Daily Norseman
NFC North, Primetime, Teams with Biggest SOS Changes
Beyond the Minnesota Vikings schedule for the upcoming season, which I discussed in this piece, there are several interesting tidbits about the NFL schedule and particularly how it relates to the NFC and the NFC North.
Let’s take a closer look.
The league makes some calculated decisions when it picks which teams play in primetime or stand-alone games. Those decisions largely come down to ratings, as each network that pays big bucks to air the games want a good return on investment and the league also wants to drive viewership and increase its already dominant share when it comes to sports broadcasting.
That translates into the league wanting to showcase the best teams, the best players, and/or the best matchups to drive viewership.
This season five of the six teams with the most standalone/primetime games are in the NFC. They include the Washington Commanders and Dallas Cowboys, who each have eight, followed by the Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, and Detroit Lions who each have seven. The Super Bowl champion Eagles have six, and no other NFC team has more than five. The only AFC team with seven or more standalone games is the Chiefs, with eight.
Looking at the teams with the most standalone games in the NFC, they’re the top three teams in the NFC North and NFC East last season. All were playoff teams last season except the Cowboys. The league may be betting on the Cowboys having a better season this year, which is possible given new coaching and the return of Dak Prescott, but clearly the league is deciding to feature games involving the best teams in the two best divisions in the league.
All of the teams with the most standalone games in the NFC also had top ten offenses last year in points scored, except the Cowboys who may be reasonably expected to improve with Dak Prescott back and the addition of George Pickens. And scoring drives ratings.
With top offenses also comes marquee players and there are plenty among these six teams.
Lastly, the six teams with the most standalone games in the NFC didn’t produce many blowouts when playing one another- the Cowboys being the only exception as they were blown out twice by the Lions and Eagles. And close games is another key factor in driving ratings. About half of these standalone games are these six teams playing each other.
But clearly the league believes that these six teams will be playoff competitive late into the season and produce some of the more entertaining and competitive games, otherwise they wouldn’t have given them as many standalone games.
Not only do the Vikings have a tougher schedule this year, so does every team in the NFC North. Each team in the NFC North has one of the top ten toughest schedules, ranging from the Lions with the 3rd toughest to the Vikings with the 5th...
