2025 NFL strength of schedule for all 32 teams: Giants and Bears facing rough slates, 49ers have it easiest

With the release of the NFL schedule coming on Wednesday, we’ve decided to get ready for that by breaking down every team’s strength of schedule for the 2025 season, and um, Giants fans, you might want to stop reading right now. 

Giants coach Brian Daboll is on the hot seat in New York and if he’s going to save his job, it’s not going to be easy, and that’s because the Giants will be facing the NFL’s most difficult strength of schedule in 2025. 

After going 3-14 last season, the Giants might have a tough time topping that record this year thanks to a brutal strength of schedule: Their .574 mark is the highest in the NFL. 

The Giants home schedule is especially brutal with six of their eight games coming against teams that made the playoffs last season (Eagles, Commanders, Packers, Vikings, Chiefs and Chargers). Not to mention, they also have home games against the 49ers and Cowboys, who both made the playoffs just two years ago. 

The second-most difficult schedule actually belongs to two teams: The Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears are tied at .571. Out of those two, the Lions arguably have the more brutal schedule because they’ll be playing 12 games against teams that finished with a winning record in 2024, which is the most in the NFL. They also have 11 games against teams that made the playoffs last year, which is tied with the Eagles for the most.  

Speaking of the Eagles, they have a brutal road schedule. Philadelphia will play six road games against teams outside the NFC East and all six of those games will come against teams that made the playoffs last year. The brutal slate includes road games against the Chiefs, Bills, Packers, Vikings, Chargers and Buccaneers. 

The Eagles have the fourth toughest strength of schedule overall at .561. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the San Francisco 49ers have the easiest strength of schedule at .415, making them one of just two teams — along with the New Orleans Saints — that has an SOS below .425. The 49ers were coming off a Super Bowl season heading into 2024, but they were ravaged by injuries last season, which led to a 6-11 record. The upside of that is that the 49ers will get to play last-place schedule, which could make them dangerous this year if they can stay healthy. The 49ers will only play four games against teams that made the playoffs last season (Texans, Buccaneers, Rams x 2), which is tied with the Saints for the fewest in the NFL. 

In six of the past eight years, at least one team playing one of the two easiest schedules has made the playoffs, that should end up being good news for either the Saints or 49ers. 

The addition of the 17th game has added some spice to the strength of schedule measurement, and that’s because it means that good teams are now playing more difficult schedules. From 2002 to 2020, the schedule was inherently the same for everyone, whether they were playing a “first-place” schedule or a “last-place” schedule. Each team played four games against a team that finished in first place, four games against teams that finished in second, four games against teams that finished in third and four games against teams that finished in last place. 

With the addition of the 17th game, a first-place team will now play FIVE first-place teams, which means you’re rarely going to see a division winner with an easy schedule. 

Of the eight teams playing a “first-place” schedule in 2025, the Buffalo Bills have it the easiest, which is notable, because first-place teams have done well in that situation since the NFL switched to a 17-game schedule in 2021. In the four years since then, the team with the easiest “first-place” schedule has finished with a winning record in each season. The Bills had the “easiest” first-place schedule in 2021 and they finished with a record of 11-6 record. The Cowboys had the “easiest” first-place schedule in 2022 and they were able to turn that into an 12-5 record. The Jacksonville Jaguars had the “easiest” first-place schedule in 2023 and they finished 9-8. Last season, the “easiest” first place schedule went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who rode that to a 9-8 record and an NFC South title. 

If you’re scoring at home, that’s an average of 10.25 wins per season for the team with the “easiest” first-place schedule. 

As for teams who are playing a “last-place” schedule this year, the 49ers scored the biggest win as they have the easiest schedule among last-place teams (and easiest schedule in the NFL). On the other hand, you have a team like the Giants, who are also playing a last-place schedule, but they have the most difficult schedule in the NFL (The biggest difference between the Giants and 49ers is that New York has to play 10 teams that made the playoffs in 2024 while the 49ers only play four). 

If you’re looking for a surprise playoff contender, one team to watch in 2025 could be the New England Patriots, who have the easiest strength of schedule in the AFC. The team with the easiest schedule in the AFC has finished with a winning record in SEVEN straight seasons and if the Patriots want to make it eight in a row, they’ll have to improve from 4-13 to to at least 9-8 in Mike Vrabel’s first year as New England’s head coach (There have been years like 2022 where two teams — Jaguars and Colts — tied for easiest strength of schedule in the AFC, but one of them did finish with a winning record to keep the streak going). 

Over the past two years, the AFC team with the easiest strength of schedule has improved their record by at least six games. After going 3-13-1 in 2022, the Texans had the easiest strength of schedule of any AFC team in 2023 and they ended up being a surprise playoff team at 10-7 during DeMeco Ryans first season as Houston’s head coach. Last year, it was the Chargers. After going 5-12 in 2023, they had the AFC’s easiest strength of schedule in 2024 and they took advantage of that by going 11-6 and making the playoffs in Jim Harbaugh’s first season on the job. Vrabel will now look to do what Ryans and Harbaugh did by taking advantage of the an easier strength of schedule. 

The one thing about strength of schedule is that there’s no perfect way to measure schedule difficulty before the season kicks off. Thanks to injuries and trades, rosters are changing all the time and they will continue to change throughout the season. That being said, strength of schedule does give you a good idea of what your favorite team will be facing in the upcoming season. 

Here are the 2025 strength of schedule rankings for each team (combined 2024 record of all 17 opponents, combined winning percentage). 

If you’re curious about the scheduling formula, every team plays 17 games as follows:

• Home and away against its three division opponents (six games).
• The four teams from another division within its conference on a rotating three-year cycle (four games).
• The four teams from a division in the other conference on a rotating four-year cycle (four games).
• Two intra-conference games based on the prior year’s standings (two games). These games match a first-place team against the first-place teams in the two same-conference divisions that the team is not scheduled to play that season. The second-place, third-place and fourth-place teams in a conference are matched in the same way each year.
• One interconference game based on the prior year’s standings on a rotating four-year cycle (one game). These games match a first-place team from one division against a first-place team in an opposite conference division that the team is not scheduled to play that season. The second-place, third-place and fourth-place teams in each division are matched in the same way each year. The home conference for this game will rotate each season.

Finally, here’s a link to a list of every home and away opponent that each team will play in 2025. The time and dates of each game will be released on May 14.