NFL regular season
POS AFC East AFC North AFC South AFC West
1st Patriots Ravens Texans Chiefs
2nd Bills Steelers Titans Broncos
3rd Jets Browns Colts Raiders
4th Dolphins Bengals Jaguars Chargers
POS NFC East NFC North NFC South NFC West
1st Eagles Packers Saints 49ers
2nd Cowboys Vikings Falcons Seahawks
3rd Giants Bears Buccaneers Rams
4th Redskins Lions Panthers Cardinals
The National Football League (NFL) regular season begins on the weekend following the first Monday of September (i.e, the weekend following the Labor Day holiday) and ends in December or early January. It consists of 256 games, where each team (32 total) plays 16 games during a 17-week period. Since 2012, the NFL schedule generally has games in one of five time slots during the week. The first game of the week is played on Thursday night, kicking off at 8:20 PM (ET). The majority of games are played on Sunday, most kicking off at 1:00 PM (ET), some late afternoon games starting at 4:05 or 4:25 PM (ET). Additionally, one Sunday night game is played every week at 8:20 PM (ET). One Monday night game then starts at 8:15 PM (ET) every week with the exception of the first week of the regular season, in which two Monday night games are played back-to-back (the second game always occurring on the West coast), as well as the last week of the season, in which no Monday night game is held. In addition to these regularly scheduled games, there are occasionally games at other times, such as a Saturday afternoon or evening, or the annual Thanksgiving Day games in which three games are played. Under a permanent agreement, the Detroit Lions play the early game, followed by Dallas in the afternoon. The evening game does not have a set team. During the final week of the regular season, all games are held on Sunday, and since 2010, divisional matchups. In place since 2006, the current broadcasting contract establishes broadcast partners for each game.