What Is the NFL Schedule?

Wondering what the NFL schedule is for the upcoming season? Here’s a look at the complete schedule, broken down by week.

Introduction

The National Football League (NFL) schedule is a set of activities, dates, and times that are designed to help promote and improve the sport of professional football in the United States. The NFL schedule includes a preseason, regular season, and postseason.

The NFL preseason is a time when teams play exhibition games against each other to help prepare for the regular season. These games do not count towards the standings, but they give players and coaches a chance to experiment with different strategies and lineups. The NFL regular season is when teams earn their place in the standings and compete for the playoffs. Each team plays 16 games during the regular season, which typically runs from September to December.

The NFL postseason is when the best teams in the league compete for the championship title. The playoffs are a single-elimination tournament that culminates with the Super Bowl, which is typically held in February.

What is the NFL Schedule?

The NFL schedule is a listing of all National Football League (NFL) games for the current NFL season. The schedule is typically released in April, after the previous NFL season has ended.

How the NFL Schedule Is Made

The NFL schedule is made through a complex process that involves both human and computer input. The main goal of the schedule makers is to create a balanced schedule that is fair to all teams and promotes competitive games.

The process begins with the NFL’s 32 teams each submit their preferred list of opponents for the upcoming season. These lists are then input into a computer program that produces thousands of potential schedules. The computer program takes into account many factors, including each team’s preferred opponents, recent records, divisional rivalries, and previous meeting times.

From there, a small group of people (including the NFL Commissioner) meets to review the potential schedules and select the one they believe is the most balanced and fair. This schedule is then released to the public before the start of the season.

How the NFL Schedule Affects Teams

The NFL schedule is one of the most important factors in determining a team’s success. A team’s record is affected not only by its own performance, but also by the quality of its opponents.

In general, the NFL schedule is designed to ensure that each team plays every other team in its own division twice, once at home and once on the road. This gives each team a competitive advantage against some opponents and a disadvantage against others.

In addition, each team also plays two teams from each of the other three divisions in its own conference. This ensures that each team plays every other team in its conference at least once during the season.

Finally, each team also plays four teams from another conference. This brings the total number of regular season games to 16. The NFL schedule is designed so that each team has an equal chance of winning its division and making the playoffs.

Conclusion

The NFL schedule is a list of all the National Football League games that are to be played in a given season. It is released before the start of the season, typically in late April or early May, and lists each team’s opponents, as well as their home and away games.