2025 NFL schedule: Winners, losers as Commanders earn limelight, Cowboys face harrowing late-season gauntlet

We largely already knew the "Who?" and the "Where?" when it came to the 2025 NFL regular season. However, the "When?" was the final question that needed answering to get a clear view of the upcoming campaign. We've since gotten that clarity as the NFL has rolled out the entire 2025 regular-season schedule, inching us a touch closer to football.

Of course, when these games occur is a monumental piece of the puzzle when trying to determine how a given team will fare. After all, if the tougher opponents are spread out to make them more palatable, the better chance the respective team has at pulling out wins. Conversely, if they're bunched together, it makes that road that much more daunting. Similarly, if teams have long road trips in front of them, that creates added adversity.

So, now that the full schedule is in front of us, we can better figure out which teams come away as winners and losers from this latest development. And we'll determine just that below.

The Washington Commanders are winners in more ways than one. Of course, they were one of the darling teams of 2024 thanks to the arrival of Jayden Daniels, who led them to an NFC Championship appearance as a rookie. And judging how the NFL is propping them up, they're not expected to slow down. In all, the Commanders have eight standalone games in 2025, which is tied for the most in the league with the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs. That's also the most standalone games in a season since 2000. To think just a couple of seasons ago Washington was at the bottom of the NFL barrel at 4-13 and is now one of the more in-demand teams is quite the rags-to-riches story.

Meanwhile, the Commanders also have a soft opening to begin the 2025 season. Over the first month of the year, they face just one team (Green Bay Packers in Week 2) that had a winning record last season. That sets the stage for Daniels and Co. to hit the ground running.

Loser: Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys have a new head coach in Brian Schottenheimer, and he'll need to help his club weather quite the storm late in the 2025 season. Dallas faces a harrowing gauntlet of the likes that no NFL team has seen before, and that's not hyperbole. From Week 12 to Week 17, the Cowboys will face the Eagles, Chiefs, Lions (road), Vikings, Chargers and Commanders (road). That's a run of six straight teams that won 11-plus games last season. Moreover, within that run are four straight games against opponents who won 14-plus games in 2024. Entering 2025, no team has ever faced this scenario before in league history. So, this puts quite the emphasis on Dallas to start strong out of the gate, because the road is only going to get more difficult as the season goes on.

Winner: San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers were hit hard by injuries in 2024, which helped derail their season. As they look to leave last season well behind them in the rearview mirror, their fortunes are looking up in 2025. Based on their opponents' combined over/under win total for the upcoming season, San Francisco has the fourth-easiest schedule in the NFL. The Niners also square off against just three teams that made the playoffs in 2024: Los Angeles Rams (twice), Houston Texans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Niners also have a well-situated bye week coming in Week 14. After that, three of their final four games on the season are at home, with their lone road game being in Indianapolis to face the Colts.

Loser: Philadelphia Eagles

The schedule-makers didn't do the defending champions any favors when it comes to their 2025 schedule as they look to repeat. At no point during next season do the Eagles play back-to-back home games. Even after Week 8, when they host the New York Giants and hit their Week 9 bye, they're off on the road to Green Bay in Week 10. This makes Philadelphia the first-ever defending Super Bowl champion to not play back-to-back home games in the following regular season, adding an unprecedented wrinkle to their title defense.

2025 NFL schedules by team: Full list of times, dates, TV, streaming for entire season for all 32 franchises Kyle Stackpole

Cincinnati's playoff surge to end last season came up just short, but they are well positioned to get back into the postseason in 2025. From a travel standpoint, the Bengals have it made. The franchise will travel the fewest miles of any NFL team next season at 8,753 miles. They are the only team in the NFL to travel under 10,000 miles in 2025. For what it's worth, the Washington Commanders had the fewest miles traveled last year, and they found themselves in the NFC Championship. With that in mind, is a Bengals run to the AFC Championship imminent?!

Loser: Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings have one of the most talented rosters in the NFL, but the big variable is going to be how 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy fares as he ascends to QB1. And the youngster will have to deal with some adversity pretty early in his tenure. This coming season, the Vikings will play back-to-back international games in two different countries. First, they'll be in Dublin, Ireland, for a matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 4. Then, they'll hop over to London to square off against the Cleveland Browns. This makes Minnesota the first team ever to play two international games in two different countries in consecutive weeks. While Minnesota could conceivably be favored in both of those contests, it's an added early season wrinkle for head coach Kevin O'Connell to navigate as he also tries to usher in his young signal-caller.

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