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NFL 2025 Schedule Release: The Top Stories to Follow on the Long Path to Super Bowl 60

Photo of Scott Kacsmar Scott Kacsmar15/05/2025 - 11:16 am
Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs
(Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

No one can hype up a schedule release like the NFL can. More people will watch an NFL schedule release show than most NBA playoff games. The league was at it again Wednesday night when the 2025 season schedule was revealed, showing us the full path to the playoffs and Super Bowl 60.

Let the excitement and bickering begin as we’re officially hitting the dead period of the NFL year, as nothing is really going to happen between now and training camp other than some silly players getting arrested. That’s just the truth, though Tyreek Hill probably won’t get pulled over by the Coast Guard like how the Colts’ social media team joked in a since-deleted video that was funny:

But the first thing I can say about the 2025 NFL schedule is it doesn’t have a goofy experiment in December like in 2024 when the league had the Chiefs, Ravens, Steelers, and Texans – four major AFC contenders – all play three games set 10 days apart in Weeks 15-17.

There is still a Christmas slate this year, but it falls on a Thursday, making things more manageable and normal for NFL teams to handle. Playing on a Sunday and then playing that Thursday is fairly common.

Also, one of the worst things last year was having Monday night games that overlapped one another. That’s still going to happen this year, but thankfully, they also have some Monday doubleheaders where the games start at 7:00 and 10:00 PM EST, so there won’t be that overlap issue.

Without further ado, let’s break down some of the finer points of this 2025 NFL schedule.

The Philadelphia Eagles and Their Tough Path to a Repeat

The Philadelphia Eagles will attempt to become the 10th team to repeat as Super Bowl champions, but what a wild schedule the league has given them. For one, the Eagles never play back-to-back home games after doing so twice in 2023 and 2024 and three times in 2022. A bit odd, innit?

The Eagles will open the season on a Thursday night against Dallas. That was probably the best choice as it gives the Cowboys a chance to measure up in new coach Brian Schottenheimer’s debut and the return of Dak Prescott with George Pickens in the mix now.

But the NFL has the Eagles playing in Kansas City in Week 2, so that Super Bowl rematch and possibly a preview of a rematch is coming very early. It’s also a 4:25 PM game, so it won’t even be in prime-time, an odd choice. Then, a week later, the Eagles are at home against the Rams, the team that came the closest to ending their season in the playoffs. A week late,r they’re in Tampa Bay, the site of their demoralizing losses in 2023 and 2024.

That’s a pretty difficult first month before things lighten up a little. Still, they have to play the Packers at Lambeau on a Monday night, will host the Lions a week later on SNF, and they’ll play the Bears on Black Friday before getting a mini-bye to deal with the Chargers in Los Angeles on a Monday night.

But if there is a scheduling quirk I’m calling out right away in 2025, it’s the way the NFL has the Eagles facing the Commanders twice with the Bills in between to end the season. That means if there are serious injuries on the Eagles and Commanders, they could impact both games instead of spreading things out more.

The Eagles and Commanders met in the NFC Championship Game, and the Commanders were the only team to beat the Eagles after September last season. I would have liked to see one of those matchups earlier in the year on Sunday Night Football.

Let’s not forget no one has repeated as NFC East champion since the Eagles did it in 2001-04. It’s an absurd streak, and if it’s going to continue, you’d like to think Washington behind Jayden Daniels is the team to get it done. But making both of these games late in the year is weird, and the Eagles get the edge of having the Week 18 matchup at home, should they need it for the division title or playoff seeding.

That Week 17 game in Buffalo also might have worked better in November in prime time as a premier non-conference game this season. One thing’s clear: the playoffs start early for the Eagles. Hopefully, every game will require starters playing full time to make it matter the most.

International Games Boosting the Frequent Flyer Miles

There are more international games in the NFL in the 2025 season than ever before. That’s one way to boost the miles traveled for all teams when you’re sending them to unusual places like Brazil, Spain, and Ireland.

But it’s the Los Angeles Chargers who lead the way with 37,086 miles to travel this season. They’ll open the season in São Paulo against the Chiefs on a Friday night in Week 1, so you can already start the Kansas City conspiracy theories by pointing out a big division rival loses a home game against them to start the season.

The Bengals will travel the fewest miles at 8,753, which is less than a quarter of that of the Chargers, who have to come to the East Coast several times this year for games with the Dolphins, Giants, Titans, Jaguars, etc. So, if you believe in this kind of thing mattering, maybe that helps the Bengals take the wild card spot the Chargers had last year.

But we’ll also see the Steelers face the Vikings in Week 4 in the first-ever NFL regular-season game played in Dublin, Ireland. The Rooney family, the owners of the Steelers, have some roots in the area, so we’ll see just how much the Steelers fans travel when that one goes down.

Chiefs Love Prime Time, And So Do the…Atlanta Falcons?

The Chiefs are no strangers to playing at weird times and days. They lead the pack in 2025 with 7 prime-time games, so if Patrick Mahomes is going to put together an MVP campaign, he’s going to have a lot of high-profile games with the Chargers in Brazil, the Eagles in Week 2, the Lions on SNF in Week 6, the Commanders on MNF in Week 8, in Dallas for Thanksgiving, and hosting the Broncos on Christmas night. It also could be Travis Kelce’s final season before retirement.

But fans may be surprised to see the Atlanta Falcons are near the top with five prime-time games this year, including a Monday night game with Buffalo coming to town. Atlanta hasn’t made the playoffs since 2017, but expectations are high for Raheem Morris and Michael Penix Jr. in a winnable division. That’s what potential can do.

Speaking of potential, if you think you’re going to see rookie quarterbacks like Cam Ward (Titans), Shedeur Sanders (Browns) or Tyler Shough (Saints) in prime time this year, think again. Those are the only teams to receive zero prime-time games as things currently stand. Flex scheduling can obviously change things. Guess those rookies will have to show some promise to get more attention in 2026.

Cameron Ward #QB15 of Miami-FL looks o during the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 01, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

2025 NFL Schedule Impact on MVP Race

It didn’t happen last year, but the schedule can absolutely have an impact on the MVP race, especially if someone is beating (or badly losing to) good teams in nationally-televised games late in the season. We saw this happen in 2021 and 2023.

But if Buffalo’s Josh Allen is going to repeat as MVP, voters may not remember much of his Week 1 showdown with Lamar Jackson and the Ravens on SNF. It’s a great game for SNF in Week 1, but Week 1 doesn’t usually hold a lot of weight for MVP votes anymore. The Bills are actually in prime time for 4-of-6 games to start the season, but they are only in Houston for TNF in Week 12 the rest of the way, so Allen may not get much of a push outside of playing well against the Eagles in Week 17.

Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills
(Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)

But we talked earlier about the crazy finish for the Eagles with Commanders-Bills-Commanders to end the season. Those games can absolutely impact MVP if you think Jalen Hurts, Jayden Daniels, Saquon Barkley, and Allen are all in the mix for the award this year.

However, the Bills should enjoy the schedule this year as they are home for most of their biggest games against the Ravens, Chiefs, Bengals, and Eagles. It feels like this team might need a No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs if they are going to get over the hump and return to the Super Bowl. Winning those showdowns at home is a great way to do that.

That’s also why Lamar Jackson and the Ravens may be at a disadvantage with road games against the Bills and Chiefs.

Lamar Jackson #8 of the Baltimore Ravens
(Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)

Week 18 Division Title Game Potential

If you’re talking about a Week 18 game that decides a division title, it’s almost impossible to top last year when the 14-2 Vikings faced the 14-2 Lions with the No. 1 seed and NFC North on the line in the final game of the regular season. Of course, the Vikings played poorly and Detroit won by multiple scores. But that was quite the game to end the regular season.

Can anything like that happen this year between two top teams to decide a division title in that final game of the year? The best and maybe really only candidate seems to be the Commanders at the Eagles. Washington is the only team to end with four straight division games, so it can make up a lot of ground in the NFC East race in its attempt to topple Philly.

Maybe Lions at Bears is another one if Ben Johnson has an unbelievable Coach of the Year type of debut in Chicago against his former team. But he’ll also face the Lions early in Week 2 in Detroit.

NFL Teams with Favorable Starts

Let’s look at some teams who missed the playoffs last year but may have a favorable early schedule that could get them off to a good start that carries through to a successful season.

  • Bengals: Joe Burrow is 1-9 as a starter in Weeks 1-2 in his career, so this team needs to come out strong for a change. The schedule is favorable with the Browns, Jaguars, and Vikings to start things off, and they only have the Dolphins, Cardinals, and Browns to end the season, too.
  • Cardinals: After finishing 8-9 last year, none of Arizona’s first six opponents made the playoffs last year, and the same is true for 10 of their first 11 games this year. Things will get tougher later, though.
  • Steelers: They are in danger of having their first losing season since 2003, but if you look at the early slate, they won’t see many quarterbacks with experience and tenure on their current team as they face the Jets (Justin Fields), Seahawks (Sam Darnold), Patriots (Drake Maye), Vikings (J.J. McCarthy), and Browns (Joe Flacco/Kenny Pickett/Dillon Gabriel/Shedeur Sanders). Also, did the NFL seriously make it Jets-Steelers in Week 1 to entice Aaron Rodgers to come through for a revenge game?
  • Panthers: Having not made the playoffs since 2017, Carolina (over/under 6.5 wins) could be in store for a good start if Bryce Young’s late-year improvement was real. None of Carolina’s first seven opponents had a winning record last year, and that doesn’t include either Saints game that will come later.

NFL Teams with Challenging Starts

For teams expected to be bad, any schedule could look like a challenging start. Instead, let’s focus on some teams that were good in 2024 who could stumble early in 2025 because of the schedule they’ve drawn.

  • Vikings: An easy pick for regression after that 14-3 season, the Vikings have to work in an inexperienced J.J. McCarthy against the Bears (Caleb Williams should be further along), the Falcons (ditto for Penix Jr.), the Bengals (very experienced passing game), and then will face the Steelers, a veteran defense, in Dublin. A 1-3 start could be on the horizon if they’re not careful.
  • Packers: Again, the 2024 NFC North challenged for the title of best division ever only to see its teams go 0-3 in the playoffs. The Packers couldn’t beat the top teams last year, so they better wise up with a schedule that immediately gives them Detroit and Washington, and we know the stat isn’t kind about 0-2 teams making the playoffs.
  • Chiefs: The dynasty is hardly over, but with more competition in the division, the Chiefs have to go to Brazil to take on the Chargers, host the defending champion Eagles, get a possible break on SNF against the Giants, but then host the Ravens. The Chiefs started 3-4 in 2021, the last time they were coming off a Super Bowl rout. Does history repeat itself with a slow start before they figure things out?

We’ll have all summer to preview the 2025 NFL season in full for each team. But at least now we know the path to the playoffs for everyone.

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Photo of Scott Kacsmar Scott Kacsmar15/05/2025 - 11:16 am