Buffalo Bills 2025 schedule: Battle for AFC supremacy goes through Chiefs, Ravens yet again

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 NFL schedule release

The NFL officially unveiled the 2025 regular season schedule, and with it, the now longstanding national attention placed on the Bills is back once again. The schedule-makers put the Bills in the limelight repeatedly, giving them five total primetime games and another four marquee games slated for a 4:25pm start on Sunday, with most of the nation’s focus solely on that matchup in the late afternoon window.

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Underscoring the entire schedule is that the 2025 campaign will be the last in their longtime home of Highmark Stadium, where they began playing in 1973. As their new stadium across the street is scheduled to be ready for the 2026 season, the Bills have one final chance to chase Super Bowl glory in their farewell season to their 53-year home.

The Bills will play nine games at home in Orchard Park, three of which are primetime outings, all occurring in the first five weeks. Here’s what else stands out about their 2025 schedule.

Week 1 keys to victory vs. the Ravens

During their AFC Divisional round win over the Ravens, the Bills used a varying defensive approach to limit what quarterback Lamar Jackson could do in that matchup, but that was with a lot of experience across their defense on their side. The Ravens also decked the Bills’ defense during the regular season. The Bills will need some of their new look defense to coalesce in just the first game of the season against a really difficult first opponent led by Jackson and running back Derrick Henry. On offense, the Bills will go up against one of the best on-paper defenses in the league for the 2025 season. Still, with the potentially season-ending injury to starting safety Ar’Darius Washington, there could be an opportunity to test the Ravens secondary as they also try to figure things out to begin the year.

Must-watch game: vs. Chiefs, Week 9

Bills vs. Chiefs — that’s why you should watch. It’s really that simple. The two teams who have continued to stand atop the AFC for the last five years have a vast, dramatic history of going up against each other. The two teams played one of the best regular season games of 2024 when the Bills issued the Chiefs their first loss of the year, including one of the single greatest plays of Josh Allen’s career. The Chiefs got their revenge in the most heartbreaking of ways by taking down the Bills in the AFC Championship Game — the fourth time in five seasons the Chiefs have eliminated the Bills from the playoffs. The Bills have won the last four regular season games against the Chiefs. It’s setting up for another unforgettable game between two of the AFC’s elite teams.

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Toughest stretch: Weeks 9-14

Over a six-game stretch, the Bills will take on four teams who made the playoffs last season and two consistent AFC playoff contenders in the Dolphins and Bengals. It begins with the Chiefs, potentially their most difficult game of the season, before heading on the road to take on the Dolphins. From there, the Bills have a tough out against the Buccaneers at home in Week 11, then only two days at home until they need to go on the road that Wednesday to play a ‘Thursday Night Football’ road game in Houston. Then they follow it up with back-to-back AFC North matchups in Pittsburgh and home against the Bengals. That stretch of games, most against potential AFC playoff teams, could be a big determinant of seeding and tiebreakers.

Games that have gotten tougher: Patriots, Weeks 5 & 15

The very team the Bills took the AFC East divisional torch from in 2020 seems to be on their way up to relevance again. After a lot of down years and coaching changes, the Patriots managed to bring back the very coach that was tailor-made for the position, Mike Vrabel, who enjoyed four straight winning seasons when he took the job in Tennessee in 2018. On top of that, the Patriots seem to have found their quarterback in Drake Maye, and they did a nice job all off-season bringing in supporting pieces. They may be a year away from contending for the division or a playoff spot, but they certainly have the talent to steal a win from the Bills in a non-Week 18 backup-heavy setting like last year.

One game the Bills can’t afford to lose: vs. Saints, Week 4, 7 or 15

The Bills had a couple of options, as they’ll be going up against two teams who look to willingly take a step back this upcoming season for rebuilding purposes. But I’ll take the Saints for this over the Browns, simply because that matchup is at home, whereas the Browns game is on the road. It’s quite likely the Bills will face a rookie quarterback in the Saints game in second-round pick Tyler Shough, and Bills head coach Sean McDermott’s sterling record against inexperienced quarterbacks makes this into one game the Bills should be heavily favored. It would be a massive disappointment if they were to lose at home to what might be one of the worst teams in the NFL in 2025.

Best offense the Bills will face: vs. Bengals, Week 14

While most teams attempt to spread their cap dollars across the roster, the Bengals instead decided to go all in on their passing game after they signed their top two wide receivers, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, to massive contract extensions. It continues on the excellent trio of Chase, Higgins and franchise quarterback Joe Burrow getting them the ball in bunches. Along with that trio, impressive third-year running back Chase Brown returns for what should be an incredibly difficult offense to slow down. The Bills invested almost all of their offseason resources into defense, and it will surely be a big stage to prove it against a team that has given them trouble in recent years.

Best defense the Bills will face: vs. Eagles, Week 17

This was a toss-up between the Eagles and Ravens, but the tie goes to the defending Super Bowl champions. The Eagles have a noted defensive line and constantly invest resources into it, and now they’re backed up by an outstanding and young secondary led by Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean that can give every team problems. On top of that, they brought back impressive linebacker Zack Baun, giving them a three-level strength on paper. Up front, the defensive line duo of Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis is a headache for many when lined up next to one another. Although they lost a couple of pieces, this is still close to a complete unit before the season begins. That will be a big test for the Bills at home.

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Predicted record: 12-5

Although the Bills have some difficult games against some legitimate Super Bowl contenders this year, they also have a lot of teams on their schedule who are either in a transitional year or seem to be a year away from pushing toward the playoffs — and two of those teams are in their division, meaning four games. With nine home games this season and the second-fewest travel miles on the NFL calendar, the expectation is the Bills should at least get to 11 wins this year. I’ll guess that they go through some growing pains on defense against good teams to drop them just a game below their 13-4 mark in 2024, but at 12-5, they still wind up right in the conversation with the NFL’s elite once again.

Predicted AFC East finish: First

Bills Dolphins Patriots Jets

The Bills have been the toast of the AFC East for five years in a row, and their schedule — complete with nine home games and an extremely manageable road schedule — seems like a pretty good path that leads them to six. The Dolphins will still be competitive and in the race for the playoffs, but they have been a flawed team, and now there is some growing heat on head coach Mike McDaniel’s seat. The Patriots are on the way up with Vrabel, though it might be a year too early for them to make a big push. The Jets seem to be in good hands with head coach Aaron Glenn but will likely be another team in the market for a young quarterback in 2026.

(Photo: Timothy T Ludwig / Getty Images)

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