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The NFL owns a day of the week. The league's grip on Sunday hasn't changed, but it certainly hasn't stopped football from being played at other times of the week. Games outside of Thursdays, Sundays and Mondays have become more common in recent years. The NFL has planted itself firmly on Christmas regardless of which day of the week the holiday falls, while Saturday games have become commonplace in December and January. The league even plays an annual Black Friday game, dating back to 2023. When the Patriots and Seahawks play the first game of the 2026 season on Wednesday night, however, they will join a short list of teams to play right in the middle of the week. Here's a look at the NFL's history of games on Wednesdays. MORE NFL NEWS: History of NFL games on Wednesdays Games on days other than Sunday were a bit more common before 1940. Since 1940, however, the list of Wednesday games in the NFL is small: Sept. 22, 1948: Lions vs. Rams Before 2012, the most recent NFL game on a Wednesday came all the way back in 1948, when the season began with a midweek showdown between the Lions and Rams. The reason for the Wednesday start isn't entirely clear, but it saw the Rams run for 216 yards and three touchdowns in a 44-7 rout of Detroit. This would be the last Wednesday game in the NFL for 64 years, when midweek games started to become slightly more common. Sept. 5, 2012: Cowboys vs. Giants Seeking to avoid overlapping with U.S. President Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention, the NFL scheduled its 2012 season opener between the Cowboys and defending champion Giants for Wednesday, Sept. 5. We might never know how that decision sat with former President Bill Clinton, who served as the headliner on Wednesday at the DNC, but the NFL maximized its audience by steering clear of the night that saw both Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden speak in Charlotte. Back in East Rutherford, the Cowboys spoiled the Giants' celebration with a 24-17 win to open a season that saw both teams miss the playoffs. 2026 NFL POSITIONAL RANKINGS: QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | Defense Dec. 2, 2020: Ravens vs. Steelers Originally scheduled for Thanksgiving night, a COVID-19 outbreak within the Ravens' locker room — which included a positive test for Lamar Jackson — postponed an AFC North showdown between the Ravens and Steelers three times. The game was first pushed back to Sunday before being bumped to Tuesday and ultimately Wednesday, Dec. 2. Ravens-Steelers game postponed until Sunday afternoon. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 25, 2020 Ravens-Steelers being tentatively moved from Sunday to Tuesday night, per @diannaESPN and me. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 27, 2020 Ravens-Steelers postponed to Wednesday, per source. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 30, 2020 The Steelers defeated a Jackson-less Ravens team to improve to 11-0, but they would win just one more time that season. MORE: Why the Bills are SN's pick to win Super Bowl 61 Dec. 25, 2024: Chiefs vs. Steelers, Ravens vs. Texans The NFL had legitimate excuses to put the previous two games on Wednesday, but by 2024, the league had asserted itself and decided to start competing with the NBA on Christmas Day. That, of course, was no real competition. Even with two largely uncompetitive games, football dominated the day as the Chiefs defeated the Steelers and the Ravens routed the Texans. By scheduling two games on a Wednesday, the NFL signaled that it plans to play on Christmas every single year going forward. Sept. 9, 2026: Patriots vs. Seahawks The NFL arranged its first-ever Australia game between the Rams and 49ers for Week 1, but that set up a conundrum: the league had to leave enough time for both teams to return to the United States, get reacclimated, and fit in a full week of practice before Week 2, making it difficult to play the game any later than Thursday night (Friday morning in Melbourne). The NFL, however, has a tradition of opening the season with a banner-raising game for the reigning Super Bowl champions, only breaking in recent years for the NFL's 100th anniversary game between the Bears and Packers in 2019. The league opted to stick the Seahawks and Patriots on Wednesday night and the Rams and 49ers on Thursday night after putting the season opener on Thursday and an international game on Friday in each of the previous two years. MORE: History of Super Bowl rematches to open season