Week 15 NFL Schedule Is Loaded With Great Games, But Ends With Huge Letdown
ESPN had to be ecstatic when the NFL agreed to let it have a late-season Monday Night Football doubleheader. The only problem is that the network's two games in Week 15 are, for lack of a better word, terrible.
That wouldn't be so bad if the entire schedule were bad, but it isn't. In fact, the late-afternoon window is arguably loaded with TOO MANY great games. For those with four TVs in their living room (including yours truly), this isn't a problem.
For the people who love NFL Redzone, it is also not a big problem. For the rest, though, you're going to have to pick a game to focus on and that's tough.
But before we get there, let's start at the start.
Amazon gets a huge NFC West showdown on Thursday Night Football
Week 15 starts with a fantastic matchup between the Los Angeles Rams, who just beat the Buffalo Bills, and the desperate San Francisco 49ers coming off a blowout victory over the Chicago Bears.
Both teams are battling for both the NFC West title and Wild Card positioning. That makes for a great backdrop for a Thursday Night Football matchup, particularly in Week 15. The only downside is that both teams have to play this crucial game on a short week.
But for fans, it's an excellent way to kick off the week.
Week 15 NFL Sunday features several huge matchups with playoff implications
Unfortunately, the early-afternoon window on Sunday isn't great. The best game is probably the Miami Dolphins visiting the Houston Texans. Miami, obviously, has to win to keep itself in the AFC playoff hunt. Houston can clinch the AFC South with a win and a Colts loss.
Plus, the spread (Texans -2.5) indicates that Las Vegas sees this as a potentially close match.
None of the games in the early window feature two teams that both have winning records, but this is the closest one (the Dolphins are 6-7, Texans 8-5).
The Miami Dolphins are coming off an overtime win over the New York Jets and now have an even bigger matchup against the Houston Texans.
(Jasen Vinlove/Imagn Images)
One interesting note on the early games, though, is that the 12-1 Kansas City Chiefs are just 4.5-point favorites at the 3-10 Cleveland Browns. The guys in Vegas obviously think this game might be tighter than it appears on paper.
But there are some real stinkers in that window, too. Jets at Jaguars? Yuck. Cowboys at Panthers? Woof. Ravens as 14.5-point favorites at the Giants? Gross.
However, the schedule picks up once the second slate of games starts on Sunday afternoon or early evening, depending on your location.
Week 15's Sunday slate is headlined by a massive showdown between arguably the two best teams in the league.
The obvious crowning jewel of Week 15 is the Buffalo Bills visiting the Detroit Lions. There are some (including yours truly) who believe these are the two best teams in the NFL. Thus, this could be a Super Bowl preview.
I don't really need to spend much time hyping this game, it's incredible. Period. Moving on.
The problem is that so many eyes are going to be trained on the aforementioned matchup that there are some good games that are going to be put on the back burner.
There's a battle for Pennsylvania between the 10-3 Pittsburgh Steelers and 11-2 Philadelphia Eagles. In a normal week, this would be the best game on the slate. But, as I mentioned, Week 15 is LOADED with big NFL games.
The "Battle for Pennsylvania" between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles is one of the best matchups of Week 15 in the NFL.
(Charles LeClaire/Imagn Images)
Still, if you have a way to get at least two TVs going, I recommend doing anything you can do to make sure you have both games playing.
While those are the two best games of the week, there are a couple other intriguing matchups in the late-afternoon window. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers travel to Los Angeles to take on the Chargers in a matchup between two likely playoff teams who are both over .500.
Even the Colts-Broncos game might be worth checking out, if you have four TVs. The one game you could probably ignore is the fifth and final, late-afternoon matchup between the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots. Given the other options, this is an easy pass.
Sunday Night Football brings a good matchup to the table, but Monday Night Football is where Week 15 completely unravels
NBC, per usual, gets a good game on Sunday Night Football. While it can't quite match the star power of the Bills and Lions or the Steelers and Eagles, the Green Bay Packers visiting the Seattle Seahawks is another matchup between two potential playoff teams.
The Packers are almost certain to reach the postseason and the Seahawks currently lead the NFC West. Seattle needs the game a bit more than Green Bay, but the Packers have to try and keep pace in the incredibly tough NFC North.
RELATED: The NFC North Is Even More Dominant Than You Think, Best NFL Division Ever?
But ESPN has to be furious that every network has at least one huge game in Week 15. Amazon gets 49ers-Rams, CBS gets Bills-Lions, FOX gets Eagles-Steelers and NBC gets Packers-Seahawks.
ESPN gets … Bears-Vikings and Falcons-Raiders. Yuck.
ESPN NFL broadcasters Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are probably jealous that every other network has a marquee game in Week 15, and they are stuck with Vikings-Bears.
(Kirthmon F. Dozier/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Bears-Vikings at least brings a little bit of intrigue given the NFC North rivalry angle, but Minnesota is a touchdown favorite and really shouldn't struggle against Chicago. The Vikings might, though, and ESPN has to be hoping for that.
Because even if that game turns into a blowout, it's going to be hard to get fans to flip over to the Raiders-Falcons match, which is one of the worst games on the entire NFL Week 15 schedule.
Kirk Cousins is in the midst of the biggest slump of his career and the Raiders are going to start either Aidan O'Connell or Desmond Ridder. Ridder revenge game? If that's a selling point, the matchup is BAD.
So, the NFL has four marquee matchups in Week 15, and has a few other intriguing games as well, but ESPN got none of that action.
Oh well, couldn't happen to a "better" company.