NFL Schedule Rollout Ramps Up With Full Thanksgiving Slate, Leak Frenzy
CBS gets a top NFC North rivalry to start the Thanksgiving Day games.
In the final approach to the full release of the 2026 NFL schedule, a key part of the Thanksgiving schedule is now confirmed, while a flurry of early leaks of game matchups is intensifying. The league and CBS said early Thursday that the early afternoon Thanksgiving Day game will feature a classic NFC North division matchup between the Bears and Lions. That game, set for 1 p.
m. ET on Nov. 26, will precede the already-announced late afternoon game between the Eagles and Cowboys.
While that latter game will chase a record as the most-watched regular-season contest in NFL history, the Bears-Lions broadcast has a very strong chance to be the second-most-viewed game of the entire 2026 season. That early afternoon Thanksgiving Day game in 2025, played between the Packers and Lions on Fox, held that designation last year, averaging 47. 7 million viewers and also set a league record for that window.
That historic total, boosted in part by Fox’s distribution of the game on Tubi , played a material role in expanding the league’s ambitions across Thanksgiving weekend —something now manifesting with a new Thanksgiving Eve game on Netflix between the Packers and Rams. The Bears-Lions game, as a result, holds a critical position in the overall NFL schedule. The CBS game reveal on Wednesday morning followed similar announcements earlier this week by NBC , Fox , Amazon , and ESPN , as well as an unprecedented nine-game international slate .