Last season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did not have the best of times in the NFL's prime time games, especially in the second half of the season when they collapsed completely to miss out on the playoffs.
Tampa got their behinds handed to them by the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football when a hobbled Baker Mayfield left the game while Matthew Stafford, the future MVP, had all day to throw it against a non existent Bucs pass rush and carve up their secondary lacking in depth. And then, they had an even worse showing not long after on Thursday Night Football against the rival Atlanta Falcons, with even Kirk Cousins slicing and dicing Todd Bowles's clueless defensive unit en route to another route that effectively sealed that the Bucs would lose the NFC South.
In total, the Buccaneers went 1-3 in prime time last season, and with the 2026 NFL season schedule out, all eyes are on the marquee matchups and the big games the Buccaneers will have to play better in next year.
The Buccaneers will battle the Cowboys, Bears and Panthers in prime time
So far, the Bucs are guaranteed three prime time matchups for the 2026 season, and they are all doozies. They will face the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football in Week 5 in October, and that's obviously going to be a great game with potential fireworks between Baker Mayfield and Cowboys star Dak Prescott, both of whom are pretty even quarterbacks in terms of raw ability but with similar questions on winning in the big time.
Later in the season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will duke it out with an even more dangerous NFC opponent in Week 9 on Sunday Night Football against the Chicago Bears, whose own young quarterback Caleb Williams is quickly usurping Mayfield, particularly in that clutch factor realm.
Finally, the third announced prime time game is in Week 12 against the rival Carolina Panthers, who eeked by the Buccaneers in the NFC South table last season to make the playoffs. The Buccaneers will have revenge on their minds against a Panthers side that may not be able to overperform their roster talent in 2026.
Those are three high octane matchups bound to have a lot of points and a lot of stakes in the NFC playoff races, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. With the Buccaneers having a backloaded schedule with games against the likes of the Los Angeles Rams and their NFC South rivals to close the season, there could be more prime time classics to come in 2026.
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