Criticism Pouring in For NFL's 'Monday Night Football' Decision

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Kevin Matthew Borba | Last updated Sep 15, 2025 8:19 PM ET

The NFL has never shied away from an opportunity to get more eyes on the sport.

Whether it's the implementation of games on Christmas day, having Thursday night games stream on Prime Video or having two "Monday Night Football" games, the NFL has done it all.

On Monday, we are seeing an example of the latter as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Houston Texans kicked off at 7:00 p.m. ET, while the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders will kick off at 10:00 p.m. ET.

Although fans are always craving more football, two late-night games to start the work week appears to not be as popular as the NFL would have hoped.

The Monday Night Football doubleheader is awful and ruins the MNF experience. pic.twitter.com/w2jiruiL9W
— Tom Strachan (@NFL_TStrack) September 15, 2025

"Hot take: Monday Night Football double-headers are stupid," said another.

"The Monday night football double header SUCKS. No one… absolutely no one will watch that 10PM slate game. Might as well be a local game," said one fan.

"Double header Monday night football is a terrible idea and I hate it," commented another.

"Double header Monday night games should be illegal," joked another fan.

Why are there two "Monday Night Football" Games?

The two Monday night games can be attributed to the NFL's media rights deal with ESPN/ABC, as reported by The Athletic's Steven Louis Goldstein.

"The NFL’s 2021 television rights deal increased the number of regular-season games on ABC/ESPN (both part of The Walt Disney Company). There are only 18 weeks in a season, and ABC/ESPN only does Monday nights (until Saturday in Week 18), so there wasn’t much else to do in terms of resolution here."

Monday's slate will be the first of four doubleheaders, with the next three occurring in Week 4, Week 6 and Week 7.

Although it may be unpopular now, it may just take some time to get used to the concept. It may also require bosses across the country to allow for a bit of leniency for Tuesday morning's start time.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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