By Lucas Camacho
So, how many of you out there fall into one of these groups: NBA/NHL team eliminated from playoffs, NBA/NHL team on VERGE of elimination from the playoffs, waiting on WNBA season to start, or MLB team not doing as well as you want. Well, for those of you out there that are in those categories…I have good news: the schedule for the 2025 NFL season was released last week. Now that we’ve had some time to go over it, there are some interesting takeaways from this year’s schedule release, and plenty of questions to go with it. Will the Kansas City Chiefs have their revenge and reclaim their crown, will the Philadelphia Eagles repeat and take one step closer to that elusive three-peat that eluded the Chiefs last year, or will another team claim the Super Bowl title for themselves. Let’s go over some of the key points.
SEASON OPENER: COWBOYS VS EAGLES
The season starts as the Philadelphia Eagles will have the chance to raise their championship banner in front of one of their most bitter enemies, the Dallas Cowboys. This schedule overall is going to be the perfect test for a team looking to retain their title. As for the Cowboys, they had a rough year last season. They went 2-7 at home last season, and this year they host 5 teams that went to the playoffs last year. This will be an interesting year for the Cowboys.
REMATCHES
We don’t have to wait too long for a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl. The Eagles will be going on the road to face a Chiefs team they utterly destroyed in last year’s big game. However, they’ll have to contend with the hostile crowd in Kansas City who are angry at the Eagles for denying them their shot at a historical three-peat. But the Chiefs will also be on the receiving end of a team’s revenge tour. They’ll be traveling in Week 9 to face off against a vengeful Buffalo Bills team. The Bills have had several seasons ended at the hands of the Chiefs, and enough may be enough for the Bills and their fans.
Before that, the Bills will open the season against another contender for top of the AFC: the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens’ Lamar Jackson had his MVP title taken by the Bills’ Josh Allen, and now the two quarterbacks will go one-on-one once again. For those of you waiting for the NFC Championship rematch between the Eagles and Washington Commanders…you’ll have to wait a while. The two teams aren’t scheduled to duke it out until Week 16 in Philadelphia.
NFL GOES INTERNATIONAL
It’s always exciting to see the NFL played outside the country ahead of flag football’s Olympic debut in the LA 2028 Games. The first game will be played in São Paulo, Brazil as the hometown Los Angeles Chargers host a bitter Chiefs squad (the day after the Eagles open the season against the Cowboys). Week 4 sees the Pittsburg Steelers and Minnesota Vikings battling it out in Dublin, Ireland. After that is three consecutive weeks, Weeks 5 through 7, with a game in London. Week 5 sees the Vikings again, this time against the Cleveland Browns. Week 6 will see the Denver Broncos go up against the New York Jets. And finally, Week 7 sees the Jacksonville Jaguars return to their “second home” (they play in London every year) as they face off against LA’s other hometown team, the Los Angeles Rams. Week 10 shifts the scene to Berlin, Germany featuring the Atlanta Falcons going up against the Indianapolis Colts. Finally, the NFL goes to Madrid, Spain for Week 11 as the Miami Dolphis face off against the upstart Commanders. I have to say…the Vikings did something to tick someone off: they have to play two games in two different countries BACK TO BACK! That’s just brutal from a neutral standpoint.
HOLIDAYS ARE FOR RIVALRIES
This might be the best slate of holiday games we’ve had in years. As many NFL fans know, the Lions always host the first Thanksgiving game, followed by the next game in Dallas. This year’s Thanksgiving slate of games starts with the Lions playing host to one of their bitter rivals: the Green Bay Packers. Let’s get real everyone about one thing: every team in the NFC North hates each other with a burning passion. There’s a reason they refer to them as the “Black and Blue Division”. So having a heated rivalry game to start Thanksgiving is enough to roast anyone’s turkey (or turducken as the case may be). Next, the Cowboys will play host to the Chiefs, who look to continue their revenge tour (or at least they hope to at this point in the year). Since Thanksgiving is going to start with a rivalry game, it’s only natural it ends with one as the Ravens host one of their division rivals: the Cincinnati Bengals. This will be interesting as the Ravens look to move up this year and claim a spot in the Super Bowl that eluded them last year while the Bengals look to start better since their slow start last year cost them a playoff spot.
The NFL has seen big success partnering with Amazon Prime on Black Friday, so they’re doing it again. This year’s matchup is between two teams with the Super Bowl on their mind: the defending champion Eagles will host the Chicago Bears.
Then we go to Christmas, a time for peace and harmony…but not in this year’s slate of NFL games. The first game of Christmas, like Thanksgiving, starts with a big division rivalry; the Cowboys will go on the road to face the Commanders. And it doesn’t let up for the next game as the Vikings host their bitter rival, the Lions. Finally, what’s one more division rivalry game to “enhance” your Christmas cheer as the Chiefs host one of their rivals, the Broncos. This will be an exciting holiday season (hold on to your cranberry sauce, candy canes, and Black Friday fliers…it’s gonna be big…).
WHO HAS THE HARDEST AND EASIEST SCHEDULE
There is a lot to unpack after the schedule release. One key thing people look at is if any team has an easier schedule, or if they have a harder schedule. According to the analytics, the team with the toughest schedule is the New York Giants. I don’t usually side with the metrics of the “experts”…but they may be right on this one. They open the season on the road against the upstart Commanders and then their bitter rivals, the Cowboys. By the time they have their season opener at home, it’s a Sunday Night Football game against the revenge-minded Chiefs. This is a brutal opening slate of games for ANYONE. Their best chance at a win is against the Cowboys, but they haven’t beaten them since the days of Joe Judge (pause here to Google Joe Judge). Starting off the underdogs in 7 of your first 8 games is not a great way to start for a rebuilding Giants squad.
You may find it hard to believe, but the easiest schedule might belong to the San Francisco 49ers. Let’s wind the clocks back to this time last year. The 49ers were a couple plays short of ending their Super Bowl drought. I, and many others, thought they’d bounce back and would return to the Super Bowl next year for another shot. That did not happen. It was an utter disastrous season marked by injuries as we witnessed a collapse that was nothing short of spectacular. This year, the 49ers hope their squad is healthy as they have a relatively easy schedule against rebuilding teams. This may be the confidence boost they need to return to their former glory.
BREAKING DOWN THE HOMETOWN TEAMS’ SCHEDULES
For our Hollywood locals, let’s look at the schedules for the hometown Rams and Chargers. Starting with the Rams, they have the 16th easiest schedule as they face several teams in the middle of a rebuild, including the Jaguars and New Orleans Saints (who face a serious problem at quarterback since the surprise retirement announcement of Derek Carr). It’s clear that everyone expects the Rams to be a good and relevant team. They’ve only missed the playoffs twice since Sean McVay became the head coach, and they’ve even won a Super Bowl. The date that the Rams have circled is on Week 3 as they have a rematch against the defending champion Eagles. The Rams came the closest last year to beating the Eagles, in a close 28-22 game that even had Eagles cornerback Darius Slay Jr saying that the Rams were the biggest test and threat to his team’s Super Bowl run last year. With the matchup coming early in the season…the Eagles won’t have the snow to aid them this time against a Rams team looking to regain its Super Bowl crown.
As for the Chargers, first off, kudos for probably the best social media release of a schedule by any NFL team inspired by the game Minecraft. Coach Jim Harbaugh turned things around for the Chargers in his first season, and they expect to be even better with the addition of several key weapons to their offense: including a highly rated running back prospect combined with a veteran running back, and a wide receiver draftee that can overtake Ladd McConkey for the WR1 spot. Their schedule is rated as tied for 11th hardest, which means it’s not too hard, but not too easy either. The Chargers will travel a league-leading 37,086 miles this coming season, but Harbaugh had a strategy to combat jet lag that led to a successful first campaign…hopefully he can do it again. The matchup to watch is in Week 6 on the road against the Dolphins. These two teams are forever linked because of the 2020 NFL Draft. Tua Tagovailoa was picked at No. 5 by the Dolphins, and then Justin Herbert was taken next at No. 6 by the Chargers. Even though the Chargers are 1-2 against the Dolphins since then, it can be argued that Herbert has been more successful than Tagovailoa.
