NFL schedule wish list: Eagles-Chiefs on Christmas among ideal NFL matchups

It’s a fun thought, but predicting the NFL schedule feels like so much wasted energy. Thirty-two teams playing 272 games across five days of the week over the course of five months? Who could possibly expect to nail more than a handful of pointless predictions?

So, while we wait for the unveiling of the 2025 schedule, which drops on Wednesday, May 14, let’s try a different approach. Rather than try to predict what I think the NFL will do, I’m instead going to argue for what I think they should do with some of their biggest matchups.

This is an especially fun year for marquee matchups. Two of the strongest divisions in the league, the AFC North and NFC North, square off against each other. The AFC West and NFC East also play each other, creating plenty of headline matchups. And if that wasn’t enough, the last three NFL MVPs — Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes — all play each other this fall.

It's a lot to choose from. Here’s what I’d like to see the league do with 12 of its tentpole games for the coming season.

There are a ton of good matchups on the Eagles’ schedule to choose from, but none better than this — the NFC Championship Game that could have been. Detroit and Philly were the class of the NFC last season, but they never actually met in the playoffs. What better way to celebrate the Eagles’ new championship banner than a matchup between two teams that once again figure to factor heavily into the race for home-field advantage?

I’ll be honest, I’m not always sold on the NFL’s philosophy that more is better, but I was a big fan of last season’s Friday night opener in Brazil. After a seven-month wait for the season to start, fill up opening weekend with as much football as possible.

The Chargers have been