The Colts open at home against Baltimore, go to Arrowhead for Sunday Night Football in Week 2, and play Washington at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London in Week 4, a second straight season with an international game after Berlin last November. The bye doesn’t come until Week 13, and the year closes with Jacksonville at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Shane Steichen’s fourth season follows one of the strangest years in franchise history: an 8-2 start, a season-ending Achilles injury to Daniel Jones in December, a 44-year-old Philip Rivers coming out of retirement, and an 8-9 finish. Indianapolis has missed the playoffs five straight years and hasn’t won the AFC South since 2014.
Games That Will Define the Colts’ Season
| Wk 2 at Chiefs | Sunday Night Football at Arrowhead in the second week of the season. It’s one of only two prime-time games on the Colts’ schedule, and Kansas City is coming off its first losing season since 2012. |
| Wk 4 at Commanders | London for the second straight year, this time at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with Washington as the designated home team. Indianapolis beat Atlanta in overtime in Berlin last November. |
| Wk 11 at Texans | The second Houston meeting comes on a Thursday night. The Texans have won four straight in Indianapolis, and both games against them sit in the first 11 weeks. |
| Wk 18 vs Jaguars | Jacksonville won the division at 13-4 last year and the Colts finish against them at home. The Dec 7 loss in Jacksonville was the day Daniel Jones went down. |
How the Schedule Sets Up
The opening month is the hardest stretch on the page. Baltimore at home, Kansas City on Sunday night, Houston at home, then London and a trip to Pittsburgh. Survive that at 2-3 or better and the middle of the schedule is friendlier: Tennessee, Minnesota, Jacksonville, Dallas and Miami before the Thursday night in Houston. The Colts’ 2025 collapse started when the schedule turned and the quarterback room emptied, so depth matters more than usual here.
After the bye it’s Philadelphia and Tennessee on the road, Cincinnati at home in a designated Week 16 slot, Cleveland on Jan 3, and Jacksonville to close. Three of the last five are AFC South games. For roster context heading into the season, see our NFL roster cuts tracker. Full league schedules and flexible-scheduling rules are published by the NFL.
The Bottom Line
Eight home games, a brutal first five weeks, a London trip, and a Week 13 bye before a division-heavy finish. The Colts traded their next two first-round picks for Sauce Gardner during last year’s hot start and then went winless after the bye, so 2026 carries real pressure on Steichen and the front office. Bookmark this page; results and Week 16-18 details are updated throughout the season.