The Miami Dolphins' 2025 season didn't go according to plan. The team finished with a 7-10 record, and now all fans can do is look ahead to the offseason and hope that 2026 will go more smoothly.
While we don't know the Dolphins' schedule for the 2026 season, now that the regular season has come to a close, we know who Miami has on its schedule. The Dolphins will obviously play each team from their own division twice, but they'll also face the entire AFC West and NFC North. Also on the schedule will be the third-place finishers from the AFC North, AFC South, and NFC West.
Here's the full list of Dolphins' 2026 opponents:
Home | Away |
|---|---|
Buffalo Bills (AFC East) | Buffalo Bills (AFC East) |
New England Patriots (AFC East) | New England Patriots (AFC East) |
New York Jets (AFC East) | New York Jets (AFC East) |
Kansas City Chiefs (AFC West) | Denver Broncos (AFC West) |
Los Angeles Chargers (AFC West) | Las Vegas Raiders (AFC West) |
Cincinnati Bengals (AFC North) | Indianapolis Colts (AFC South) |
Chicago Bears (NFC North) | Green Bay Packers (NFC North) |
Detroit Lions (NFC North) | Minnesota Vikings (NFC North) |
San Francisco 49ers (NFC West) |
The Dolphins don't have a great slate for 2026, and that's putting it nicely. Not only do they have to play the Bills and Patriots a combined four times total, but they'll also play the AFC West and NFC North, with each division sending two teams to the playoffs. Not to mention, one division will have a motivated Chiefs team and the other, a motivated Lions team.
Oh, that's not all, though. The Dolphins will also have to play a Bengals team that made the Dolphins look downright awful a few weeks ago, and the 49ers, who very well could have been the best team in their conference. Yikes.
The home slate in particular is brutal, with the Dolphins having four playoff teams coming through Hard Rock Stadium. The non-playoff teams are the Bengals, Chiefs, and Lions, so really, the only "easy" game taking place at home would be against the Jets.
As for the road games, it'll be a little kinder but not by much. The Dolphins have to play in some pretty difficult environments, including at Denver, Green Bay, Minnesota, and San Francisco. They'll get a road game in Las Vegas, but with the first overall pick at their disposal, the Raiders might not be as much of a joke in 2026 as they were last year.
To sum up, the Dolphins have an absolute gauntlet of a schedule in 2026 and, if Mike McDaniel is still the head coach, he'll most definitely have his work cut out for him in trying to save his job yet again.