Carefully curated to generate maximum interest, promote promising talents and satisfy a growing number of media partners, the NFL's prime-time slate is one of the more important and illuminating aspects of the NFL schedule release every spring.
Vital questions are finally answered: Which team will get the most coverage? (Kansas City, duh.) Which quarterback does the league believe in? (C.J. Stroud.) How many Cowboys-Giants matchups will be foisted upon the national audience? (All of them.)
The NFL saves some of its best matchups for its national evening windows, and this year is no different.
Here are the unequivocal 10 best (pre-flex) prime-time matchups of the 2024 NFL season:
Honorable mentions: Bills at Dolphins (Week 2, Monday); Bills at Jets (Week 6, Monday); Bengals at Ravens (Week 10, Thursday); Lions at Texans (Week 10, Sunday); Dolphins at Packers (Week 13, Thanksgiving night); Steelers at Ravens (Week 16, Saturday).
Week 8: Sunday, Oct. 27 at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC
An annual ratings juggernaut, this matchup gets a perfunctory spot on the list. There's nothing more to learn about Dak Prescott, Kyle Shanahan, et al, after years of high-profile matchups. But every time these franchises face off, with above-.500 records, in those uniforms, under the lights, it's must-see entertainment -- if not for the football, then at least for the memes.
Week 1: Friday, Sept. 6 at 8:15 p.m. ET on Peacock (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
The first game of the 2024 season to be scheduled, this Eagles-Packers showdown between likely NFC powers and new-age signal-callers Jalen Hurts and Jordan Love is more than just a tantalizing matchup. It's historical, at least from a league perspective. It's scheduled on a Friday, a holy day for high school gridders around the nation; it's being broadcast exclusively on Peacock, streaming home of "Columbo" and "Poker Face," and most significantly, it's the first NFL game to be played in Brazil. The league's foray into South America is a big deal and will be treated with celebration and fanfare, but it's also a cultural experiment, making Philly-Green Bay must-see for football heads and anthropologists alike.
Week 7: Thursday, Oct. 17 at 8:15 p.m. ET on Prime Video
Sean Payton's return to the bayou elevates this otherwise average Thursday Night Football affair to an anticipated midweek offering. In his 15 seasons as New Orleans' head coach, Payton, along with Drew Brees, brought the city back from its lowest moment and turned the franchise into perennial contenders. Now Denver's head coach, Payton will be treated like a returning hero by a Saints fan base that is skeptical of his successor, Dennis Allen, whose team has missed the playoffs in each of his first two seasons at the helm. Payton has questions of his own to answer with his '24 Broncos, like whether he can work the same magic with Bo Nix, the sixth QB taken in this year's draft, as he did with Brees and return another organization back to the postseason after an extended absence.
Week 2: Sunday, Sept. 15 at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC
The second Sunday Night Football game of the season pits the reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year against the OROY favorite for 2024. In C.J. Stroud's home-opener, all eyes will be on Caleb Williams, who is expected to make his regular-season prime-time debut for Chicago. The No. 1 overall pick was named the Bears' starting QB before even taking a snap in OTAs. The QB comparison is just the start here. In the Bears, Houston may find a crazy mirror image of itself. Chicago hopes to replicate the Texans' entire 2023 blueprint, from drafting a signal-caller high to crashing the postseason. For the uninitiated national audience, there also figures to be a game of "old faces in new places" during this broadcast, with veterans Stefon Diggs, Keenan Allen, Joe Mixon and D'Andre Swift easing into their new unis.
Week 17: Monday, Dec. 30 at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC
The final game of 2024 is one we'll be waiting for all season. In San Francisco, Detroit will return to the scene of the crime -- i.e. that ball careening off Kindle Vildor's helmet into Brandon Aiyuk's hands, leading to a blown 17-point lead in the NFC title game. The only shame in this clash between two of the NFC's best rosters is that it comes so late in the 2024 season that it'll nearly be 2025 when it kicks off. Both teams run the risk -- albeit a slim one given their make-ups -- of being out of postseason contention by then and rendering this rematch half-staked. However, the NFL is clearly relying on the Lions and 49ers both being in the thick of it by Christmas. The best things come to those who wait. For Detroit, that may be revenge.
Week 1: Thursday, Sept. 5 at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC
The league office knows what it's doing. Pitting the reigning league MVP against the reigning Super Bowl MVP out of the gate in a rematch of a hotly contested AFC Championship Game? Take my eyeballs. But the most enticing element of Baltimore's trip to Arrowhead isn't a Lamar Jackson vs. Patrick Mahomes redux. There's the debut of Derrick Henry with the Ravens, Xavier Worthy's introduction into Andy Reid's aerial attack, and Travis Kelce's first game back since joining the Ryan Murphy television universe. Even without a luxury box cameo from Taylor Swift, it's ratings gold for a post-Olympics NBC.
Week 1: Sunday, Sept. 8 at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC
The final Week 1 prime-time game to be announced was worth the wait. Matthew Stafford vs. Jared Goff, Part II: Mo' Money, Mo' Problems in Motown? Fresh off a run to the NFC title game and a $212 million deal, Goff leads the Lions into Ford Field for a rematch with last year's wild-card opponent. Stafford performed valiantly in his long-awaited return to Detroit last postseason but came up short. His Rams motor back to the Motor City without franchise legend and Super Bowl hero Aaron Donald, who retired (for good?) this offseason. Detroit used Week 1 in 2023 to prove to the league that it was for real; this time around, the Lions are trying to prove that last season's run to the brink of the Super Bowl -- and through their former franchise QB -- wasn't a fluke.
Week 11: Monday, Nov. 18 at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN
These in-state rivals don't see each other very often. Since Houston's inception in 2002, it is 2-4 in six games against its storied rival to the north. While the Texans and Cowboys share Texas, they enter the 2024 season with different identities. The steady and solid Cowboys, in their fifth season under coach Mike McCarthy, say they're going "all in" despite making few major offseason moves; the Ezekiel Elliott reunion indicates they're rehashing more than reloading. Upstart Houston, meanwhile, is cashing in on hotshot sophomore QB C.J. Stroud and surrounding him with fresh talent (Stefon Diggs, Joe Mixon, Danielle Hunter) to build on the team's surprising 2023 run. By Week 10, we'll likely know whether either club's ethos (talking talk or walking walk) will have paid dividends. But more locally, this Monday night meeting will serve as bragging rights in the Lone Star State for years to come.
Week 1: Monday, Sept. 9 at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC
One year to the Monday when Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles, the scheduling gods at 345 Park are putting him and the Jets back under the Monday Night Football spotlight -- this time across the country and far away from MetLife Stadium. Rodgers will be comfortable in his Week 1 arena and with this opponent: He played college ball up the Bay at Cal and was memorably passed up in the 2005 draft by the 49ers, a team he faced 13 times with the Packers (6-3 in the regular season, 0-4 in the playoffs). The now-Jets QB may be uncomfortable, however, facing a fierce San Francisco pass rush in his first game behind an improved but still-gelling offensive line. In an odd twist of fate, Rodgers will also face down the player who hurried him last season into his torn Achilles: Leonard Floyd, who joined San Francisco from Buffalo this offseason. Rare is it that a reigning NFC champion is an after-thought in its prime-time home-opener, and yet ...
Week 12: Monday, Nov. 25 at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN
Three days before Thanksgiving, the Harbaughs are planning a tiny family get-together ... at SoFi Stadium in front of 70,000 spectators and millions of TV viewers. In the first Har-bowl since Super Bowl XLVII, brothers John and Jim will lead their respective teams against one another in a duel for Dad's love. John got the upper hand (and the Lombardi) the last time these two faced off, but Jim is the most recent champion, leading Michigan last season to its first national title in over a quarter-century. Over the years, there's been severe cross-pollination between the siblings. Current Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald jumped from John's defense to Jim's and then back to John's during a 12-month span in 2021. This offseason, Jim was hired by the Los Angeles Chargers alongside former Ravens exec and current Chargers GM Joe Hortiz, and the two then signed ex-Baltimore backs Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins. Throw in two of the most electric quarterbacks in the AFC in Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert, and you have the makings of a must-see midseason family affair.
