NFL Wild Card Weekend: TV Schedule, Playoff Matchups, How to Watch and More

Watch on ESPN

Monday night game for $30 per month

ESPN Unlimited

See on Directv

Offers NFL channels for $70 per month

DirecTV My Sports

See at Fubo

Offers NFL channels for $85 per month

Fubo

Show more (4 items)

Welcome to the first weekend of the 2026 NFL Playoffs.

Wild Card Weekend kicks off with two games SATURDAYstarting with the Rams and Panthers in Carolina at 4:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. PT) on Fox and Fox One. Saturday night we’ll have a classic NFC North battle in Chicago between the Bears and Packers at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) on Prime Video. Yes, you’ll need Amazon’s streaming service to watch Chicago and Green Bay, unless you live in either team’s local market (more on that below).

On Sundaywe have a Wild Card triple header starting in Jacksonville with the Jaguars taking on the Bills at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) on CBS and Paramount Plus. Next, the 49ers will attempt to dethrone the defending champion Eagles in Philadelphia at 4:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. PT) on Fox and Fox One, before we head to Foxboro for the Patriots and Chargers at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT) on NBC and Peacock.

Wild Card Weekend is a three-day weekend as it only ends Monday evening in Pittsburgh with the Steelers hosting the Texans at 8:15 p.m. (5:15 p.m. PT) on ABC/ESPN and ESPN Unlimited.

Add it up and you’ll need five different streaming services to watch all six Wild Card games. You can also use a live TV streaming service to watch five of the six games, and a VPN can help you catch the Bears-Packers game on Saturday night.

Keep reading to discover the best ways to watch or stream every game, no matter where you live.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased technical content and lab reviews. Add CNET as your preferred Google source.

Schedule your Wild Card Weekend viewing

There are two games on Saturday, three on Sunday and one on Monday evening. Here is the programming.

How to watch Wild Card Weekend in the US

If you don’t want to subscribe to a live TV streaming service, you can watch the CBS game with Paramount Plus, both Fox games with Fox One, the NBC game with Peacock, and the Monday night game with ESPN’s direct-to-consumer streaming service.

Fox’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service costs $20 per month or $200 per year and allows NFL fans to watch their local Sunday afternoon games on Fox. You’ll also have access to Fox’s full TV portfolio, including sports-related channels like Fox Sports, B1G, FS1, FS2, and local Fox stations.

With Fox One, you can watch two games this weekend: Rams-Panthers on Saturday and 49ers-Eagles on Sunday.

You can watch the Bills-Jags game on Paramount Plus with its $8 per month Essentials tier. You can check for yourself if your area is streaming live CBS here.

Read our Paramount Plus review.

With Peacock’s $11 per month Premium plan, you can watch the Chargers-Pats game on Sunday night. Read our Peacock review.

ESPN DTC is available in two versions. The ESPN Unlimited plan costs $30 per month (or $300 per year) and lets you stream all ESPN linear networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network, and ACC Network. You also have access to programming on ESPN on ABC, ESPN Plus, ESPN3, SECN Plus and ACCNX. You’ll need the Unlimited plan to watch the Texans and Steelers in the final Monday night game of this NFL season.

(There’s also a $12-a-month ESPN Select plan that’s like a rebranding of ESPN Plus. It gives you access to thousands of live games, including small college conferences, whose games you can’t watch anywhere else, but not in the NFL.)

Prime Video or VPN for Bears vs Packers

You’ll need Prime Video for Saturday night’s Bears-Packers game unless you live in either team’s TV market where it will be broadcast on a local TV network: NBC 26 (WGBA) in Green Bay, Fox 6 (WITI) in Milwaukee and Fox 32 (WFLD) in Chicago, according to 506 Sports.

Saturday night’s Packers-Bears game will be streamed live on Prime Video. For millions of Amazon Prime subscribers, the Prime Video channel is already included at no additional cost. But if you’re not an Amazon Prime subscriber, it might be worth shelling out $9 a month for the standalone Prime Video service, not only for that Wild Card game, but also for its impressive selection of shows and movies.

Read our Prime Video review.

For those who prefer to watch the match on TV rather than Prime Video, there is the VPN option. With a VPN, you can virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to access the game.

A VPN It’s also the best way to prevent your ISP from throttling your speed on game day by encrypting your traffic. Plus, it’s a great idea when you travel and you need to connect to a public Wi-Fi networkwhere you’ll want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and connections.

So, if your ISP or mobile carrier has assigned you an IP address that incorrectly shows your location in a blackout zone, a VPN can fix this problem by providing you with an IP address in your correct, unobscured zone. Most VPNs, like our Editors’ Choice, ExpressVPNmake it really easy to do.

Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in all countries where VPNs are legal, including the United States and Canada, provided you have a legitimate subscription to the service you are streaming. Make sure your VPN is configured correctly to avoid leaks. Even when VPNs are legal, the streaming service can terminate the account of anyone it believes is circumventing properly enforced ban restrictions.

Looking for other options? Be sure to check out some of the other great VPN deals which is happening at the moment.

ExpressVPN is currently our top VPN pick for people looking for a reliable and secure VPN, and it works on a variety of devices. Prices start at $2.79 per month on a two-year plan for the basic level of service, and there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our ExpressVPN review.

Best Live TV Streaming Services for NFL Fans

The channels you’ll need for the playoffs are the same ones you needed for the regular season: CBS, Fox, NBC and ABC or ESPN. The good news for football fans is that these channels are available on most live TV streaming services, but you should note that not all services broadcast every local network in every region, so check each one using the links below to make sure it broadcasts every local network where you live.

YouTube TV offers all the channels needed to watch the NFL playoffs and costs $83 per month. Enter your zip code on the YouTube TV home page to see which local networks are available in your area.

Fubo’s main plan costs $85 per month and includes ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN.

Fubo has a new skinny package that includes most, but not all, of the channels you need for the NFL. This new Fubo Sports package costs $56 per month ($46 for the first month) and includes all of the channels above except NBC for Chargers-Patriots Sunday night. It also includes access to ESPN’s new streaming app. It’s worth noting that the plan is only available in select regions at the moment, with a gradual rollout across the country.

Click here to see which local channels you get in your area with Fubo. Read our Fubo review.

The live TV streaming services listed above allow you to cancel at any time. They require a strong internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our guide to live TV streaming services.

Quick Tips for Streaming the NFL with a VPN

• With four variables in play: your ISP, your browser, your video streaming provider, and your VPN – experience and success may vary.
• If you don’t see your desired location as the default option for ExpressVPN, try using the “Find city or country” option.
• If you’re having trouble accessing the game after enabling your VPN and setting it to the correct viewing area, there are two quick solutions you can try. First, log in to your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is in the correct viewing area. Otherwise, you may need to change the physical address registered with your account. Second, some smart TVs, such as Roku, don’t have VPN apps that can be installed directly on the device itself. Instead, you’ll need to install the VPN on your router or mobile hotspot you’re using (like your phone) so that any device connected to its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct display location.
• All the VPN providers we recommend offer helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with Smart TV services, after installing a cable network’s sports app, you will be asked to verify a numeric code or click on a link sent to the email address associated with your Smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router can also help, as both devices will appear to be in the correct location.
• And remember that browsers can often give away location despite using a VPN, so be sure to use a privacy-focused browser to connect to your services. We normally recommend Brave.