Predicting Most Anticipated Games of 2025 NFL Schedule Ahead of Official Release

The NFL is set to release its full 2025 schedule at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday. While several marquee matchups have already been spoiled, a few highly anticipated matchups have yet to be announced.

For example, we know that the Philadelphia Eagles will kick off the 2025 season against the rival Dallas Cowboys and face the Chicago Bears on Black Friday. We don't yet know, however, when Philly's Super Bowl LIX rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs will take place.

Here, we'll preview a few highly-anticipated games and make a few scheduling predictions. First, though, let's dive into some highlights of what has been released so far.

Notable Known Games

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Eagles QB Jalen Hurts

Week 1

Season Opener on 9/4: Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles

Week 13

Black Friday Game on 11/28: Chicago Bears at Philadelphia Eagles

Week 16

Saturday 12/20: Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Commanders

Saturday 12/20: Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears

Week 17

Christmas Game on 12/25: Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs

Bears at Lions

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Bears QB Caleb Williams

In addition to hosting a Thanksgiving Game, the Detroit Lions are likely to have a schedule loaded with standalone contests. Detroit had the top record in the NFC last season and, as a former underdog, has become a team for which casual fans can root.

The Lions will also face several potential Super Bowl contenders in 2025, including the Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, Los Angeles Rams and Washington Commanders. The rival Chicago Bears don't quite fit in with the rest of that list, but the Bears-Lions matchup should be an intriguing one.

For starters, it was an embarrassing meltdown in Detroit on Thanksgiving last year that cost former Bears coach Matt Eberflus his job. Secondly, Chicago replaced Eberflus by hiring Ben Johnson away from the Lions.

Along with a vastly improved and retooled offensive line, Johnson is expected to help get more out of 2024 first overall pick and quarterback Caleb Williams. Their showdown with the Lions in Detroit should be one of the hottest tickets on the entire 2025 schedule.

The prediction here is that Bears-Lions will be set for a late-season Sunday night matchup. The league will want plenty of eyes on this one and won't be using Thanksgiving as a stage since Chicago will play on Black Friday instead.

A late-season game would seem to make the most sense, since it will give Johnson, Williams and the rest of the Bears new-look offense time to find a rhythm before battling one of the best teams in the NFC.

Baltimore Ravens vs. Cincinnati Bengals

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Bengals QB Joe Burrow

OK, we're cheating just a bit here because the Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals will face off twice in 2025, and we're predicting that at least one of those matchups will be in prime time.

And since no predictions piece would be complete without some bold guesswork, we'll predict that both matchups will end up in prime time—one on Sunday Night Football and one on Monday Night Football.

We'll guess that both games will be scheduled closer to the middle of the season than either the beginning or the end. Why? Because the league will want to ensure that both teams have shaken off any early-season rust and haven't suffered any late-season injuries when they face off.

Matchups between these two teams are always exciting since Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow are two of the top signal-callers in the NFL. Last year's two meetings featured 148 combined points and a pair of thrilling finishes.

The Ravens won both games, one in overtime and the other by a one-point margin of victory. Cincinnati, however, will look to bring a new-look defense into the rivalry this year, as it replaced defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo with Al Golden early in the offseason.

Philadelphia Eagles at Kansas City Chiefs

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Patrick Mahomes

Super Bowl rematches are always highly anticipated, and this year's Eagles-Chiefs rematch will be no different. The Chiefs and Eagles have actually met twice in the last three Super Bowls with each franchise claiming a victory.

While a regular-season matchup between these two teams won't serve as a Super Bowl tiebreaker, it should serve as a major ratings draw. In addition to having the top two teams from last season, the game will feature two of the league's most high-profile quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts.

Of course, Mahomes didn't exactly perform like an elite quarterback in the last meeting. Constantly harassed by a ferocious Eagles defense, he repeatedly made uncharacteristic mistakes en route to a 40-22 loss that wasn't as close as the score would indicate.

"I let y’all down today. I’ll always continue to work and try and learn and be better for it," Mahomes posted on X after the game

The prediction here is that the NFL schedules this one for an early season Monday night game. This is a matchup that should place a ton of attention on a night that is often overshadowed by the week's Sunday Night Football matchup.

By scheduling the rematch early in the season, the NFL should avoid having either team fall out of contention due to mounting injuries or the dreaded Super Bowl hangover, which would cause the matchup to lose plenty of luster—as was the case with last year's Week 16 NFC title game rematch between the Lions and floundering San Francisco 49ers.