The NFL has finalized its Week 17 schedule.
As usual, the NFL will begin playing a number of Saturday games as the season winds down. Those Saturday windows will begin in Week 16 with a previously announced doubleheader on Fox that will compete head-to-head with the first round of the College Football Playoff. Now we know which teams will fill the Saturday slate for Week 17.
On Wednesday, the league announced the Houston Texans-Los Angeles Chargers game will fill the 4:30 p.m. ET window on Saturday, Dec. 27. That game will air exclusively on NFL Network. Later that night, the Baltimore Ravens-Green Bay Packers game will kickoff at 8 p.m. ET exclusively on Peacock.
Three other games were being considered for the two Saturday windows: Arizona Cardinals-Cincinnati Bengals, New York Giants-Las Vegas Raiders, and Seattle Seahawks-Carolina Panthers. The NFL, as one would expect, picked the two games that will have clear playoff implications to distribute to a national audience. The three remaining games will officially be slotted into Sunday windows.
The primetime matchup on Peacock marks the third regular-season NFL exclusive for the streamer. The first Peacock exclusive was also played late in the regular season, a Chargers-Bills game in December 2023. The streamer was granted the Week 1 Brazil game between the Eagles and Packers in 2024. That contest went to YouTube this season.
As the Peacock exclusive enters Year 3, there will likely be far less outrage than in previous seasons as fans become used to the new norm. However, the game is yet another reminder that the NFL has many mouths to feed when it comes to its schedule, which often comes at the expense of fans.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.