No presents under the tree for the NFL schedule makers this year – not that it’s necessarily their fault the trio of 2025 Christmas Day games scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 25, lack significant juice.
Instead of trinkets in stockings, we’ll all have to settle for a healthy helping of Chris Oladokun – the Kansas City Chiefs’ starting quarterback in the nightcap against the Denver Broncos – with a side of egg nog (or coquito, if you really know what’s up).
Might as well be coal.
The NFL took the NBA’s lunch money by commandeering Christmas Day. “The Association” had dominated the sports programming on the holiday day until the league realized its position as a ratings juggernaut could drub any entity in its path. The NFL received $150 million from Netflix to stream the first two games of the day, before the third airs on the traditional Thursday night streamer of Prime Video. But the matchups look less appealing than the lumpy casserole the in-laws brought for dinner.
In May, when the NFL released its schedule, all three matchups imbued intrigue. But 16 weeks of ball and platitudes such as “best laid plans…” later, that’s simply not the case entering Week 17. Not even the NFL is immune to bad luck, apparently.
Oladokun isn’t the only third-stringer pressed into action on Christmas. In the first game (1 p.m. ET), the Dallas Cowboys – already eliminated from the playoffs – will face Josh Johnson and the Washington Commanders, with quarterbacks Jayden Daniels shut down for the season and Marcus Mariota unavailable. This Commanders team playing one last standalone game is a win for all NFL fans.
In the second game between the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, not much is at stake. The Lions can keep their slim postseason hopes alive with a win. Max Brosmer, an undrafted rookie who’s had mixed results through two extended appearances (including that disastrous 26-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in his first career start), gets another start at quarterback for the Vikings against a Lions’ defense that has regressed while constantly losing players to injuries.
The Broncos are in pursuit of the AFC’s No. 1 seed, and a victory would go a long way in that endeavor, along with putting them one step closer to winning the AFC West (they would need a Los Angeles Chargers’ loss on Dec. 27 to complete that task). That Denver defense against a third-string QB? With a fanbase that probably doesn’t take too kindly to the recent news of the stadium move from Missouri to Kansas?
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