We have reached the moment in the NFL calendar where the chill in the air hits you square. The autumn wind that reminds one of those old-school NFL Films, narrated by the legendary John Facenda. (“Dick Butkus is a middle linebacker. Trained for nothing else but these coming moments of body contact. … Tackling is his means of self-expression. Violence is his lifestyle.”)

The league, as always, continues to be watched by droves of football-hungry Americans. NFL games had averaged 17.7 million viewers through Week 11. That’s up six percent over 2024 and 2023 — and the highest average through Week 11 since 2015. Of the top 65 shows on linear television since the start of the 2025 season, the NFL is responsible for 60 of those broadcasts. Sunday once again proved to be impossible to ignore, with a mountain of one-score games. 

The Athletic’s NFL writers frequently highlight must-watch games in various pieces and newsletters, but I wanted to give you insight from a broadcast perspective on which games should push the NFL conversation throughout the rest of the season, ranked in order of potential impact in terms of eyeballs on the product.

Week 17: Eagles at Bills
(Fox, 4:25 p.m. ET)
The Chiefs-Cowboys game below will have a higher viewership number because of the Thanksgiving date, but Eagles-Bills on Dec. 28 is shaping up to be the game of the year in the back half of the season. It has everything a sports television programmer and neutral fan craves — stars everywhere and two of the most popular teams in the league.

Fox has the late-afternoon window to itself, which means 100 percent of the country will have access to this game. The last time these two teams played — a thrilling 37-34 Philadelphia overtime victory in Nov. 2023 — they averaged 30.9 million viewers on CBS in 2023. This game will top that.

Week 13: Chiefs at Cowboys
(CBS, 4:30 p.m. ET)
As I wrote earlier in the year, the NFL made a strategic decision to schedule the Chiefs versus the Cowboys in Dallas on Thanksgiving Day. The rationale, based on talking to numerous people at different networks, was that the NFL believed the game could set a record for the most-viewed NFL regular-season game in history. (The current record was set on Thanksgiving Day in 2022 when 42.1 million viewers watched the Cowboys beat the New York Giants on Fox.)

Before the season, it was not inconceivable to think this game could come close to 50 million viewers, but the Cowboys need to win the next couple of weeks for this game to draw the kind of casual viewers that set records. Still, this will be the most-watched game of the NFL regular season.

Week 13: Packers at Lions
(Fox, 1 p.m. ET)
The opener of the Thanksgiving Day games has a slightly later kickoff time, which gives the NFL more runway to add viewers. Last year’s early game on CBS between the Bears and Lions averaged 37.5 million viewers, the most-watched early Thanksgiving Day game on record. With this being a massive game in the tight NFC North, I expect the viewership number to top last year’s.

Week 17: Ravens at Packers
(TBD, Flex game)
This game is going to end up in a primetime spot — and fetch a massive viewership number. It would be a huge win for NBC to flex out Bears-Niners for this, if it lands on Sunday evening.

Week 12: Eagles at Cowboys
(Fox, 4:25 p.m. ET)
The NFL’s schedule-makers really went big on the Eagles in November, including primetime games, and this one in the premium late-afternoon window. We already know the Eagles are a likely postseason team, and this will be a must-win game for Dallas. Falcons at Saints (Fox) is the only other game in the 4:25 p.m. ET window.

Week 17: Broncos at Chiefs
(Prime Video, 8:15 p.m. ET)
When this season’s schedule was released, it was easy to predict that Cowboys-Commanders at 1:00 p.m. ET on Netflix would easily be the Christmas viewership winner. Now, it looks like Prime Video wins the day, given what could be at stake in Kansas City that night.

Week 14: Eagles at Chargers
(ABC and ESPN, 8:15 p.m. ET)
This is the biggest “Monday Night Football” game left on the schedule, and could have significant playoff implications in both conferences. Monday Night Football has averaged 15.2 million viewers over 13 games as of this writing — ESPN’s second highest through Week 9 since it took over the MNF package in 2006. This game should cross the 20 million viewership mark if it’s close late.

Week 15: Bills at Patriots
(CBS, 1 p.m. ET)
The NFL’s schedule-makers had no idea this early-afternoon game in Week 15 would draw national interest, but MVP candidate Drake Maye and the roaring Patriots changed that. The AFC East title will likely be determined here. The caveat for viewership is that there are three other CBS games in the early window, including an enticing Chargers-Chiefs matchup. CBS will tell you what it thinks is the bigger game when its announcer schedule gets revealed. I’ll predict that Jim Nantz, Tony Romo and Tracy Wolfson will be in Foxborough.

Week 13: Bills at Steelers
(CBS, 4:25 p.m. ET)
This will broadcast to a ton of the country with only two other games starting late (Vikings-Seahawks on Fox and Raiders-Chargers on CBS). Peak viewership should be crazy high if it’s close in the final quarter. The potential for great imagery is high, given the time of year in Pittsburgh. The Sunday after Thanksgiving is always a massive television day. The Steelers are now 6-4, which is good news for the league given the late-season schedule.

Week 14: Steelers at Ravens
(CBS, 1 p.m. ET)
The Ravens’ early-season struggles set up a massive early window game for CBS on a doubleheader week where Fox’s late game (Bengals at Bills, 4:25 p.m. ET) is no longer as enticing for neutrals given Cincinnati’s struggles.

Week 15: Lions at Rams
(Fox, 4:25 p.m. ET)
This looks to be a superb game, but it has significant competition in the window with the Packers-Broncos and Colts-Seahawks on CBS. National viewership will be splintered.

Week 16: Patriots at Ravens
(CBS, 1 p.m. ET)
If you subscribe to the Ravens getting on a late-season roll — and I do — this game in Baltimore has national implications for the postseason. CBS has three other games in the early window, so the viewership number will include all of those games.

Week 14: Cowboys at Lions
(Prime Video, 8:15 p.m. ET)
Amazon Prime’s most-watched regular-season game came last year when 17.29 million viewers watched Detroit’s comeback victory over the Green Bay Packers. Even with the Cowboys struggling, this should top that number.

Week 16: Rams at Seahawks
(Prime Video, 8:15 p.m. ET)
The Amazon group gets a great Week 16 matchup with an NFC West game that will have all sorts of playoff implications. Lumen Field is going to be loud, which sets up some great atmospherics for a studio show that travels on the road weekly.

Week 12: Colts at Chiefs
(CBS, 1 p.m. ET)
Who could have predicted outside of the most diehard Daniel Jones fan that this would be a must-watch at the beginning of the year? The game is in an early window with six other games (which will decrease its viewership number), but it’s now a monster game with playoff implications, and viewers will seek it out.

Week 13: Bears at Eagles
(Prime Video, 3 p.m. ET)
Black Friday is a significant date for Amazon Prime Video given the shopping connection, and this one is interesting because it will serve as a lead-in to Bucks at Knicks at 7:30 p.m. ET and  Mavericks at Lakers at 10:00 p.m. ET. Amazon is looking to keep you on Prime Video for nine hours on Nov. 28. A 3:00 p.m. ET start reduces viewership, but plenty of fans will check it out.

Week 17: Bears at 49ers
(NBC, Peacock, 8:20 p.m. ET)
If both teams remain in the hunt for the postseason this year, this Week 17 game has massive NFC implications.

Week 17: Lions at Vikings
(Netflix, 4:30 p.m. ET)
The J.J. McCarthy-led Vikings beat the Lions earlier this year on the road, so if 4-6 Minnesota can go on any kind of late-season run, this Christmas Day game in a perfect television window becomes very interesting.

Week 14: Bengals at Bills
(Fox, 1 p.m. ET)
When I spoke last month to Mike Mulvihill, the head of insights and analytics for Fox Sports and the person who runs point for his network on the NFL schedule, he specifically pointed to this game as an example of Fox asking the NFL for more AFC inventory.

“We talked a lot with the league about the idea that ‘cross-flex,’ which is the policy by which NFC games can go to CBS and AFC games can go to Fox, needed to be a little bit more balanced,” Mulvihill said.

A contending Bengals team would have made this game a 30 million viewership game, but as of writing, Cincinnati is 3-7. It’s listed here because I expect Joe Burrow to play.

Week 18: Lions at Bears
(TBD)
This game will get either a primetime spot or be in a 4:25 p.m. window without a lot of competition. The Chargers at Broncos and Ravens at Steelers also set up for national window spots.

Week 17: Cowboys at Commanders
(Netflix, 1 p.m. ET)
We concede this could be a brutal watch unless the Cowboys go on a winning streak. Last year’s Ravens-Houston Texans game on Christmas averaged 24.3 million viewers while the Chiefs-Pittsburgh Steelers game drew 24.1 million viewers. (Netflix said those numbers increased to 30 million and 31.3 million when the global audience was added.)

Had the Commanders been what was expected, this game would have topped it. Still, it’s on this list because it’s guaranteed to get into the 20-million range. Merry Christmas.