We now know the full schedule for the 2025 NFL season, and the Thanksgiving slate is one of the standout features..

With the introduction of the Black Friday games on Amazon Prime, we are now treated to one of the best weeks of the NFL season. Not only do we get three games on the Thursday of Thanksgiving in addition to the usual Sunday fixtures, but we also now get an extra game on Black Friday.

With children not attending schools on the day of Thanksgiving and the day after along with British and European fans getting to watch the games after finishing work, this is the perfect weekend for NFL fans. There are halftime shows, food to enjoy with the family and this year’s Thanksgiving offers one of the best editions of the holiday’s annual tradition in a long time.

For a long time, the Lions went into Thanksgiving games as underdogs, after years and years of struggles. They are now seen as one of the best teams in the NFL and they face their NFC North rivals, Green Bay Packers in Week 13’s Thanksgiving games.

This division rivalry was also one of the three Thanksgiving games in 2023, when the Lions lost in surprising fashion. They will hope to avoid this again in 2025, aiming for back-to-back wins on this day for the first time since 2016.

Not only does this matchup open up the Thanksgiving football bonanza with a historic NFC North rivalry, but it also offers fans the chance to see two teams who made the playoffs last season with a combined 26 wins between them in 2024.

Dan Campbell’s side have grown to become a lot of NFL fans’ second teams and they have been fun to watch, with Jahmyr Gibbs and Amon-Ra St. Brown the standout players to look out for on the Lions offense. The Packers have a young and hungry team who will want to make a statement on national television and show they can compete with the big boys.

With a head coach in Matt LaFleur, who has proved to be one of the best in the league over the past four seasons, this should be a fascinating battle of the minds between two excellent coaches. These are two teams that will be well involved in the playoff mix, unless either of them are the annual team to fall victim to the injury bug, which should cook up a brilliant game for NFL fans.

By far the worst game out of the three on paper, this game still offers plenty of NFL storylines that will make it worth your time to watch.

Firstly, with the amount of media attention both teams offer, this could go down as one of the most watched regular season games in NFL history, and certainly one of the most viewed Thanksgiving games of all-time.

The Dallas Cowboys have a new head coach in Brian Schottenheimer and by the time this game comes in Week 13, we will know exactly how he has gotten on in the role. This is a team that struggled in 2024 under Mike McCarthy but with a fresh voice and a new wide receiver in George Pickens alongside one of the top offensive line products in Tyler Booker, this team could go under the radar and surprise a few people. This would make the game a lot more of an even prospect, but they will have a big test against a Kansas City Chiefs team that will want to give tight end Travis Kelce one more ring.

Kansas City had their struggles in 2024, one of only four teams not to score more than 30 points in any regular season game. They were found out against a strong Philadelphia Eagles defense in Super Bowl LIX. Against Micah Parsons, this could offer a potential threat to the battle between the trenches and the protection of quarterback Patrick Mahomes. We will know by this point what sort of Chiefs team we will get, and even if they have a slow start, they have shown their capabilities to get stronger as the season goes on. Week 13 would offer the Chiefs a chance to get their annual momentum down the stretch that throws everyone off underway.

Two AFC North rivals face off in the final game of the Thanksgiving triple header as the Cincinnati Bengals travel to face the Baltimore Ravens. If this game is like either of the matchups between the two teams in 2024, then we are going to be set for another thrilling end-to-end affair.

When you have two quarterbacks in Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson, and weapons such as the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase and the Ravens’ Derrick Henry, it is always going to be an exciting game that will not be shy of an array of points.

Both defenses left a lot to be desired in 2024, the Ravens 31st against the pass defense and the Bengals 25th in points allowed and yards allowed.

Should the same defensive performances creep into their 2025 season, then we could see another high scoring clash. We saw Lamar Jackson throw one of the best passes of the season in their first 2024 meeting, which saw Bengals kicker Evan McPherson miss a game-winning field goal and Derrick Henry run down Cincinnati’s throats in overtime and help the Ravens secure the win.

However, the Bengals go hot down the stretch, with five straight wins to the end of the season. They were one game away from the playoffs in the 2024 campaign and would have been the team everyone wants to avoid had they snuck in past the Denver Broncos. They only lost by a by a combined total of four across the two meetings between both franchises last season have the offense that can give as good as they get. No matter how much their defense could struggle in this game, the offense has proved a lot over the years that no lead is safe against Zac Taylor’s men. This should make quite the viewing in a game that will look to grab the attention of the flagging television viewer after two full games prior.

Andy Davies

2025 offers an exciting Thanksgiving slate

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