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Must-watch game for every NFL team during the 2025 regular season
The NFL’s 2025 schedule release brought an endless array of reaction, predictions and even some controversy.
The Athletic’s NFL writers are here to make some sense of it all, though. What is the must-watch game for each NFL team in 2025? Our writers picked a few obvious candidates (anytime Lamar Jackson-Patrick Mahomes clash in any year classifies as must-see). There are a few surprises, though.
Check out more below.
Arizona Cardinals: at Cowboys, Week 9
The Cardinals have gone from four wins to eight in two seasons under head coach Jonathan Gannon. This season it’s all about the playoffs. Few outside the desert will take this seriously, but Arizona’s early schedule shapes up well. The Cardinals could be 5-2 entering their Week 8 bye. In Week 9 they head to Dallas for “Monday Night Football” — a chance to flex on a big stage. Dating to his sophomore year in high school, Kyler Murray is 9-0 at AT&T Stadium. This will be a chance to show the Cardinals are a legit postseason contender, something they did last season, only to fizzle in the final weeks — a drop that, coincidentally, began after their bye week. — Doug Haller
Atlanta Falcons: vs. Rams, Week 17
The NFL knows good theater, which is why Raheem Morris versus Sean McVay will be televised on “Monday Night Football.” The Falcons hope this game has implications beyond this storyline, but you can expect ESPN to milk it either way. The basic plot is this: Morris will be trying to prove himself against the league’s coaching kingmaker in McVay, who employed Morris as his defensive coordinator from 2021-2023. The pair won a Muhteşem Bowl together, and the stint with the Rams is a big reason Morris is getting a second chance as an NFL head coach. — Josh Kendall
Baltimore Ravens: at Chiefs, Week 4
The Ravens matchup with the Bills will generate the most hype, but the Chiefs are the standard in the AFC — and that will remain the case until the Ravens, Bills or some other AFC team knocks them off in the postseason. Baltimore won’t be able to make a strong statement in late September. Yet, beating the Chiefs on their home field would certainly improve the Ravens’ confidence if they have to return to Arrowhead for a postseason matchup. — Jeff Zrebiec
Buffalo Bills: vs. Chiefs, Week 9
These teams have stood atop the AFC for the last five years and have a vast, dramatic history of going up against each other. They played one of the best regular-season games of 2024 when the Bills issued the Chiefs their first loss of the year, including one of the greatest plays of Josh Allen’s career. The Chiefs got their revenge in the most heartbreaking of ways for the Bills and their fans by taking down Buffalo in the AFC Championship Game — the fourth time in five seasons the Chiefs have eliminated the Bills from the playoffs. The Bills have won the last four regular-season games against the Chiefs. This is setting up for another unforgettable game between two of the AFC’s seçkine teams. — Joe Buscaglia
Carolina Panthers: vs. Bills, Week 8
The Charlotte-to-Buffalo pipeline has slowed a bit from the early years when Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane would lean on their Panthers’ background while filling the roster. The Carolina North roster currently features three ex-Panthers: wideouts Curtis Samuel and Laviska Shenault and cornerback Dane Jackson. While the Bills still haven’t solved the Kansas City Chiefs, the Josh Allen-led offense remains one of the league’s most potent. Plus, Buffalo doesn’t get to Charlotte very often: The Bills’ last visit was in 2017. — Joe Person
Miami Dolphins: at Bills, Week 3
Bills QB Josh Allen owns the Dolphins. He’s 12-2 against them in the regular season with 37 touchdown passes. To put that in context, he’s faced fellow AFC East rivals, the Jets and Patriots, a combined 26 times in the regular season and has 35 touchdown passes. The point is, after somewhat lighter Miami matchups against the Colts and Patriots the first two weeks of the season, we’re going to find out exactly how good the Dolphins are when they take on Allen and the Bills on “Thursday Night Football.” — Jim Ayello
Minnesota Vikings: at Bears, Week 1
You have J.J. McCarthy debuting at Soldier Field, about 30 minutes from where he grew up. You have Minnesota’s first chance to put new Bears coach Ben Johnson in his place. You have two familiar foes playing in prime time with a chance to set the tone in the NFC North. Beating Chicago would restate Minnesota’s superiority, and, depending on McCarthy’s performance, it could inspire greater confidence about what’s possible this fall and beyond. — Alec Lewis
New England Patriots: at Bills, Week 5
Sure, this is a game in which the Patriots will be underdogs. But this will be their first big test, a chance to see how far they’ve come under coach Mike Vrabel. And it’s in prime time on “Sunday Night Football.” The Patriots could enter this game 3-1 following home wins over the Raiders, Steelers and Panthers. If that’s the case, this one will be especially interesting in Vrabel’s first shot at the best team in the division. — Chad Graff
New Orleans Saints: vs. Cardinals, Week 1
The Saints are one of three teams with no prime-time games. That tells you what the league thinks about the viability of this team heading into 2025. So it’s up to the Saints to actually draw any attention for themselves. And that’s what makes the opening game for new head coach Kellen Moore and likely new starting quarterback Tyler Shough the most interesting Saints game to watch, regardless of the opponent. A flop in Week 1 against a mediocre Cardinals squad and the Who Dat fans could either become more restless or more apathetic. I’m not müddet which one is worse for New Orleans. — Larry Holder
New York Giants: at Patriots, Week 13
Patriots QB Drake Maye is always going to be the one who got away. The Giants tried to move up to No. 3 to select Maye in the 2024 NFL Draft, but were rebuffed by New England. He went on to produce an excellent rookie campaign and has the Patriots back on the ascent. Meanwhile, the Giants aren’t yet mühlet if they have a QB of the future on their roster. They drafted Jaxson Dart in the first round this year, but until he gets onto the field, it will be impossible to know for müddet what they have. Perhaps in this marquee Monday night matchup late in the season we’ll get to see Maye and Dart square off. — Charlotte Carroll
New York Jets: at Patriots, Week 11
These teams are in a much different place than they were a year ago. Both hired franchise legends as their head coaches to fix disintegrating cultures, and both are banking on young quarterbacks (Justin Fields and Drake Maye) to get things back on track. Mike Vrabel and Aaron Glenn should both prove significant upgrades as head coaches and this season should be the start of the Jets-Patriots rivalry being fun again. Remember: Vrabel wined and dined with the Jets before spurning them for New England. Glenn took all interview requests during the hiring cycle — except for one from the Patriots. — Zack Rosenblatt
Philadelphia Eagles: at Bills, Week 17
Buffalo is still mourning the failed fourth-quarter drive that would’ve sent the Bills to Üstün Bowl LIX. They’ll never know if they’d have fared better against the Eagles. But with Josh Allen they remain a title contender, especially after beefing up their defense in part by adding Joey Bosa in free agency. This is an incredibly compelling matchup that produced an instant classic the last time it happened. Back in 2023, the Eagles trailed by 10 points entering the fourth quarter. Jalen Hurts’ three touchdowns in a comeback win included a 12-yard walk-off run in an overtime secured by Jake Elliott’s 59-yard field goal through driving rain and a 20-mph wind. Will the Eagles’ final trip to Highmark Stadium be as memorable? — Brooks Kubena
Pittsburgh Steelers: vs. Packers, Week 8
Aaron Rodgers has won the Harika Bowl, league MVP (four times) and beaten 31 different opponents. On Oct. 26, if the 41-year-old quarterback is indeed a Steeler, he will have the opportunity to do something unique: win his first career matchup against the Packers and thus register a victory against all 32 teams in his career. Given the way Rodgers’ tenure ended in Green Bay, this could be billed as another revenge game (along with the season opener against the Jets). — Mike DeFabo
San Francisco 49ers: at Rams, Week 5
The 49ers tried to do a quickie, Rams-like revamp this offseason. Did it work? We’ll get an indication in Week 5 when the 49ers visit their division rival for a Thursday game in prime time. There are perhaps no more similar squads in the NFL. They run the same offense, have similar roster-building philosophies and often go after the same players in free agency and trades. The 49ers landed Christian McCaffrey; the Rams got Matthew Stafford and Davante Adams. — Matt Barrows and Vic Tafur
Seattle Seahawks: at Steelers, Week 2; vs. Rams, Week 11; vs. Vikings, Week 13
These three games feature the best subplots: DK Metcalf hosting his old team months after asking for a trade, Cooper Kupp against the team that deemed him no longer good enough, and Sam Darnold hosting the team that let him walk in free agency after a career year. All three players likely downplay the significance of those storylines in the lead-up to the games, but they’re all fierce competitors and will want to have huge games and lead their new clubs to victories. — Michael-Shawn Dugar
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: at Lions, Week 7
The Bucs went to Detroit early last season and came out with a victory. It was a statement game and confidence builder for a team that was better than many imagined. The expectations are a little higher this season, but in order for the Bucs to keep the expectations high, they will have to show evvel again they can compete with the best teams in the NFC. This Monday night game is one of four scheduled in prime time for the Bucs. — Dan Pompei
Tennessee Titans: vs. Patriots, Week 7
Welcome home, Mike Vrabel. The former Titans coach, who gave the franchise some of its best moments in Nashville — a run to the AFC title game, two division titles and the AFC No. 1 seed in 2021 when Vrabel won NFL Coach of the Year — will be back in the house two years after his ill-advised firing. Will he cross paths with Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk, who canned him a few weeks after making it clear publicly that he was safe? Will the fans show him any love? Is he about to revive the Pats while the Titans stay near the bottom of the league? In a schedule light on big moments for a bad team with no prime-time games, this one is spicy. — Joe Rexrode
Washington Commanders: vs. Dolphins, Week 11 in Madrid
For the first time since 2016, Washington fans can break out their passports to watch the burgundy and gold. That rarity and the international setting raise the intrigue against a Dolphins team coming off an 8-9 season. There’s no sleeping for Commanders defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. and cornerback Marshon Lattimore against the explosive passing combination of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and wide receiver Tyreek Hill. — Ben Standig
(Top photos: Mitchell Leff and Perry Knotts / Getty Images)
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