A huge part of a team’s success during the NFL regular season is how their schedule lined up. It’s not fair, but it is what it is. We’ve seen some of the best teams in the league get screwed over by their schedule and limp into the playoffs, while others have gotten the perfect bye week and found a way into a Wild Card spot when they really didn’t have the talent to justify it.
With NFL schedules just having been released there are three very obvious teams who were totally screwed over this year — and a handful of ones that lucked out with how their schedule broke.
SCREWED: New York Giants
The Giants are really trying to get 2025 off on the right foot and the NFL schedule makers gave them absolutely no favors. The first six weeks to the season are more brutal than anyone else in the league, and it’s bad enough that the schedule could legitimately sink the Giants’ season before it ever begins.
- Week 1: Commanders
- Week 2: Cowboys
- Week 3: Chiefs
- Week 4: Chargers
- Week 5: Saints
- Week 6: Eagles
The only obvious winnable game of the lot is against New Orleans. Dallas is a push, but possible. There is a very real chance that New York could be 1-5 by the end of Week 6 and it might be enough to see heads roll.
NOT SCREWED: Minnesota Vikings
I know it’s tempting to look at those back-to-back games in Ireland and London and think that’s a terrible thing, but honestly this schedule is FANTASTIC for the Vikings. The team gets a beneficial bye week in Week 6 after the travel, and while that might be a touch early — it’s important to remember that those two games in Europe are both defacto away games.
That means the Vikings only really have seven away games this season, and their out-of-division away games are against the Chargers, Seahawks, Cowboys and Giants. It could be infinitely worse and gives Minnesota pretty soft lineup this year when it comes to being comfortable.
SCREWED: Detroit Lions
Sorry, but forcing a team to play on both Thanksgiving AND Christmas Day is just cruel. The Lions are also being subjected to back-to-back games on Thursday Night Football in Weeks 13 and 14.
There’s just no flow to this schedule that has Detroit jumping back-and-forth between home and away games, playing a bizarre schedule, and on holidays too. Heavy wears the crown, and the NFL is really making the Lions feel it.
NOT SCREWED: Philadelphia Eagles
Not really sure how the Super Bowl champs pulled this one off. Philadelphia is one of the few teams not to have multiple divisional games to kick off the season. They face Dallas in the season opener, then don’t need to worry about the NFC East until Week 6 against the Giants.
This will allow the Eagles to get into the groove of the season without too much to worry about when it comes to shock games. Outside of that Philadelphia doesn’t need to worry about a ton of long travel, they get their toughest opponents at home, and seem set up perfectly to be able to make another playoff run.
SCREWED: Kansas City Chiefs
I hate this schedule for the Chiefs. It’s another case of a good team being given a rough run, but their leadup to the bye week in 2025 is just brutal. KC gets a favorable Week 10 bye, but these are the teams they have to face to get to the rest week.
- Eagles
- Ravens
- Lions
- Commanders
- Bills
That is a brutal slate close together to open the season. Factor in that the Chiefs have to open the season in Brazil in a divisional game, then also play on Christmas Day and it’s just a rough slate to deal with.
