Thursday Night Football Schedule 2025-26

Source - Getty Images / (Thursday Night Football Week 7) / Steelers vs Bengals

With the release of the 2025 NFL schedule on May 14, 2025, there is official confirmation of the games that will be played on Thursday Night Football (TNF). Furthermore, Amazon has once again bagged the rights to telecast Thursday games. They have released their own Thursday Night Football schedule, which will make it easy for fans to mark their calendars. NFL

Thursday Night Football TV Channel

Thursday Night Football games are being broadcast exclusively on Amazon Prime. In 2021, the NFL announced that it would be awarding the rights of TNF to Amazon streaming services beginning from the 2023 season. However, NFL Network and Fox ceded the final season of the existing contract to Amazon, resulting in its coverage launching in 2022.

As for the commentary team, Amazon appointed one of the leading names in sports broadcasting history for well over 50 years in Al Michaels. Michaels will be returning for his fourth season with Amazon in 2025 as the play-by-play commentator, and will most probably be joined by analyst Kirk Herbstreit and Kaylee Hartung on sideline reporting duties.

Thursday Night Football Kickoff Time

The Thursday Night Football kickoff time for most of the games is generally set to 8:15 p.m. ET (Eastern time). However, fans can also watch the pregame coverage of Thursday Night Football, with host Charissa Thompson alongside analysts such as Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tony Gonzalez, Andrew Whitworth, and Richard Sherman.

Thursday Night Football TV Schedule

The first game of the 2025 NFL season will take place between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday, September 04, 2025. However, it is essential to note that the NFL Kickoff game has been assigned to NBC (via Yahoo Sports), and Amazon will only start streaming games from week 2 onwards. As a result, the week 1 game between the Eagles and the Cowboys will not be found on Amazon’s TNF schedule launch.

The Thursday Night Football TV schedule for the 2025-26 NFL season is as follows:

Thursday Night Football Key Matchups

TNF is also a primetime slot, so most of the games played during that time would be between two divisional rivals. Some of the highly anticipated games in 2025 on TNF are as follows:

Week 2 - Washington Commanders at Green Bay Packers

Amazon’s coverage of the TNF will start with a huge NFC Conference matchup in week 2 as the Commanders, led by last year’s Offensive ROTY Jayden Daniels, make a trip to the Midwest to play the Green Bay Packers. Washington, who is coming off a franchise-defining season, will be eager to build on that, and their offseason moves like adding Laremy Tunsil, Deebo Samuel, and Javon Kinlaw reflect their plan to surround Daniels with the best of the team while he is still on a rookie contract.

On the other hand, Green Bay, which was one and done in last season’s playoffs, will be eager to stack as many wins as they can in the 2025 season due to the division they play in. The NFC North sent 3 teams to the playoffs last year, with all three of them winning 11 or more games. Due to playing in the toughest division of football, the Packers' best route to get into the postseason comes via the wildcard spot, and Matt LaFleur and his squad would be wary of not taking any conference games lightly.

Week 7 - Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals

The week 7 game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals is bound to be another good one, given the history between the two bitter divisional rivals. While it’s unclear as of May 2025 whether the Steelers would be opening their season with Mason Rudolph or get Aaron Rodgers in the building before the start of the season, Mike Tomlin alone warrants that no matter who is under center for Pittsburgh, there would be no easy way out for Cincinnati.

Joe Burrow, who had an MVP-worthy season last year, will be once again pulling the strings from under center for the Bengals. Cincinnati locked up two of Burrow’s favorite targets in Chase and Higgins, long-term in the offseason. While the team moved on from former defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, it remains to be seen whether new DC AI Golden can improve Cincinnati’s defense, which ranked in the bottom half in almost all of the defensive metrics, as per FOX Sports.

Week 8 - Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Chargers

This NFC-AFC conference matchup will present a reunion of two former Michigan alumni in Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh and Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy. While both of them helped the Wolverines win natty during their time together at Ann Arbor, this would be the first time younger Harbaugh and Minnesota’s franchise signal caller will be on opposite ends.

Although McCarthy is entering his second year in the pros, it would be his first taste of the NFL, due to his missing an entire rookie season because of a torn meniscus. Jim instantly changed the culture in LA with his arrival and led them to the postseason. On the flip side, Vikings are hoping that J.J. is the long-term answer under center after the franchise parted ways with Sam Darnold in the offseason, who led Minnesota to a 14-3 record in 2024.

Week 15 - Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Unless the Carolina Panthers make a big jump (which they can due to their great offseason) or rookie head coach Kellen Moore instantly turns around the whole Saints franchise with an inexperienced quarterback room, the Falcons and Buccaneers are still the class of the NFC South. This Thursday Night thriller will have the NFC South title on the line, as this would be the second matchup between two divisional rivals. It remains to be seen whether Atlanta will go ahead with second-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. or Kirk Cousins going into the 2025 season. On the other hand, Bucs QB Baker Mayfield will be entering his third straight season in the Sunshine State with a new offensive coordinator.