GREEN BAY, Wis.
Sunday in Week 6 of the 2026 NFL season is a full-day argument about where the league actually stands. Twelve games are scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 18, according to USA Today, starting before most of the country has finished breakfast and ending with one of the sport's oldest rivalries under the lights at Lambeau Field. Nothing about the day is filler: the early window carries two major quarterback stories, the late window brings back the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs, and the nightcap sends the Dallas Cowboys into Green Bay with both teams needing a win to keep pace.
Previously is previewing the day as it is scheduled — no scores invented, no results assumed — using the Week 6 schedule and injury reporting published by USA Today, NBC Sports, FOX Sports and Reuters. Here is how Sunday lines up, window by window, and what to watch in each one.
Breakfast football: Texans and Jaguars in London
The day begins overseas. According to USA Today and NBC Sports, the Houston Texans face the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium in London at 9:30 a.m. ET — 6:30 a.m. PT — on NFL Network. Sportradar's listing for the game likewise records a 6:30 a.m. PDT kickoff at Wembley, with Jacksonville listed as the home team in an AFC South matchup.
USA Today described it as an AFC South showdown between the surging Jaguars and the Texans in the league's latest overseas game, and it is more than a novelty slot. Divisional games in London have a habit of scrambling a race, because the loser gives ground it cannot easily recover in the rematch. For West Coast viewers, it is also the rare game that starts the Sunday slate a full three and a half hours before the main window — set the coffee accordingly.
The 10 a.m. PT window: Williams, Huntley and a crowded board
Seven games kick off at 1 p.m. ET, according to the schedules published by USA Today and NBC Sports: Chicago at Atlanta, Baltimore at Cleveland, Tennessee at Indianapolis, the New York Jets at New England, New Orleans at the New York Giants, Carolina at Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay. Two of them are defined before kickoff by who is — and who is not — playing quarterback.
In Atlanta, the story is a return. According to FOX Sports, the Chicago Bears visit the Atlanta Falcons at 1 p.m. ET from Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with the Bears at 3-2 and the Falcons at 2-3. FOX Sports reported that a hamstring injury has limited Caleb Williams to two of Chicago's five games, that he is questionable for Sunday after full practices Thursday and Friday, and that his status is a game-time decision. Reuters went a step further on Saturday, reporting that Williams is expected to return to the starting lineup after missing the previous three games with a hamstring injury, having practiced fully throughout the week without a setback, according to ESPN and NFL Network reporting cited by Reuters. The Bears officially listed Williams as questionable on Friday, Reuters noted, but he handled first-team work through the final practices.
The numbers explain why it matters. According to FOX Sports, Williams threw for 407 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in his two games this season, and ran 15 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns — mobility that tests an Atlanta defense FOX Sports credited with allowing 80.2 rushing yards per game, fifth in the NFL, against a Chicago ground game that leads the league at 173.2 yards per game. Atlanta has its own question under center: according to FOX Sports, Michael Penix Jr. left the Falcons' Week 5 overtime loss to Baltimore with a rib injury, and the Falcons are optimistic he can play against Chicago.
In Cleveland, there is no such optimism left to protect. According to FOX Sports, the Baltimore Ravens visit the Cleveland Browns at 1 p.m. ET, with the Ravens at 4-1 and leading the AFC North and the Browns at 3-2. Multiple outlets reported Friday that Baltimore had ruled Lamar Jackson out for a second consecutive game because of the ankle injury he sustained in Week 4 against Tennessee. USA Today's Ravens Wire reported Jackson, center Cam Jurgens, tight end Matthew Hibner and defensive tackle Broderick Washington were all ruled out, and that Tyler Huntley will make his second consecutive start. The Akron Beacon Journal likewise reported Huntley will start, in what will be his 13th regular-season start in place of Jackson.
Huntley earned this second look. According to FOX Sports and USA Today reporting, he started in Baltimore's 30-23 overtime win over Atlanta in Week 5, rallying the Ravens from an eight-point deficit and finishing with two touchdown passes. FOX Sports also noted Baltimore's floor travels with its run game: Derrick Henry has 113 of the team's 162 carries and seven rushing touchdowns, and the Ravens average 5.1 yards per carry as a team. Cleveland, which lost 17-12 to the Jets in Week 5, according to FOX Sports, gets the break of facing the backup — and the burden of having no excuse if it cannot take it.
The rest of the early window is not quiet. Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay pairs two 3-2 teams in the AFC North race Baltimore leads, according to USA Today's standings. Carolina at Philadelphia comes with the Eagles trying to win without injured quarterback Jalen Hurts, according to USA Today's Sunday preview. The Jets at New England, Tennessee at Indianapolis and New Orleans at the Giants round out a window in which almost every game touches a division race.
The late window: the Chiefs return, the Rams host Arizona
Three games make up the afternoon window on the West Coast. According to USA Today and NBC Sports, Arizona visits the Los Angeles Rams at 4:05 p.m. ET on FOX, followed at 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS by the Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City and Buffalo at Las Vegas.
The headline is Kansas City. According to USA Today, the Chiefs bring a 4-0 record and first place in the AFC West into their return from the bye week, against a Chargers team USA Today listed at 0-5 and last in the division. On paper it is the day's biggest mismatch; on the field it is a divisional game against a desperate opponent, the exact profile that produces strange late afternoons in October. Buffalo at Las Vegas carries its own edge, with the Raiders at 3-2, according to USA Today's AFC West standings, trying to prove their start is real against a Bills team making the cross-country trip.
Sunday Night Football: Cowboys at Packers
The day ends where it should. According to NBC Sports, Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys, at 2-3, head to Lambeau Field to take on Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers, at 3-2, on Sunday Night Football at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, with coverage beginning at 7 p.m. ET on Football Night in America. Sportradar's listing also records the 5:20 p.m. PDT kickoff at Lambeau Field on NBC and Peacock. USA Today called it the marquee matchup on Sunday — a classic NFL rivalry game to close the schedule.
Both teams arrive with something to lose. Dallas at 2-3 cannot afford to fall further behind in the NFC East, and Green Bay at 3-2 is trying to protect home field in a crowded NFC North. A prime-time game at Lambeau in mid-October, between two of the league's most watched franchises, with both quarterbacks healthy and both seasons still shapeable — Sunday does not build a better closing act than that.
Monday then finishes Week 6 with Washington at San Francisco at 8:15 p.m. ET, according to USA Today and NBC Sports. But Sunday is the main event: London at dawn, quarterback verdicts by early afternoon, the Chiefs in the late window, and Cowboys-Packers at night. Follow the results, and the rest of the fall sports calendar, in Previously's Sports section, including our coverage of the Golden Knights' 6-2 rout of Pittsburgh and the day's full news front.
