A new NFL season is just a few months away, and after lots of anticipation and a very slow rollout, the NFL just announced the full 2025 schedule this week. Now, teams are studying that schedule and determining which games are going to the toughest. Of course, there are no easy games in the NFL. It’s a professional league. But, taking in the schedules, one can’t help but look over the schedule and figure out which games might be easier than others.
The Chicago Bears have one of the toughest schedules in the NFL this year, but it’s nothing they can’t handle, especially with new head coach Ben Johnson at their disposal. Now, NFL expert and analyst Ralph Vacchiano of Fox Sports is predicting the most important games of the season for each NFL team.
A Huge Game for the Chicago Bears
In a May 15 feature for Fox Sports, Vacchiano looks at the most important, and best, game for every NFL team in 2025. In the piece, he notes that, “everyone in the NFL says it at some point during the season: This is the game we circled on our calendar.”
He continues, “Players and coaches say it every year. Sometimes they say it several times. Usually it’s about rivalry games. Sometimes it’s a playoff rematch. Often times, it has something to do with revenge.” His tally includes games that are a “big test, a huge rivalry or an opportunity for revenge that should be juicy enough for everyone in the organization to get excited about.”
For the Chicago Bears, his pick totally makes sense: the Bears at the Detroit Lions in Week 2 on Sunday, September 14.
“Dan Campbell might deserve most of the credit for the rebirth of the Lions, but his offensive coordinator Ben Johnson sure got a lot of the hype,” he states in the story. “Now, after spending a few years riding the biggest wave of the NFL’s offseason hiring cycle before he finally landed in Chicago, this will be his first chance to coach against the team he left.”
He adds, “And while there’s no apparent bad blood with his old employer, he’ll surely relish showing Detroit what it lost.”
NFL Schedule Rundown News
On May 9, the NFL released the predicted “strength of schedule” for all 32 NFL teams, and the Bears are tied with the Lions for the No. 2 toughest schedule in the league, only behind the New York Giants. The team with the toughest schedule, yes, was the Giants, while the team with the easier schedule was the San Francisco 49ers.
The NFL season will begin with the NFL Kickoff Game on Thursday, September 4, featuring the Philadelphia Eagles against the Dallas Cowboys.
The NFL also released its official 2025 holiday schedule of games on May 15, and the league will host three Christmas Day games. It’s only the third time in NFL history that Christmas Day will be home to a regular-season tripleheader. The teams playing on Christmas Day include the Commanders vs. Cowboys at 1 p.m. Eastern time, the Vikings vs. Lions at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time and the Chiefs vs. Broncos at 8:20 p.m. Eastern time.
