With NFL schedule release on the horizon, pundits looked at the top games heading into 2025
Omar Navarro
We're a day away from theChargers 2025 schedulebeing unveiled.
With the NFL's schedule release set for Wednesday, there will be no shortage of big-time games throughout the 18 weeks.
And the Bolts have a couple that will surely grab headlines by the time the regular season rolls around.
Fox Sports' Greg Auman examined and ranked the10 biggest gamesof the 2025 season, with the Bolts making an appearance at No. 9.
It was none other than their playoff rematch from a season ago against the Texans, only this time it will be hosted in Los Angeles.
Auman wrote:
Will C.J. Stroud or Justin Herbert be good enough to repeat that team success? The Chargers and Texans didn't have splash additions in free agency or the draft, so they're not necessarily seen as top-10 NFL teams right now, but either could be dangerous as culture gets cemented in Jim Harbaugh's second year in Los Angeles and DeMeco Ryans' third in Houston.
Sporting News Vinnie IyerandPro Football Sports Networks Sterling Xiealso had the game against Houston in their rankings at No. 13 and No. 14 respectively.
Xie also had another Chargers matchup right behind, however, ranking their trip to Miami as the 15th-best game on the schedule.
Of course, that matchup includes two of the top quarterbacks from the 2020 draft class in Chargers' Justin Herbert and Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa, who will play in Miami for the first time since 2020 and a battle between two AFC playoff hopefuls that could have stakes.
Xie wrote:
Picked back-to-back in the 2020 NFL Draft, Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert will always be compared and linked. This would be the fourth career head-to-head matchup, with the Dolphins winning two of the first three and every game being decided by one score The Dolphins and Chargers figure to occupy the same Wild-Card-contention neighborhood this season, so this should also have significant playoff implications.
And finally, the Bolts also made Iyer's rankings at No. 22 for their home game against the Minnesota Vikings.
The battle between Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh, Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter and the rest of the Michigan connections against their former college quarterback J.J. McCarthy is one to watch for and one of the best storyline games.
Iyer wrote:
The Vikings are headed toward starting J.J. McCarthy at QB after his rookie season was wiped out by a knee injury. Minnesota has plenty of notable games, including the six inside the NFC North, but this has some extra punch with McCarthy facing off vs. his former Michigan coach and also facing Jesse Minter's Michigan-adjacent defense.
