Feb. 7, 2026, 7:00 a.m. MT<\/p>\n
If the New England Patriots<\/a> upset the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> in the Super Bowl on Sunday, they will be poised to play in the NFL’s season opener in 2026. And there would be a perfect opponent for that matchup.<\/p>\n The Denver Broncos<\/a> are slated to play the Patriots on the road<\/a> in 2026, and that would be an ideal choice for the NFL’s season opener \u2014 if New England’s hosting the opener after winning the Big Game.<\/p>\n The Patriots defeated the Broncos<\/a> 10-7<\/a> in the AFC Championship game to reach the Super Bowl, but Denver was without Bo Nix, who was sidelined with a broken ankle<\/a>. Broncos players have made it so secret that they believe they would have won that game with Nix<\/a>, and they’re undoubtedly looking forward to a rematch.<\/p>\n Nix’s return for a rematch of the AFC title game in the NFL’s season opener would be a perfect narrative for the league. It would also mark the first showdown between Maye and Nix since they entered the league together as members of the 2024 NFL draft class.<\/p>\n First things first, though, if the Patriots are going to host the 2026 opener, they need to beat the Seahawks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n Social: Follow\u00a0Broncos Wire<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter\/X<\/a>!\u00a0Did you know:\u00a0These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans<\/a>.<\/p>\n Drake Maye gives nod to Bo Nix before playing in Super Bowl<\/a> Patriots WR and his agent were ‘shocked’ when Broncos cut him<\/a> Safety joins division rival after Broncos let his contract expire<\/a> Broncos cornerback underwent ‘routine cleanup’ after 2025 season<\/a> 5 players who may have played their last game for the Broncos<\/a> 10 Broncos who deserve to reach the Pro Football Hall of Fame<\/a> Bud Light’s funny Super Bowl commercial features Peyton Manning<\/a> NFL offseason: Key dates Broncos fans should know in 2026<\/a> Full list of Broncos players scheduled to become free agents in March<\/a> Denver Broncos schedule: Full list of 2026 opponents<\/a> Broncos order of picks in 2026 NFL draft<\/a> How much salary cap space will Broncos have for NFL free agency?<\/a> All 32 starting NFL quarterbacks, ranked oldest to youngest<\/a> Meet the new Broncos ownership group<\/a> Peyton Manning’s new Denver sports team picks name, unveils amazing logo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 7, 2026, 7:00 a.m. MT If the New England Patriots upset the Seattle Seahawks in the Super…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[95878,232,231,258,2426,7,6,95879,95880,95882,95887,97108,95886,95893,95896,95888,95895,95906,95977,96071,95883,95894,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-737818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-broncos","10":"tag-denver","11":"tag-denver-broncos","12":"tag-denverbroncos","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflbroncos","16":"tag-sstsnbroncos","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagamerican-football-conference","19":"tag-tagbo-nix","20":"tag-tagdenver-broncos","21":"tag-tagfacebook","22":"tag-tagnational-sports","23":"tag-tagnfl","24":"tag-tagnfl-hub","25":"tag-tagoverall-positive","26":"tag-tagseattle-seahawks","27":"tag-tagsmg-timely","28":"tag-tagsports-news","29":"tag-tagtwitter","30":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116034557912509676","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}