If the Super Bowl is the pinnacle of the NFL season for teams' on-field performance, the schedule release day is an equivalent for teams' creative and social media departments.
Teams have put serious resources and effort into making fun videos to announce their week-by-week schedule for the upcoming season. They often feature references to their opponents memorable moments - or "easter eggs" for fans to catch - with the goal of spurring excitement, and ideally going viral with online in the process.
This year, a lot of teams went with a video game theme, maybe with an idea of attracting a younger audience with a relatable "meme-heavy" take on their opponents and schedule.
The Los Angeles Chargers were one of the teams who took this route, designing their video around the popularity and aesthetic of Minecraft.
The Chargers' creative media team took viewers into a Minecraft-like world with a nearly five-minute video that depicted the likeness of their opponents' mascots and players in chronological order of their schedule ... and of course throwing in a few subtle disses along the way.
should we REALLY make our schedule release video in minecraft?
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) May 15, 2025
yes yes yesyes
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yes yes yesyes pic.twitter.com/gxk31Dql5L
A lot of these sneak disses could get glossed over or not even spotted, but lucky for you, we dissected the Week 16 portion where the Cowboys were referenced.
Spoiler: the Cowboys caught a lot of strays in their bit, but they weren't the only Dallas-based pro team to get made fun of.
The first frame showed a mosh of miniature Cowboys fans rushing into AT&T Stadium, which is reminiscent of how standing-room-only ticket holders sprint into the stadium the second doors are opened to grab their game day seat.
Next, the video guides us down into the stadium and onto the field. On the way, a piece of the ceiling trickles downward from the ceiling, which reminds fans of when a large chunk of metal fell from the domed roof prior to a November game against the Houston Texans last season.
As the debris falls, the Cowboys' iconic scoreboard is in clear view. What was on it? This is where we get introduced to the Dallas Mavericks NBA team.
The center jumbotron shows the likeness of a fan who went viral for chanting "Fire Nico" at a game in February shortly after Mavs GM Nico Harrison famously traded the beloved superstar Luka Doncic. On the side of the massive screen? The message "Defense Wins Championships" is visible, which Dallas fans know is Harrison's one-line response mechanism used to defend his ridiculous trade.
Next in the Chargers receipt of jokes is a field-level staring contest with figures depicting the likeness of Cowboys defensive end Micah Parsons and his old Cowboys teammate DeMarcus Lawrence, now on the Seattle Seahawks. The two characters get into a shoving match, referencing their social media scuffle from earlier this offseason when Lawrence had some choice words for Parsons and the organization after his departure.
In the background? It is a deep cut meme for Metroplex residents: the polar bear in Arlington, of course.
This is a nod to the hilarious snapshot that has cycled through chat rooms and fan communities on the internet. Here is the original picture for reference. Its origin? We don't even know for sure. But the Chargers are all over it.
The polar bear might be hard to notice because of the sun glare shining through AT&T Stadium's glass walls behind each endzone - a notable flaw that even Cowboys fans get mad about, especially when it blinds receivers who end up dropping passes.
The Chargers simply did not miss. Here is a cut version of Dallas' part, every easter egg and all.
The #Cowboys Easter Eggs in the Chargers schedule release video:
— Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite) May 15, 2025
- Signature @jonmachota crowd video
- Micah Parsons Edge Podcast
- “Defense Wins Championships”
- Piece of the ceiling falling
- Parsons and Tank Lawrence beef
- Sun shining bright
- Polar Bear (?)
- George Pickens https://t.co/rjLAwY3yDz pic.twitter.com/wbSh4Fn6J1
In particular, they thrived on maximizing the spotlight a team like the Cowboys operate in. With as much fan content as "America's Team" generates - the good and the bad - it would be hard make this video any other way.
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