The Seahawks play on every day of the week except Tuesday this season, and 10 of their 17 games are against playoff teams from last year, plus the Chiefs and Cowboys.

Welcome to life as defending Super Bowl champions.

In fact, fewer than half of the Seahawks’ games this season will fall in a traditional Sunday afternoon time slot. As the season unfolds, one storyline will certainly be the unusual nature of the schedule layout, especially if it creates any disruptions in the team’s performance. Every game in December comes with one fewer day of preparation than a normal week.

Opening the season on a Wednesday, then playing stretches in October and November that go from Sunday to Thursday to Sunday night to Monday is highly unusual.

Then there are the opponents. The NFC West is always brutal. The Seahawks also face stretches that include consecutive games against the 49ers, Broncos, Chiefs and Bears. Later in the season, they face the Eagles, Rams, Panthers and Rams again.

That is a lot to navigate.

The Seahawks have proven they are capable of handling that challenge — they are defending world champions. But when you combine the quality of opponents with the unusual layout of the schedule, this is about as difficult as it gets.

Some of my favorite highlights –

Let’s run it back

While the number of marquee teams on the Seahawks’ schedule made the initial options for their season opener fairly broad, the Patriots felt like the most obvious choice.

Some may argue it is not truly a “rematch” because of roster turnover. But the reality is that much of both rosters and coaching staffs remain intact. To those teams, this is absolutely a rematch.

There is also an interesting dynamic in raising a Super Bowl banner in front of the team you defeated to win it all.

The opener comes seven months and one day after the Seahawks beat New England in last season’s first game.

Dig in.

The immovable object against the unstoppable force

This was the game — even before learning it would be on “Monday Night Football” — that I was looking forward to the most.

Mike Macdonald’s defense against Ben Johnson’s offense.

The Darkside Defense against Caleb Williams and Chicago’s playmakers.

The defending world champions against one of the league’s rising teams.

Seahawks vs. Bears.

Don’t get me wrong, divisional matchups will always carry more weight. But considering where these two franchises are right now, this feels like a litmus test game — a “where do you stand?” matchup.

The timing also works perfectly. Nov. 2 is late enough in the season for the game to serve as a measuring stick, but early enough that there is still plenty of football left to shape the story of the 2026 season.

From an X’s-and-O’s standpoint, this is must-watch football.

And for one night, Coby Bryant returns to Lumen Field.

Christmas with your divisional family

When you think of Christmas, you think of spending it with family and loved ones — or maybe not so much the “loved ones” part, depending on who we’re talking about.

Like that cousin you cannot stand showing up at your house for the holidays, the Rams invade Lumen Field this Christmas season for a prime-time showdown.

This is the first meeting between the Seahawks and Rams since the NFC title game that sent Seattle to the Super Bowl. It is also the beginning of a stretch in which the Seahawks and Rams meet twice in three weeks.

Sign me up.

If social media is your thing, you know the trash talk between Rams fans and 12s has been relentless. Seattle won two of the three meetings last season and ultimately won the Super Bowl, so the bragging rights currently belong in the Pacific Northwest.

But you know the Rams have not stopped thinking about that game and would love nothing more than to spoil Christmas in Seattle.

No matter when this matchup was scheduled, it was always going to carry enormous meaning for both fan bases. Putting it on this kind of stage only raises the stakes.

The fact we highlighted these three games and did not even mention Kenneth Walker III’s return in October, a “Monday Night Football” matchup with Dallas or a Saturday road game in Philadelphia, speaks volumes about both the quality — and difficulty — of the Seahawks’ schedule.

“To be the champ, you have to beat the champ” is the old saying.

For the Seahawks, staying champions means surviving an NFL gauntlet this season.