The NFL schedule is a 272-piece jigsaw puzzle with millions of potential configurations and no one arrangement of pieces that will be completely fair and equitable to all 32 teams.
The Week 4 and Week 5 games in 2026 include a glitch about which the Colts should not be thrilled.
They got the shoulder tap to fly to London for a game against the Commanders last Sunday. This week, after returning from England, the Colts travel to Pittsburgh for a game against the Steelers.
Meanwhile, the Steelers had a bus trip to and from Cleveland for a Week 4 Thursday night game, followed by a mini-bye while their next foe was playing overseas.
It’s a basic issue of competitive integrity that will take a back seat to the ongoing obsession with global expansion. And the league will gloss over such irregularities because there’s nothing that can be done to eliminate the annoyances and inconveniences that come from expecting teams to make long trips for games on foreign soil and to return home for the next game on the slate.
That’s one of the reasons why the league hopes to get clearance from the NFL Players Association to stage 16 international games per year. If every team has to travel to and from another country once per season, the hassle is largely balanced out.
Still, there’s something to be said for also ensuring that any team that plays on a given Sunday in another country will be facing on the following Sunday a team that played on Sunday or Monday, and not on the preceding Thursday. That part was avoidable for the 2026 schedule — and it was not avoided.