Bleeding Green Nation
The schedule is loaded with outstanding match-ups, but here are my five favorites.
When you’re the defending Super Bowl champions, which the Eagles are, having defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl XIL...
... it’s only fair that the degree of difficulty for them gets amped up.
The 2025 season will provide quite the challenge for the Birds as they defend their Lombardi Trophy, with NFL.com stating their schedule this season ranks 5th-hardest.
Like the Lions, the Eagles have 11 games against 2024 playoff teams. Counting the season opener against the Cowboys, Philly also has at least five prime-time games, and potentially seven, depending on whether late-season games get flexed to night. It’ll be nice having a mini-bye to prepare for the Chiefs in Week 2 following the Week 1 Kickoff Game on Thursday, but facing the Rams (Week 3), Bucs (Week 4) and Broncos (Week 5) makes for a thorny opening five games.
The Eagles only have one true West Coast trip, at the Chargers for Monday Night Football in Week 14. But they’ll have two short weeks in December, hosting the Raiders the next Sunday, followed by a Week 16 Saturday game at Washington. The Eagles then close the season with Week 17 at Buffalo and the finale at home against the Commanders. That’s a pretty challenging month.
For only the second time in NFL history, a team will play all four of their playoff opponents from the previous season. The Birds get the Packers, Rams, Commanders and Chiefs, and all four of them will be seeking revenge. They will play at least five prime time games in 2025, with a sixth potentially added if their game against the Commanders in Week 16 gets flexed. And while last year’s road games were all stacked in the beginning of the season, the Eagles will not play back-to-back games at home the entire season.
In other words, the Eagles will be involved in a marquee match-up virtually every week. There are few, if any, (hi Giants!!!) duds.
So, here are the five match-ups I’m most interested in watching in 2025, ranked from No. 1 to No. 5.
It’s the NFC Championship Game we all thought we were going to see, only played in Philly and not at Detroit’s Ford Field. Thankfully, the Lions’ defense was in tatters by the time they took the field against Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders in the NFC Divisional Round last winter, which allowed the Eagles to earn another home NFC title game against a lesser opponent.
This is the game the NFL should have scheduled for their Opening Kickoff in Week 1, but there is logic to having it in Week 11. Both teams will be smack dab in the middle of their seasons, both will have worked out any early season kinks, and while there may be injuries with which...
