History of NFL games on Wednesdays: Why 2026 Patriots vs. Seahawks opener is so rare originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The NFL owns a day of the week. The league’s grip on Sunday hasn’t changed, but it certainly hasn’t stopped football from being played at other times of the week.
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Games outside of Thursdays, Sundays and Mondays have become more common in recent years. The NFL has planted itself firmly on Christmas regardless of which day of the week the holiday falls, while Saturday games have become commonplace in December and January.
The league even plays an annual Black Friday game, dating back to 2023.
When the Patriots and Seahawks play the first game of the 2026 season on Wednesday night, however, they will join a short list of teams to play right in the middle of the week.
Here’s a look at the NFL’s history of games on Wednesdays.
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Games on days other than Sunday were a bit more common before 1940. Since 1940, however, the list of Wednesday games in the NFL is small:
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Before 2012, the most recent NFL game on a Wednesday came all the way back in 1948, when the season began with a midweek showdown between the Lions and Rams. The reason for the Wednesday start isn’t entirely clear, but it saw the Rams run for 216 yards and three touchdowns in a 44-7 rout of Detroit.
This would be the last Wednesday game in the NFL for 64 years, when midweek games started to become slightly more common.
Seeking to avoid overlapping with U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention, the NFL scheduled its 2012 season opener between the Cowboys and defending champion Giants for Wednesday, Sept. 5.
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We might never know how that decision sat with former President Bill Clinton, who served as the headliner on Wednesday at the DNC, but the NFL maximized its audience by steering clear of the night that saw both Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden speak in Charlotte.
Back in East Rutherford, the Cowboys spoiled the Giants’ celebration with a 24-17 win to open a season that saw both teams miss the playoffs.
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Originally scheduled for Thanksgiving night, a COVID-19 outbreak within the Ravens‘ locker room — which included a positive test for Lamar Jackson — postponed an AFC North showdown between the Ravens and Steelers three times. The game was first pushed back to Sunday before being bumped to Tuesday and ultimately Wednesday, Dec. 2.
