The NFL is giving us coal for Christmas

The NFL’s Christmas slate looked promising on paper when the schedule was released in May, but the reality is much worse. Three games, one surefire playoff team, four eliminated teams, and one team on the brink of elimination.

The Cowboys and Commanders are both mathematically eliminated, while the Lions are hanging by a thread versus the eliminated Vikings. I suppose the only good news is the stakes have increased with Detroit, who would be mathematically eliminated with another loss to the Vikings.

Last year, Netflix struck gold with the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens vs. Houston Texans. While the actual games were blowouts, all four teams made the playoffs, so there was something at stake in both matchups. None of the teams they’re showing this year is currently in a playoff spot.

Prime Video’s regular season finale of Thursday Night Football is the Denver Broncos against the Kansas City Chiefs, which was really enticing about a month ago. While Denver is still playing for the AFC West and No. 1 seed, the Chiefs are 6-9 and down Patrick Mahomes and backup Gardner Minshew, both of whom tore their ACLs in consecutive weeks.

With J.J. McCarthy suffering a hand injury in the Vikings’ win over the New York Giants, as well as Marcus Mariota getting hurt in the loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, there’s a possibility that all three home teams will be starting third-string quarterbacks. Is America hyped for Josh Johnson, Max Brosmer, and Chris Oladokun on Christmas? I didn’t think so.

Once upon a time, the NFL didn’t always schedule Christmas games, and when they did it was usually on a traditional Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. From 2012-2015 the calendar was empty. Likewise for 2018 and 2019, when Christmas respectively fell on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The 2025 slate marks the third time in four years that there’s been a Christmas tripleheader, and the second season in a row everything is on a subscription streaming service. Commissioner Roger Goodell made it clear that the NFL on Christmas is here to stay, regardless of whether it’s a Sunday or a Tuesday.

“We will clearly have three games [on Christmas] every year,” Goodell said back in April.

You win some, you lose some. That’s the risk the NFL creates with the drastic increase of standalone national broadcast windows.

And yet, despite the lackluster matchups and the Netflix and Prime Video paywalls, all three games will still likely be far and away the highest rated and most watched programming of the day, no matter how superior the NBA’s Christmas schedule is.