This might be the Sunday to drop that S-tier excuse and get out of any social obligations. Banish the errands and the housekeeping to another afternoon. The NFL has a fantastic Week 11 lineup on tap.
To borrow from another stacked “11,” we are assembling a crew. Here’s where the mambo jazz suite leads us through the Sunday schedule — kickoffs from Madrid to Los Angeles, action that covers some 14 hours of live television. There are eight games between division rivals. There are four games between current playoff teams. And as of Friday, every game has a one-score point spread.
With air thinning, tension building and postseason races funneling in, we decided to sort these offerings by home environments. A loud, dialed-in stadium can truly lift a telecast. Let us know what we’re sleeping on ahead of this weekend’s revelry.
All times ET, all odds via BetMGM.
Week 11 Sunday viewing guide
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GameTimeTVStreaming
Bengals at Steelers
1 p.m.
CBS
Buccaneers at Bills
1 p.m.
CBS
Seahawks at Rams
4:05 p.m.
Fox
Chiefs at Broncos
4:25 p.m.
CBS
Lions at Eagles
8:20 p.m.
NBC
In-market CBS and Fox games are free over the air. “Sunday Night Football” is free over the air on NBC and also streams on Peacock.
To show our work here, we’re grading these home atmospheres by three factors:
Stadium fullness — blotches of unfilled seats around a lower bowl will undercut the vibes.
Crowd hype — we want to hear crackling audio on each third-down stand, and unique chants that buzz through the broadcast.
Aesthetic value — colors and costumes that pop off the screen; venues that pack fans close to the field.
We now amble from the parking lot tailgates to the games below:
5. Cincinnati Bengals (3-6) at Pittsburgh Steelers (5-4)
Few crowd shots hit like those at a late-season Steelers home game. Terrible Towels thrash around in full-saturation yellow; cold air swirls and plumes off the surrounding three rivers. The Pittsburgh area forecast calls for a damp and blustery Sunday morning, which is the platonic ideal of Yinzer football. It helps that the Steelers start this matchup atop the AFC North, and that they host a historic antagonist. Well, it’s really two enemies in one: the Bengals and Joe Flacco.
Cincinnati’s 40-year-old quarterback is set to make his 200th regular-season start and 12th all-time start in Pittsburgh. An entire generation of ticket holders has booed this man. Familiarity breeds contempt, and Flacco coming off a career-high 470 passing yards breeds bewildered nervousness. He outdid fellow quadragenarian QB Aaron Rodgers in their Week 7 meeting, which the Bengals won 33-31. Part II should be popping.
4. Seattle Seahawks (7-2) at Los Angeles Rams (7-2)
SoFi Stadium is regularly swarmed by visiting fans, but that makes for a singular setup in this week’s rankings. Seahawks-Rams will look like a top-tier college bowl game — split supporters, patches of alternating colors, back-and-forth energy transference. There will be noise when both defenses are at work, which will make every possession feel critical. The paneled roof also bounces sound back onto the field. And this specific pairing, between the top teams in the NFC West, has everything we need for continuous crowd eruptions.
Through 10 weeks, Seattle’s Sam Darnold is the league leader in yards per dropback, while L.A.’s Matthew Stafford is No. 1 in yards per game. The Seahawks have the most 40+ yard passing plays (9), but the Rams have the longest passing play of the year (this Tutu Atwell game-winner). No one breaks high-safety coverages open quite like Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and no one matches Davante Adams in the end zone. The broadcast should also get a lot out of Cooper Kupp’s homecoming. It’s the former Super Bowl MVP’s first trip back to Inglewood since joining a division rival. So … “whose house?” Let’s find out together.
3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-3) at Buffalo Bills (6-3)
This is the final season at the Bills’ long-standing home base, so these last outings brim with a rare, urgent nostalgia. The current Orchard Park spot opened in 1973. It has generated a lifetime of raucous rituals. Some need fire extinguishers, and most need napkins. The CBS producers already know their assignment, ready as fans hurl themselves through folding tables in pregame merriment. The call-and-response chants led by franchise alumni set the tone from the TV, too. Buffalo broadcasts just feel louder and rowdier because of Highmark Stadium’s extra-short sideline walls.
Come Sunday, Bills Mafia is going to be all the way locked in. Their team trails the hated New England Patriots in the AFC East, a division that Buffalo has won five consecutive times. And Tampa Bay has been king of the comeback throughout 2025, with Baker Mayfield leading four game-winning drives so far. Mayfield’s surprise MVP push continues against defending MVP Josh Allen. What a draw.
2. Detroit Lions (6-3) at Philadelphia Eagles (7-2)
The Eagles are set to bring out their midnight green uniforms for a blockbuster “Sunday Night Football.” Philly’s sports culture is all but synonymous with intensity (or depravity, depending on the vantage point). No other fan base goes feral at the sight of a jumbo formation. It’s for good reason, of course — the tush-pushing Eagles come into Sunday’s game with the No. 1 red zone offense. Regulars at The Linc won’t dare to leave their seats, as this year’s home slate has already produced one all-time comeback (the blocked-kick fever dream from Week 3’s win over the Rams) and one all-time collapse (the Bo Nix magic trick in Week 5).
The visitors give that audience so much to hang onto. They’ll leave Jared Goff and friends on the field for fourth downs, then dial up trick plays without fear. Dan Campbell started calling the offense last week, and per TruMedia, that yielded Detroit’s best explosive play rate since Week 2, when it dropped 52 points on the Chicago Bears. These Lions have been eyeing the conference’s velvet rope for the past few seasons, and the reigning Super Bowl champs will let them hear it in prime time.
1. Kansas City Chiefs (5-4) at Denver Broncos (8-2)
Our clubhouse leader for a few reasons. It’s hard to not have an amped-up home field amid a seven-game winning streak. Standing in the way of No. 8 is Denver’s dynastic nemesis. K.C. has seized the last nine AFC West titles, and it lifted the Lombardi Trophy three times along that run. There’s a visual synchronicity between the late-afternoon Colorado sunsets and the wall-to-wall orange wrapping Mile High. There’s spiritual alignment with the Broncos’ top-ranked pass rush and the crowd’s bellowing “in-com-plete” refrain. And there’s end-of-the-movie tension whenever Patrick Mahomes is in the building.
At 8-2, Sean Payton’s team is chasing the AFC’s top seed. That’s invaluable, as the Broncos are unbeaten at home through five tries. We can already hear Jim Nantz and Tony Romo straining their voices in the echoing altitude.
Updated Week 11 odds
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