at Houston).
A Week 5 bye would have been extremely early, with most coaches favoring a break in the middle to just past the middle of the 17-game grind.
The Colts will play the Commanders at 9:30 AM eastern at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which is a different venue from their other London trip (playing the Jaguars in Wembley Stadium during the ’16 campaign).
When Is the Road Trip To Jacksonville?
Football hell for the Indianapolis Colts is playing a road game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The trip there comes on November 1st, in a 1:00 kickoff.
In this drought, that dates back to the 2014 season, the Colts have not won a single time in Jacksonville.
This Week 8 matchup will be in the middle of the season is breaking a trend of several December/January games in northeast Florida. This road trip concludes a stretch with 4 of 5 games away from home, including a trip to London.
Daniel Jones Meets Tough September
One item I was curious about come schedule release time was how the September schedule would lay out.
Daniel Jones tore his Achilles on December 7, 2025. The Colts will ask him to play in his next football game on September 13, 2026.
That’s 281 days in between that serious injury and playing in an NFL game.
Assuming Jones is indeed cleared to go for the season opener, will there be any early-season rust from him?
If so, the September slate is as followed: Ravens, at Chiefs, Texans.
AFC South Spread Out
Weirdly, the Colts have had some saturated AFC South bunches of games in their schedule.
That’s not really the case here in 2026.
Here’s a rundown of the 6 divisional games: Week 3: vs. Texans; Week 6: vs. Titans; Week 8: at Jaguars; Week 11: at Texans; Week 15: at Titans; Week 18: vs. Jaguars.
And the sad reminder, the Colts haven’t won an AFC South title since the 2014 season (also the last time they won in Jacksonville).
