Although we already knew every game of the 2025 NFL season, the order of these games is now official after the schedule release. This allows us to examine the stretches and game windows that stand out most throughout the 18 regular season weeks.
Every week is critical throughout the NFL season, but some always stand out more than others. Based on preseason expectations and storylines, which weeks look like the most packed in terms of must-see games?
1. Week 1
Notable Games: Cowboys at Eagles (TNF), Chiefs at Chargers (Fri.), Steelers at Jets, Lions at Packers, Ravens at Bills (SNF)
Admittedly, Week 1 will always get a bump because the return of the NFL is practically an American holiday. The first meaningful football in seven months alone makes Week 1 a marquee week every year, and even more so with how the NFL stacks its standalone windows.
The Thursday and Friday games are both terrific division rivalries, while Ravens-Bills on Sunday Night Football is a potential AFC Championship Game preview right off the bat. We could also get Aaron Rodgers playing at MetLife Stadium in his Steelers debut if he signs with Pittsburgh as anticipated. That would pit Rodgers against Aaron Glenn’s defense after the 41-year-old QB had harsh words to say about how Glenn treated his departure from the Jets.
2. Week 13
Notable Games: Packers at Lions (Thanksgiving), Chiefs at Cowboys (Thanksgiving), Bengals at Ravens (Thanksgiving), Bears at Eagles (Black Friday), Broncos at Commanders (SNF)
Hopefully you’re not planning on spending time with your family over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The Turkey Day tripleheader doesn’t always deliver, but on paper this looks like one of the best holiday slates ever. Packers-Lions is a critical division rivalry, the Chiefs and Cowboys are the two biggest television draws at the moment, and the Bengals and Ravens played a pair of highly entertaining shootouts last year.
The Bears-Eagles game on Black Friday looks like a potential fun contest if Chicago and Caleb Williams can make progress in Ben Johnson’s first season. The Sunday slate is always a little thinner for Thanksgiving week, but Broncos-Commanders on Sunday Night Football is a terrific test for Jayden Daniels against Denver’s defense.
3. Week 6
Notable Games: Rams at Ravens, Bengals at Packers, Lions at Chiefs (SNF), Bears at Commanders (MNF)
This is a quietly stacked week with a lot of intriguing and unfamiliar matchups. It might be the best week all season for interconference matchups with Rams-Ravens, Bengals-Packers and Lions-Chiefs on Sunday Night Football. The SNF game in particular could be a Super Bowl preview, and it’s a rematch of the 2023 season-opener when Detroit announced itself as a true contender by upsetting Kansas City at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Monday Night Football game also features one of the best games from 2023, a rematch of the Bears-Commanders contest that ended in a Washington Hail Mary walk-off. It’s also the second matchup between the top two picks of the 2024 Draft, with Caleb Williams hoping to produce a season similar to what Jayden Daniels did last year.
4. Week 4
Notable Games: Ravens at Chiefs, Eagles at Buccaneers, Packers at Cowboys (SNF), Bengals at Broncos (MNF)
The typically slow-starting Ravens have a pair of massive road tests to begin the season at Buffalo and Kansas City. Baltimore could be in a hole with another middling September, or Lamar Jackson and Co. could steal some important tiebreakers if they can start stronger than usual.
Eagles-Buccaneers is a matchup of NFC division favorites. The two also met in Tampa Bay in Week 4 last year, with the Bucs trouncing the Birds 33-16 (albeit without A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith). The Monday Night Football contest is a strong one to close the week between an elite Bengals offense and elite Broncos defense.
5. Week 14
Notable Games: Cowboys at Lions (TNF), Steelers at Ravens, Bears at Packers, Bengals at Bills
The week after Thanksgiving is pretty strong as well. The Cowboys and Lions will finish a grueling stretch with a TNF game one week after hosting their Turkey Day contests. You could also dub this division rivalry week with Steelers-Ravens and Bears-Packers occurring in the Sunday afternoon window.
The Bengals-Bills contest could also be a sneaky important one for the playoffs if Cincinnati’s defense can stay afloat. Both teams have shown a pattern in recent seasons of peaking down the stretch. In 2024, the Bengals and Bills combined to go 9-3 from December onwards.
6. Week 17
Notable Games: Broncos at Chiefs (Christmas), Eagles at Bills, Ravens at Packers (TBD)
The now-annual Christmas Day slate peaks at night with a potentially critical AFC West matchup between the Chiefs and Broncos. Cowboys-Commanders and Lions-Vikings are solid division rivalry matchups earlier on the day as well. The Sunday schedule is highlighted by an Eagles-Bills bonanza that could be a potential Super Bowl preview with massive homefield advantage implications in both conferences.
MORE: NFL Schedule Release: 2025 Bye Week List, Impact of Timing, and Fantasy Football Ranking Adjustments
Of note, this is also the week with five TBD games that can get moved to Saturday or Sunday. The best of those five games is a Ravens-Packers clash, with Texans-Chargers and Cardinals-Bengals also standing out as games in that group with potential playoff implications.
7. Week 2
Notable Games: Commanders at Packers (TNF), Bears at Lions, Eagles at Chiefs
Week 2 isn’t quite as strong as Week 1, but there are still some marquee matchups. Commanders-Packers is an intriguing matchup of young NFC contenders to begin the week. Sunday will see former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson return to the Motor City in his second game as the Bears head coach.
Of course, the headliner is the Super Bowl LIX rematch between the Eagles and Chiefs at Arrowhead. It’ll be a fascinating early test to see how much Kansas City’s offensive line has improved after getting throttled by Philadelphia’s pass rush in New Orleans (though the Eagles themselves lost plenty of pass rushers this offseason). The Eagles also won at Kansas City in the 2023 season, giving them the chance for a rare three-game win streak over Patrick Mahomes.
8. Week 18
Notable Games: Lions at Bears, Chargers at Broncos, Packers at Vikings, Commanders at Eagles, Ravens at Steelers
It’s always hard to say how compelling Week 18 will be. The slate depends entirely on matchups having some level of playoff implications, as we’re guaranteed to see a spate of backups playing for teams either eliminated from the playoffs or already secure in their playoff positioning.
On paper, there should be some strong candidates for winner-take-all games. The NFC North and AFC West both project as very competitive and deep divisions, so nearly any combination of those teams will produce an interesting matchup. Commanders-Eagles also stands out as a potential single game for the NFC East.
9. Week 3
Notable Games: Rams at Eagles, Broncos at Chargers, Lions at Ravens (MNF)
The gem of Week 3 is on Monday night. This is in the middle of Baltimore’s brutal opening month, which also features road contests against the Bills and Chiefs (they do get the Browns in Week 2). The Lions’ opening stretch is no easy shakes either with Packers-Bears-Ravens to start the season. As such, that could be a sneaky critical game for both teams if either picks up some early losses.
The rest of the week is more middling, though Rams-Eagles is a rematch of a terrific Divisional Round game from last playoffs. Broncos-Chargers could also be a quietly important game for the AFC Wild Card picture, with Denver hoping to avenge last year’s sweep by Los Angeles.
10. Week 16
Notable Games: Packers at Bears (Sat.), Eagles at Commanders (Sat.), Bengals at Dolphins (SNF)
The highlight of the Week 16 slate is an excellent Saturday doubleheader. Packers-Bears and Eagles-Commanders are both strong rivalries that should have playoff implications late in the season. Both these division rivalries are subject to strange scheduling quirks as well – the Packers and Bears meet in Weeks 14 and 16, while the Eagles and Commanders play in Weeks 16 and 18.
The Sunday afternoon slate is mostly underwhelming, though Bengals-Dolphins on Sunday Night Football is a fun matchup between 2020 draftees Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa. Cincinnati and Miami were the first two teams out of the AFC playoffs in 2024, and figure to be on the playoff fringes again in 2025.
11. Week 9
Notable Games: Chiefs at Bills, Ravens at Dolphins (TNF), Bears at Bengals
The Week 9 schedule is mostly middling, with one massive exception. The annual Chiefs-Bills bonanza will once again be a late Sunday afternoon contest, with Buffalo winning four straight regular season matchups between the teams. Of course, Kansas City has 4-0 bragging rights in the playoffs, a massive elephant in the room that will loom over Buffalo’s season until the postseason arrives.
Ravens-Dolphins on Thursday Night Football evokes memories of Miami’s brazen zero-blitz game plan from 2021 to upset Baltimore, though that’s ancient history at this point. Bears-Bengals stands out among the Sunday games, as both could be among the most explosive passing offenses this season.
12. Week 15
Notable Games: Ravens at Bengals, Chargers at Chiefs, Packers at Broncos, Lions at Rams
This is the rare slate where the standalone games aren’t anything special (Falcons-Buccaneers, Vikings-Cowboys, Dolphins-Steelers), but the rest of the schedule picks up. The Ravens-Bengals and Chargers-Chiefs rivalries annually produce tremendously entertaining games, and should have major playoff stakes this late in the season.
The Lions and Rams have played compelling games the past couple of years in the wake of the Matthew Stafford-Jared Goff trade. The Lions won the last two games in Detroit, but now Los Angeles will host the series in a potential playoff preview.
13. Week 7
Notable Games: Steelers at Bengals (TNF), Eagles at Vikings, Buccaneers at Lions (MNF)
Only two teams are on bye this week, but it’s a couple big ones with the Ravens and Bills. That dilutes the schedule a bit in Week 7, though the bookend primetime games are both compelling. The Steelers have won three straight years at Cincinnati, and always provide a stiff test for Joe Burrow and the Bengals.
The Monday Night Football contest is a rematch of a forgotten game from the 2024 season. Tampa Bay went into Detroit and beat the Lions 20-16 in Week 2. Detroit would go on to win a franchise-record 11 straight games right after that, but will be seeking to avenge one of their two regular season defeats from 2024.
14. Week 11
Notable Games: Buccaneers at Bills, Chiefs at Broncos, Lions at Eagles (SNF)
The highlight of Week 11 is Sunday Night Football. The Lions and Eagles have been the two best teams in the NFC over the last three years, and this matchup in Philadelphia could easily determine homefield advantage. The two didn’t meet at all in 2024, avoiding each other in the regular season and missing each other in the NFC Championship Game when the Commanders upset the Lions.
This will also be the first Chiefs-Broncos game of the season and serve as an important litmus test for Denver. The Broncos nearly won at Arrowhead Stadium last year before the Chiefs blocked a 35-yard field goal on the final play. Kansas City rested its starters in Week 18 at Denver, allowing Denver to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2015.
15. Week 5
Notable Games: Broncos at Eagles, Lions at Bengals, Commanders at Chargers
The first week of byes always feels like a letdown. There are still some compelling contests, but nothing that stands out as an obvious bonanza game. Broncos-Eagles is an interesting defensive matchup after Denver and Philly were the top two teams in PFSN’s Defense+ metric last season. However, a low-scoring grind might not catch the casual viewer’s eye.
Lions-Bengals and Commanders-Chargers should bring considerably more points. All four of those offenses could easily finish in the top 10 by the end of the season. This is also the continuation of a tough opening stretch for the Lions, as Detroit will go through a Bengals-Chiefs-Buccaneers stretch before the Week 8 bye.
16. Week 8
Notable Games: Bears at Ravens, Packers at Steelers (SNF), Commanders at Chiefs (MNF)
This is the first week with six byes, which always makes for a tough viewing experience. Bears-Ravens headlines a pretty thin Sunday schedule, with the rebuilt Chicago offense facing a difficult road test in Baltimore.
The week does end on a high note with the SNF and MNF games. Packers-Steelers could be Aaron Rodgers’ first career game against Green Bay, and also give him a chance to defeat all 32 teams. Commanders-Chiefs is a very fun measuring stick for Washington, with Jayden Daniels going into a difficult primetime environment against the most consistent team in the NFL.
17. Week 10
Notable Games: Bills at Dolphins, Lions at Commanders, Eagles at Packers (MNF)
The Chiefs, Bengals, and Cowboys are on bye this week, removing some of the marquee television teams and players. The focus will be on the NFC with a pair of playoff rematches between teams that are widely expected to contend again in 2025.
The Lions’ best regular season in franchise history came to a crashing halt against Washington. However, the Detroit defense should be far healthier than it was when the Commanders eviscerated it for 45 points. The Packers will also have an important test on Monday night vs. the Eagles. Green Bay went 0-6 against the Lions, Vikings, and Eagles last season, and this will serve as an important midseason test for the 2025 team.
18. Week 12
Notable Games: Bills at Texans (TNF), Eagles at Cowboys, Buccaneers at Rams (SNF)
Thanksgiving week may be a bonanza, but Week 12 is the quiet before the storm. Bills-Texans is a matchup of AFC division winners to begin the week, as well as a rematch of an entertaining Houston win from 2024. Buccaneers-Rams is also a quietly important Sunday night game between teams that are favored to repeat as division winners in the NFC.
The Sunday afternoon slate is not nearly as interesting, however. Eagles-Cowboys is always a big television draw, though it’s an open question how competitive Dallas can be against Philadelphia. Vikings-Packers is another potentially important division game, though Minnesota is an unknown with J.J. McCarthy taking over at QB.