Craig Peters

EAGAN, Minn.The NFL's 2025 schedule release is set to be announced in full at 7 p.m. (CT) on Wednesday, May 14.

Under the current 17-game regular season, NFC teams play nine road games and eight home games in odd-numbered years.

That means the Vikings are scheduled to be the road team against the Bears, Lions, Packers, Cowboys, Giants, Seahawks, Steelers, Browns and Chargers.

Minnesota is scheduled to host the Bears, Lions, Packers, Eagles, Commanders, Falcons, Ravens and Bengals.

Strength of Schedule

Based on 2024 regular-season records, the Vikings are tied for the fifth-toughest schedule in 2025, facing opponents that accumulated a win percentage of .557.

That sounds daunting, but for a little solace, we'll mention the fact that it is tied with the Cowboys and Packers, and we'll also note that the Bears and Lions are tied for second-toughest (.571).

The only teams with tougher schedules based on this metric than the Vikings are the Giants (.574) and the Eagles (.561).

Why are things so tough for NFC North and NFC East teams?

As you'll notice, the eight "toughest" schedules in 2025 belong to NFC North and NFC East teams. This is because those divisions accounted for five of the seven teams that made the NFC Playoffs and every team that won 11 or more games in the conference in 2024, as well as the fact that this is a rotational year for each team in both divisions to go head-to-head.

There also can be merit in looking at how many times a team must face an opponent that appeared in the previous playoffs, so we've included that below for each team.

Philadelphia and Detroit lead the way with 11 games out of 17 against teams that participated in the playoffs last season. New Orleans and San Francisco face the fewest with just four such contests.

Is there any relationship between this metric of strength of schedule and making the playoffs?

So much can change (coaching staffs, free agent acquisitions, draft picks, to name a few) each year that every NFL season is its own entity, but teams facing the toughest schedules (by the upcoming opponents' win percentages the previous season) have missed the playoffs in six of the past eight seasons (2017 Broncos, 2018 Packers, 2019 Raiders, 2020 Patriots, 2022 Rams and 2024 Browns). The exceptions have been the 2021 Steelers, who made the postseason with a 9-7-1 record, and the 2023 Eagles, who opened 10-1 before a late-season swoon.

2025 NFL Strength of Schedule

Based on 2024 win percentage by 2025 opponents

1. Giants, .574 (166-123)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 10

T-2. Bears, .571 (165-124)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 10

T-2. Lions, .571 (165-124)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 11

4. Eagles, .561 (162-127)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 11

T-5. Cowboys, .557 (161-128)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 10

T-5. Packers, .557 (161-128)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 9

T-5. Vikings, .557 (161-128)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 9

8. Commanders, .550 (159-130)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 8

9. Ravens, .533 (154-135)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 9

10. Steelers, .526 (152-137)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 7

T-11. Chiefs, .522 (151-138)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 10

T-11, Chargers, .522 (151-138)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 7

13. Browns, .519 (150-139)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 8

14. Bengals, .509 (147-142)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 9

15. Broncos, .505 (146-143)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 8

16. Raiders, .502 (145-144)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 9

17. Rams, .491 (142-147)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 5

T-18. Buccaneers, .481 (139-150)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 5

T-18. Texans, .481 (139-150)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 7

20. Falcons, .478 (138-151)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 6

T-21. Dolphins, .474 (137-152)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 7

T-21. Seahawks, .474 (137-152)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 7

T-23. Bills, .467 (135-154)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 6

T-23. Jaguars, .467 (135-154)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 6

25. Colts, .464 (134-155)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 7

26. Jets, .460 (133-156)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 6

T-27. Cardinals, .457 (132-157)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 5

T-27. Panthers, .457 (132-157)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 5

29. Titans, .450 (130-159)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 6

30. Patriots, .429 (124-165)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 5

31. Saints, .419 (121-168)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 4

32. 49ers, .415 (120-169)

Games against 2024 playoff teams: 4

Another metric

Warren Sharp ofsharpfootballanalysis.comcalculates difficulty of schedules from the projected win totals by Vegas (the Vikings projected win total was 8.5, FYI).

Interestingly, that method also yielded the Giants facing the toughest schedule and the 49ers set to go against the lightest load.