It’s Bucs vs. the Buckeye State as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers begin their chase to reclaim their stranglehold on the NFC South and more in 2026. The Buccaneers’ first two games of the 2026 regular season will be against the NFL’s Ohio representatives, as Tampa Bay travels to Cincinnati in Week One and then returns home to face the Cleveland Browns in Week Two.
The clash against the Browns at Raymond James Stadium will begin a critical three-game homestand in the season’s first month, as NFC North rivals Minnesota and Green Bay visit Tampa in Weeks Three and Four. That’s followed by the Buccaneers’ first of three prime-time games, a Thursday night affair at Dallas in Week Five. Tampa Bay will also play nationally-televised night games in Week Nine on Sunday Night Football in Chicago and in Week 12 at home against Carolina on Monday Night Football.
The Dallas game on October 8 begins a stretch in which the Buccaneers will only play at home twice in a seven-week span. That stretch includes a Week 10 bye – situated almost perfectly in the middle of the season with nine games played and eight to go – as well as trips to Carolina, Chicago and Detroit.
The Buccaneers will not play a game against a division opponent until Week Seven, when they travel to Carolina to take on the defending division champions on Sunday, October 25. The Panthers are the defending division champions after winning a three-way tiebreaker for the top spot over the Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons. The Bucs, who won the NFC South four straight years before last season, will get both of their battles with the Panthers done before the final stretch; as noted above, the rematch in Tampa in Week 12 will be a prime-time clash. As is now common, the end of the schedule is loaded with intra-division matchups; both of the Bucs-Saints games are in the last four weeks, as is Tampa Bay’s trip to Atlanta.
There are some late-season details on the Bucs’ 2026 schedule that the NFL will fill in later in the year. The Week 16 game at Atlanta could be played on Saturday or Sunday, December 26-27; the Week 18 game at New Orleans could also be either a Saturday or Sunday game on the weekend of January 9-10. In addition, the time and the broadcast network for the Week 17 home game against the Rams have not yet been determined.
Buccaneers single game tickets are now on sale. If you want to capture the magic of the Bucs’ 2026 season with a front row seat to the action, click on one of these links to purchase your single game tickets or season passes.
The NFL introduced an enhanced schedule in 2021 that covers 17 games per team over 18 weeks, this year concluding on January 10. The “17th Game” of the enhanced schedule is a fifth interconference matchup, with the Buccaneers drawing a visit from the Los Angeles Chargers because both teams finished in second place in their respective divisions in 2025. In 2026, all 17th games will be hosted by NFC teams, which is why the Bucs have nine regular-season games at Raymond James Stadium this year.
Below is the Buccaneers’ 2026 game schedule, including the three-game preseason slate, followed by more notes (all times Eastern):