On Wednesday May 15, at approximately 8:00 p.m. The National Football League released its long awaited 2024 regular season schedule which showcases which teams will play each other during the eighteen week schedule. The release of this schedule not only included all eighteen games but which teams will be playing on Monday Night Football which is broadcasted on ESPN, Sunday Night Football which is broadcasted on NBC, Thursday Night Football which used to be broadcasted on both NBC and Fox until 2017 and is now broadcasted on Amazon Prime. The international games which will take place in Brazil,the United Kingdom and Germany. Other games such as Thanksgiving day and Christmas Eve and Day were also announced with the schedule release. But with all of these games being released the question for all 32 National Football League teams is, who has the easiest schedule to the National Football League playoffs and who has the hardest schedule to make it to the playoffs.
While the release of the National Football League brings excitement for fans, but the question is when the schedule is released is what is the process for how the schedule is created? This process is easy to follow since there is an algorithm the National Football League uses to schedule regular season games which it is based on the division alignment combined with the final records for each team from the previous season, it is also based upon ranking for the divisions the previous season as well, so if your team finished in first place in their division the season prior such as the Bills,Chiefs,Ravens,Texans,Cowboys,49ers,Lions, and Buccaneers will all play teams who finished first last season this season. It also is based on which conferences have home games and which ones have away games that season since it alternates each year.
Now that we know the process for how the schedule is created and how each team plays one another, now it is time to determine which teams have the easiest schedule to make it to the National Football League Playoffs.
The team with the easiest schedule is the Atlanta Falcons. The reason behind this is because they were third in their division last season finishing with seven wins and ten losses. But in 2024 the Falcons have a hard first three games with playing the Pittsburgh Steelers,Philadelphia Eagles and Kansa City Chiefs which two of these games are at home which could be beneficial for the Falcons. But after week three, they could have an easier time with beating teams such as the Saints,Buccaneers,Panthers,Seahawks,Buccaneers again since they are in the same divsion, Cowboys, Saints again since they are in the same division which is the National Football Conference South division, and Broncos. The Falcons will not have a tough matchup again until playing the Chargers at home during Week 13 of the National Football League regular season, and then play easier teams to round out the rest of the season to possibly finish 13 wins and four losses which seems very optimistic for the Falcons due to them not being that good for the last few years and not going to the playoffs. Overall, based upon the team the Falcons have to play this season they do have a chance of making it to the playoffs due to having an easy schedule based on looking at it on paper, on the field that might be a different story only time will tell.
Secondly, the team with the second easiest schedule are the Chicago Bears who just drafted their quarterback of the future this past year in the National Football League draft with the first overall pick in Caleb Williams. The Bears schedule is considered to be the second easiest schedule based on the teams they have to play such as,the Bengals,Titans,Colts,Panthers,Jaguars,Commanders,Cardinals,Patriots,Vikings and Seahawks they will have a decent time playing these teams, but on the other hand they will struggle a bit due to having to play five teams that were in the playoffs which will be their toughest task as a team, but in all the Bears could have a promising season with the potential of going eight wins and six losses this season which would be a start for this team rebuilding.
Third and finally the Los Angeles Chargers have the third easiest schedule especially coming off with finally getting a new coach in Jim Harbaugh who is just coming off a National Championship in college football which is the reason he is with the Chargers, but they have a change of finally going to the playoffs again since based off their schedule for this year which they have many easy opponents to play against such as the Raiders twice, Broncos twice,Panthers,Browns and Bengals just to name a few. The only three games I could them losing are to the Chiefs twice and the Ravens since both these teams are fighting for a chance to go back to the playoffs again. Overall, the Chargers have a high chance of going to the -layoffs based of their schedule and the possibly going 14 wins and three losses.
Now moving onto the teams with the harder schedule and who have a harder chance of going to the playoffs. Starting off the Cleveland Browns have the hardest schedule due to the fact that they play the Ravens twice due to being in the same division as one another, the Chiefs at the end of the season, the Eagles in the middle of the season, the Chargers the week after they play the Ravens so no time to recover at all for the Browns in their season, which is why their schedule on paper looks hard due to the teams that they have to play down later in the season. Overall, becuase of this factor the Browns overall record wil most likely be eight wins and nine losses which will be hard for them to squeeze into the playoffs.
The second team with the hardest schedule is in the same division as the Browns which are the Ravens. The only reason the Ravens are the second team with the hardest schedule is due to having to play the Chiefs, Cowboys and Bills in the first three weeks of the regular season, other than that it won’t be challenging for them except for when they only have to play the Eagles in the middle of the season. Other than that the Ravens schedule isn’t as bad and they will ultimately go 11 wins and five losses this season, which could possibly with their case for a potential playoff spot.
Lastly, the the team with the third hardest schedule is the Pittsburgh Steelers. I guess the majority of the American Football Conference North division all have really hard schedules this year. The only reason the Steelers schedule looks so terrible is due to them playing the Eagles, Ravens and Chiefs in their last three of four games of the season but other than that their schedule isn’t too bad as long as their defense plus well, they could win some game that would shock many. As a result of this the Steelers will most likely go 11 wins and six losses this season and giving them a possible chance at a wildcard spot in the National Football League Playoffs.
Overall, this year many teams will have a chance to make it to the playoffs based on how easy or how hard their schedule is but currently that is only on paper and no one will truly know how it will go until the season starts in September but for now we can make guesses on who will make it based on statatics and how that team did overall, the year prior, but in all whatever team you root for hope they do well this year,stay healthy enough and make the sport of football interesting as it usually is.
Little Miss Football 