Caleb Harris
2024 NFL Schedule is officially here, with the league announcing all 272 regular season games on Wednesday. There are plenty of premium matchups to be found, from the Week 1 opener between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens, to the Christmas Day doubleheader pitting the defending champions against the revamped Pittsburgh Steelers. In short, good games await you.
With that in mind, it’s not too early to crown some winners from the 2024 schedule release. But when there are winners, of course, there are also losers. So here are our initial assessments:
You could easily put them in the “Losers” category if they’re worried about Aaron Rodgers sticking around after a lost 2023 season. But six primetime games in the first 11 weeks? Talk about getting a real spotlight! If Gang Green truly lives up to their potential, they will justify the must-see TV approach by NFL.
Getting the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day with four days off is a sack of coal in and of itself, but also consider that it will come between a stretch with back-to-back road games against the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles. And then there’s the Week 18 finale against Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. Good luck!
The pressure is on the No. 1 overall pick to deliver immediate results as the next face of the Chicago Bears franchise, but the early-season roster should help him as much as the Bears’ upgraded supporting cast. Chicago’s first 10 games are some of the easiest in the entire NFL in terms of schedule, with matchups against rebuilding teams like the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers.
Loser: Baltimore Ravens
The Steelers may have a tough road ahead (see above), but they can at least rest a little easier knowing their AFC North rivals also have a tough road back to a potential conference title game. Lamar Jackson and company are tied with the Bengals, Chiefs, Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys in just the first five weeks, and their bye doesn’t come until Week 14 in mid-December.
Not only will Jordan Love and Co. avoid playing even a single team that is coming off its bye week, but the Packers will also avoid a typical road contest by playing at a neutral site to open the year, with the matchup Friday at night on September 6th with the Eagles in Brazil. The strength of the schedule has already positioned Green Bay well, but a return to the playoffs seems even more viable now.
Loser: weekday breaks
This isn’t a problem for the entire timeline, but it’s hard to overstate how intrusive the NFL Schedule it became. We all love football, without a doubt. But the Chiefs are an excellent example: they will end up playing almost every day of the week thanks to Christmas Wednesday games this year, also taking up matches on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Sometimes less is actually more!
Winner: Philadelphia Eagles
A year after facing a challenge from title contenders, the Eagles will finish with four of their last five games at home, and even the away matchups in those cases won’t require a big road trip. There are still tough spots on the schedule, including a breakout season with the Bengals, Cowboys, Rams and Ravens in a month-long span, but closing out with an NFC East-heavy roadmap should work in their favor.
Maybe the NFL really wants Trevor Lawrence and company to prove they’re for real. Because the sequence of four opening games is difficult: at the Miami Dolphins, against the Cleveland Browns, at the Bills, at the Houston Texans. It’s not unreasonable to think Jacksonville could start 1-3, putting the club in early position in the AFC South division, which now considers the Texans a potential title contender.
Winner: NFL fans
Football is back, baby. Get these calendars. Mark these dates. It will be here before you know it.
Loser: Consistent Streams
If there’s one thing a lot of people are already complaining about, it’s the sheer volume of exclusive carriers this year NFL Games, from traditional networks to streaming giants. Christmas Games on Netflix? International games on Peacock? Don’t forget to check it out our watch guide for all the details.
