The NFL is a business, so it should come as no surprise that the league’s most popular — and successful — teams received the most prime-time games when the 2024 regular-season schedule was released on Wednesday night. One team, however, is feeling the sting of not getting assigned a single game on prime time.
The Jets, 49ers and Cowboys lead the way with six prime-time games apiece. Nearly half the league has either four or five games on prime time. Nine teams have either two or one prime-time game.
Number of prime-time games per team
| Team(s) | Number of prime-time games |
|---|---|
Jets, 49ers, Cowboys | 6 |
Chiefs, Bills, Packers, Lions, Bengals, Ravens, Eagles, Dolphins, Rams | 5 |
4 | |
3 | |
2 | |
1 | |
Carolina not getting any prime-time games isn’t too surprising given that it is coming off a 2-15 season. What is a little surprising is the Bears not getting more games on prime time considering they have already announced that No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams will be their starting quarterback.
While not a surprise, it’s still odd to see the Patriots near the bottom of the list for most prime-time games, given they spent nearly two full decades as the league’s most polarizing team. The Colts, who, like New England, enjoyed a long run of sustained success earlier this century, were also given just one prime-time game.
Per usual, the Cowboys were given a slew of prime-time games, further solidifying their status as arguably the league’s most popular franchise.
