2025 NFL time plan Highlights: You will see the chiefs, cowboys a lot to prime time

The 2025 NFL schedule has been released, and fans are frantically reserving rooms for whatever Florida games their teams will play in December and the first week of January. The Los Angeles Chargers are going to be traveling more than any other club, logging an expected 37,000 or so miles, depending on what courses they chart.

The Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs are going to be on national television a lot. So are the Cowboys.

Chiefs On Primetime, Ready Or Not

The Chiefs will play seven primetime games in 2025. Five of those come in the first eight weeks. The Cowboys will have six primetime games.

The Eagles, almost surprisingly, will play five games under the lights. That’s a lot, but perhaps not as many as a defending Super Bowl champion should have.

The Dolphins, Falcons, Lions, Commanders, Bills, Chargers and 49ers are also scheduled for five primetime games.

ESPN released its TV schedule, and it includes four Monday Night Football doubleheaders. And two of those double dips will have an earlier game and a later game.

But two of those will involve games played concurrently, which isn’t great for folks who actually want to watch one game and then another.

Here are the Monday Night games (all times eastern):

2025 Monday Night Football Schedule

Sept. 8: Vikings at Bears, 8:15 p.m.
Sept. 15: Bucs at Texans, 7 p.m. | Chargers at Raiders, 10 p.m.
Sept. 22: Lions at Ravens, 8:15 p.m.
Sept. 29: Jets at Dolphins, 7:15 p.m. | Bengals at Broncos, 8:15 p.m.
Oct. 6: Chiefs at Jaguars, 8:15 p.m.
Oct. 13: Bills at Falcons, 7:15 p.m. | Bears at Commanders, 8:15 p.m.
Oct. 20: Bucs at Lions, 7 p.m. | Texans at Seahawks, 10 p.m.
Oct. 27: Commanders at Chiefs, 8:15 p.m.
Nov. 3: Cardinals at Cowboys, 8:15 p.m.
Nov. 10: Eagles at Packers, 8:15 p.m.
Nov. 17: Cowboys at Raiders, 8:15 p.m.
Nov. 24: Panthers at 49ers, 8:15 p.m.
Dec. 1: Giants at Patriots, 8:15 p.m.
Dec. 8: Eagles at Chargers, 8:15 p.m.
Dec. 15: Dolphins at Steelers, 8:15 p.m.
Dec. 22: 49ers at Colts, 8:15 p.m. ET
Dec. 29: Rams at Falcons, 8:15 p.m.

ESPN will also have a doubleheader on Saturday, Jan. 3, with the games starting at 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m

Sunday Night Football Matchups

The NFL is committed to offering NBC signature games on Sunday night, and some of those contests this season will include the Lions at the Chiefs, the Lions at the Eagles, the Bengals at the Dolphins, and the Packers at the Cowboys.

The Packers are visiting the Cowboys in Week 4. And here’s a little known factoid:

The Packers have won as many postseason games at AT&T Stadium as the Cowboys have. Both teams have won three postseason games at the venue.

That’s not a compliment to the Cowboys.

Thanksgiving Is About Faith, Family, Football

The NFL is about celebrating the holidays by, well, working.

You know by now that while you’re with friends and family, players, coaches, officials and, yes, journalists are toiling at a stadium somewhere working a game so you lucky people can sit on your couch and enjoy it.

That is always the case on Thanksgiving Day, which this year falls on Nov. 27.

The league’s three Thanksgiving Day games:

Packers at Lions, 1 p.m. (FOX)
Chiefs at Cowboys, 4:30 p.m. (CBS)
Bengals at Ravens, 8:20 p.m. (NBC)

The Thanksgiving tripleheader will be followed on Black Friday with the Bears visiting the Eagles.

Merry Christmas To All, Except The NBA

Christmas used to belong to the NBA from a sports perspective. LeBron James infamously stood on the idea that the holiday is about basketball.

But the NFL decided that would end a couple of years ago, and it would make James look like one of those flops he uses to draw calls, which is to say, bad.

So the NFL simply stomped pro basketball in the ratings last year even though one of the two games was streamed on Netflix.

The NFL drew an audience of nearly 65 million U.S. viewers, according to Nielsen for those two games.

And what’s the reward of such success?

This year, with Christmas falling on Thursday, the NFL is playing three games. Netflix will stream Cowboys-Commanders at 1 p.m., then follow with Lions-Vikings at 4:30.

The Dec. 25 nightcap will feature the Broncos visiting the Chiefs on Prime Video.

International Slate Comes With A Prize

There are seven International Games scheduled in which 13 teams will play in five countries and two continents. Those games are:

Sept. 5: Chiefs vs. Chargers, Sept. 5. (São Paulo)
Sept. 28: Vikings vs. Steelers, Sept. 28 (Dublin)
Oct. 5: Vikings vs. Browns, Oct. 5 (London)
Oct. 12: Broncos vs. Jets, Oct. 12 (London)
Oct. 19: Rams vs. Jaguars, Oct. 19 (London)
Nov. 9: Falcons vs. Colts, Nov. 9, (Berlin)
Nov. 16: Commanders vs. Dolphins (Madrid)

And now that you’ve reached the end of this post, there is a grand prize. That prize is knowing that in the six weeks the International Games are played across the Atlantic, the games will kick off at 9:30 a.m. on the East Coast in the United States.

So, yes, there will be six Sundays in the fall when the NFL is offering four games –– back-to-back-to-back-to-back – from morning into the night on national television.

You’re welcome.