1. The first thing you might've noticed is...

...The Colts did not opt for a bye week following their Week 4 game against the Washington Commanders at London's Tottenham Stadium.

Conventional wisdom is that teams opt to take their lone bye week following a game played in Europe, given the time difference and transatlantic flights involved in playing those games. The Colts did this the last two times they played internationally, with bye weeks following games in Berlin (2025) and Frankfurt (2023). Those games, though, were each played in Week 10, so the Colts' bye week was right around the halfway point of each season; they were also played in Germany, which takes a couple hours longer to get to than England.

So let's just look at games played in the British Isles – at London's Wembley Stadium and Tottenham Stadium, and Dublin's Croke Park – since 2021, when the NFL schedule expanded to 17 games. There have been 15 such games over the last five seasons, with 27 teams having the option to take their bye week or play after returning stateside (the Jacksonville Jaguars played consecutive games in London in 2023 and 2024; the Minnesota Vikings played in Dublin and London in consecutive weeks in 2025).

Of those 27 teams, only 11 opted for a post-London bye (including the Jaguars in 2024 and the Vikings in 2025). The teams that did not take a bye went 10-6 in their games following trips to London.

2. The Colts' AFC South schedule is spread out – which is a change from years past.

Of the Colts' six games against divisional opponents, three come in the first half of the season (Week 3 vs. Houston, Week 6 vs. Tennessee, Week 8 at Jacksonville) and three come in the second half of the season (Week 11 at Houston, Week 15 at Tennessee, Week 18 vs. Jacksonville).

In 2025, the Colts played the Titans twice in the first half of the season and then had all four games against the Texans and Jaguars come over their final six games. In 2022, 2023 and 2024, the Colts' divisional schedule was front-loaded, with at least four AFC South games scheduled before Week 10.

Will having a spread out AFC South schedule benefit the Colts? That remains to be seen. But for the first time in a while, there won't be a heavily-loaded stretch of divisional games on the Colts' schedule.

3. A weird streak with the Titans continues.

This is a quick one: The Colts will go another year not ending their season against the Titans.

The Colts last ended a season against the Titans in 2018 (a win at Nissan Stadium that sent the Colts to the playoffs). The last time the Colts' season finale was at Lucas Oil Stadium against the Titans was 2015.

Consider this one of those quirky things that unintentionally happens with the NFL schedule. Until 2025's schedule, the Colts hadn't ended a season against the Texans in Houston in 22 years. So maybe we'll have to wait a little longer before the Titans end a season at Lucas Oil Stadium.

4. Another weird streak will come to an end, though.

2026 will mark the first year since 2019 in which the Colts are not scheduled to face that year's No. 1 overall pick. The Colts, this year, do not play the Las Vegas Raiders, who selected Indiana Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza first overall last month.

In previous seasons, the Colts faced rookie-year Joe Burrow (2020), Trevor Lawrence (2021), Travon Walker (2022), Bryce Young (2023), Caleb Williams (2024) and Cam Ward (2025).

The Colts actually won't face any of the three teams that had the first selections in the NFL Draft (Raiders, New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals). The most interesting draft connection here will come in Week 9, when the Dallas Cowboys – who drafted Josh Downs' brother, Caleb, with the No. 11 overall pick – will come to Lucas Oil Stadium.

5. The last thing to keep in mind with the schedule.

Only six of the Colts' 17 games will come against teams that made the playoffs in 2025 (Texans twice, Jaguars twice, Steelers, Eagles). But don't mistake that for the Colts having an "easy" schedule – and certainly, it's a schedule that doesn't look easy to start the season, with Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, C.J. Stroud and Jayden Daniels on deck for the first four games.

(Mahomes could very well start Week 1, and then Week 2, after sustaining a torn ACL and LCL in his knee last December.)

Chances are, a team you may think is good now will be struggling by the time the Colts play them. And, chances are, a team you think won't be good will seemingly come out of nowhere to be a difficult opponent.

So let's wait for this whole thing to play out before we determine if the Colts' schedule is a meat grinder or a cakewalk. The fun begins in four months.

---

Single game tickets are on sale now for all home games at Lucas Oil Stadium! Find tickets at Colts.com/SingleGame