NFL Christmas football schedule 2025: Lions, Cowboys set to participate in holiday doubleheader

For the second time in as many years, the NFL will take center stage on Netflix during Christmas Day.

The Shield struck quite a deal with the streaming giants ahead of the 2024 season, with Bloomberg reporting that Netflix shelled out "less than $150 million per game" to carry doubleheaders on the holiday from 2024-2026.

So far, the agreement seems to have worked a treat. The league office celebrated major viewership numbers in 2024 — figures that were surely aided by Beyonce's presence on the final game of the night.

The matches — Chiefs vs. Steelers and Ravens vs. Texans — weren't all that enticing in the end. Kansas City and Baltimore made easy work of their respective opposition.

Still, anything under the NFL banner draws interest. With another two contests set to scrawl across the Christmas Day calendar in 2025, the league will put that phenomenon to the test once more.

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With that, here's what you need to know about the NFL's full Christmas Day schedule, including matchups, kickoff times and more.

Christmas football schedule 2025

As was the case last season, the Netflix will host the NFL's Christmas Day tripleheader.

The full schedule, including kickoff times and TV channels for the two games, will be updated once the matchups are revealed as part of the NFL's schedule release.

Cowboys vs. Commanders

NFC East foes clash when the yuletide rings this year, with the Cowboys traveling to FedEx Field to take on the Commanders. Dallas and Washington have celebrated the holiday season alongside one another more often than most, facing off 10 times on Thanksgiving Day. Christmas is a different story, however — this year's matchup represents the first Christmas Day clash in the side's glimmering history.

Vikings at Lions

Rounding off the NFL's Christmas Day doubleheader are a pair of NFC North sides: the Vikings and the Lions. Much like the Cowboys and Commanders, Minnesota and Detroit has a sordid — and fairly even — history with one another on Turkey Day, with the Vikings capturing victory on three of their five matches. They haven't yet met under the mistletoe, although both teams have taken part in Christmas Day duels in the past. Minnesota is 1-3 in such fixtures, while the Lions are 0-2.

NFL history of playing on Christmas

The NFL has a rich — albeit limited — history of playing games on Christmas. The league tended to avoid hosting games on the day during its adolescence. During the 1940s and 1950s, the NFL would complete its regular-season around early-to-mid December, with the championship match typically scheduled for two weeks after the regular-season finale.

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If the Sunday corresponding with that championship duel fell on Christmas, as was the case in 1955 and 1960, the league would move the joust to Monday, Dec. 26.

The AFL and NFL joined forces in 1970, spawning a new-age of sporting spectacle. During the 1971 playoffs, league officials permitted two games to played on Christmas — Cowboys vs. Vikings and Dolphins vs. Chiefs. The latter spanned 82 minutes and 40 seconds, longer than any other match in league history.

Since that 1971 doubleheader, 32 matches have been contested underneath mistletoe. Since 2020, the league has ramped up its Christmas Day presence, holding 11 games on the holiday.

With Netflix in the mix, that number is expected to grow in the years to come.

Which NFL teams have played the most Christmas games?

The Chiefs moved into a tie with the Cowboys for first place on the all-time Christmas Day list last year, with each side participating in five such matchups thus far.

Kansas City has achieved slightly more success than Dallas across those appearances, sporting a 3-2 record, one win more than America's Team. The Chiefs claimed a dominant 29-10 win over the playoff-bound Steelers in 2024.

Seven other teams have played on the holiday four times, including the Ravens, who pranced past the Texans last season, 31-2.

Here is a look at the teams with the most Christmas Day games played:

Which NFL teams have never played on Christmas?

Eight teams have not played on Christmas Day in the NFL's history. They are as follows:

• Atlanta Falcons
• Buffalo Bills
• Carolina Panthers
• Denver Broncos
• Jacksonville Jaguars
• New England Patriots
• Seattle Seahawks
• Washington Commanders