Happy Holidays – the penultimate week of the 2025 NFL regular season is upon us. However you might not exactly enjoy what’s underneath the tree on Christmas – the Yuletide’s three streaming contests (Cowboys-Commanders, Lions-Vikings and Broncos-Chiefs) not exactly crackling with compelling subplots or playoff implications despite their intra-divisional pairings.
Saturday’s couplet is a bit more compelling, Texans-Chargers a rematch from last season’s playoffs and potentially a preview of what goes down next month. The Green Bay Packers host the Baltimore Ravens in the night game – both squads residing on the edge of wild-card contention, Baltimore requiring a win to simply survive mathematically into Sunday.
Sunday afternoon isn’t exactly loaded with must-see football, either, though several teams will be jockeying for seeding or trying to stay alive. Cleveland Browns DE Myles Garrett could set the single-season sack record against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who could clinch the AFC North crown … unless the Ravens do that for them by losing Saturday. Eagles-Bills and Bears-49ers look good on paper, the latter – which is the ‘Sunday Night Football’ offering – bound to have significant impact on who gets the NFC’s No. 1 seed, which comes with a first-round bye and home-field advantage.
Yet, believe it or not, the most important game of Week 17 might be the one in Sin City, where the Las Vegas Raiders will host the New York Giants – they share a league-worst 2-13 record – in the game that could determine who picks atop the 2026 draft.
The recently revitalized Atlanta Falcons host the LA Rams on Monday.
How does the docket unfold? USA TODAY Sports’ panel of NFL experts weighs in with their picks:
(Odds provided by BetMGM)
Week 17 picks, predictions, odds
- Cowboys at Commanders
- Lions at Vikings
- Broncos at Chiefs
- Texans at Chargers
- Ravens at Packers
- Seahawks at Panthers
- Jaguars at Colts
- Saints at Titans
- Cardinals at Bengals
- Steelers at Browns
- Patriots at Jets
- Buccaneers at Dolphins
- Giants at Raiders
- Eagles at Bills
- Bears at 49ers
- Rams at Falcons
NFL’s Christmas Day schedule lacks juice despite best-laid plans
