Five mind-boggling 2025 NFL schedule moves
The NFL officially released its 2025 schedule on Wednesday night, with some decisions standing out more than others. Here are five mind-boggling NFL schedule moves for the 2025 season.
Eagles do not play back-to-back games at home
While the Philadelphia Eagles will open the season at home against the Dallas Cowboys in defense of their Super Bowl LIX victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, they do not play consecutive games on their home turf all season. According to Jeff Kerr of CBS, that is the first time a defending Super Bowl champion will not play consecutive home games the following season.
Seven of their nine road games are against playoff teams from last season, including the Chiefs in Week 2, the Commanders in Week 16 and the Bills in Week 17, all three of whom made their respective conference title games a season ago. That is certainly not ideal, but with the Eagles favored to repeat in Super Bowl LX (+650, per FanDuel), that is not expected to slow them down.
Chargers will be frequent flyers
Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, NFL teams will travel a combined 625,947 miles over the course of the 2025 season. The Los Angeles Chargers (37,086) lead the way by more than 2,000 miles over the Los Angeles Rams (34,832).
While their location does not help, a Week 1 tilt with division rival Kansas City in Brazil only adds more mileage to their schedule. Taking into account that the Cincinnati Bengals (8,753) will travel less than a fourth of the miles the Chargers will log, that is a lot of time in the air for a Chargers team that seemed to get the raw end of the deal here.
Vikings set for back-to-back international games
In an announcement made on Tuesday, the Minnesota Vikings will become the first team to play two games overseas in 2025 when they face the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 4 in the first NFL game played in Ireland before heading to London for a Week 5 tilt with the Cleveland Browns.
Minnesota has yet to win in Pittsburgh, but previously defeated the Browns in London back in 2017. A favorable Week 6 bye should give the team time to rest from the two-week international trip that could oddly serve to benefit them.
Chiefs, Cowboys taking over prime time
Given the ratings increase both teams bring, it should come as no surprise that the Chiefs and Cowboys will be in prime time on multiple occasions. Still, it is mind-boggling how many games both teams will play under the lights in 2025.
The Chiefs begin with an 8 p.m. ET kickoff in Brazil Week 1 against the Chargers in a game that will stream for free on YouTube, per Yahoo Sports. That will be followed by six more prime-time games, including a Christmas night showdown with the Denver Broncos. The Cowboys will play six prime-time games, meaning the teams will combine for 13 such games in 2025.
49ers go from toughest schedule to easiest schedule
After an injury-plagued 2024 season that ended with the San Francisco 49ers missing the playoffs with a 6-11 record, San Francisco has the easiest strength of schedule, per CBS Sports. Their opponents' combined winning percentage from 2024 is .415 compared to the New York Giants, who have the toughest strength of schedule (.574).
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Week 6) and Houston Texans (Week 8) are the only two out-of-division teams on San Francisco's schedule that made the playoffs in 2024. That does not guarantee anything, but is a lot more manageable than most teams.
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