Thoughts on the 2025 Denver Broncos Schedule

The NFL, including the Denver Broncos, released its entire 2025 season schedule on Wednesday. Opponents and locations had been known since the conclusion of the 2024 regular season, but the exact dates and times were not unveiled until May 14. With the schedule now set, let's take a deeper look at it.

WEEK 1 – TENNESSEE – Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, at 2:05 p.m. MDT

The Broncos will open the season at home against the Tennessee Titans and the first overall pick in this year's NFL Draft, Cam Ward. The Broncos last played the Titans at home in 2020, which was also in Week 1. Denver fell short that Monday night, 16 to 14. The Broncos and Titans, formerly the Houston Oilers, have a rich history of previous contests between the clubs, dating back to the days of the AFL. Rarely, however, have the two teams played in Denver during the month of September. Doing so in consecutive matchups, and in Week 1, is an interesting occurrence. This game will be broadcast by FOX Sports, marking the first time that these two teams have played each other on that network.

The Broncos and Oilers squared off in Denver during Week 1 of the 1972 season. It was the first game as NFL head coaches for Houston's Bill Peterson and Denver's John Ralston. Ralston's Broncos bested Peterson's Oilers that day by a score of 30 to 17.

WEEK 2 – at Indianapolis – Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, at 4:05 p.m. EDT

The Broncos have not played a road game against the Colts this early in the season since John Elway's second game as a pro in 1983. That day, Elway and the Broncos met both boiling hot weather (100° F) and fans ready to give Elway grief. Relieving an injured Elway, Steve DeBerg, for the second time in two weeks, led Denver to a comeback win—17–10 over the Colts. 

The Broncos should benefit from the kickoff being at 4:05 p.m., as opposed to 1:00 p.m., for this game. Will the roof be open for this game? That depends on if it is upgraded in time, and if whoever the new decisionmaker chooses to do so, with Jim Irsay having passed away on May 21, 2015.

WEEK 3 – at L.A. Chargers – Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, at 1:05 p.m. PDT

The Denver Broncos and the L.A. Chargers had the same inaugural seasons in 1960. They have played twice a season every year since then. Somehow, this game will mark only the fifth time that the Broncos have played a road game against the Chargers in the month of September. The others took place in 1965, 1972, 1995, and 2003. This will be the earliest part of the season that the Broncos have had a roadie against the Chargers since Week 2 of the 2003 season. That game is now known as Uniformgate. For that game, the Chargers elected to wear their white jerseys. The Broncos, however, arrived in San Diego with their regular white road uniforms only. As punishment, the NFL allowed the Chargers to choose what jersey color to wear when the teams played again in Denver that season. The Chargers elected to wear navy jerseys in that road game for Denver, which marked the first time that the Broncos had worn white jerseys at home since their first three home games of the 1983 season coming in Weeks 3, 4, and 7. 2003 was the last time the Broncos had worn white jerseys at home until two decades later, when Denver wore white jerseys in Week 2 against Washington. Last season, the Broncos also wore white jerseys at home in Week 2 when they played the Steelers.

WEEK 4 – CINCINNATI – Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, at 6:15 p.m. MDT 

The Broncos lost a late season heartbreaker in overtime to the Bengals last season after mounting a thrilling fourth quarterback comeback. The must anticipated rematch between the clubs comes in the fourth week of the upcoming season. Six of the 17 previous matchups between the Bengals and Broncos have been played in the month of September in 1973, 1979, 1984, 1991, 1997 and 2011. The Broncos won all of these contests. The Broncos and Bengals have played in primetime only once at Denver—a heart-stopping, overtime victory, in comeback fashion, for the Broncos on Monday Night Football on a frigid night in late December 2015. The Bengals have won the last two meetings between the teams in Denver after not winning in the Mile High City since 1975 until 2017.

WEEK 5 – at Philadelphia – Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. EDT

The Denver Broncos have struggled mightily in the City of Brotherly Love. They have a 1–6 all-time mark in games played at Philadelphia, with Denver's only victory as visitors coming in September of 1986. The two teams have only played once at Philadelphia in the month of October, on Halloween 1971, with the Eagles escaping with a one-point win. This game is arguably the toughest on Denver's 2025 schedule. I would also surmise that following this game, the Broncos will fly directly to London, rather than returning to Denver first.

WEEK 6 – at N.Y. Jets in London – Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. EDT

For most of the offseason, it had been rumored that the Broncos would play an international game in 2025. At first, there was traction behind playing in Berlin, Germany. The Indianapolis Colts apparently objected to the Broncos being their opponent in Germany. The NFL then pivoted to having the Broncos play the Jets at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Broncos are 1–1 all-time in games played in London, losing to the 49ers in 2010 and defeating the Jaguars in 2022. NFL games played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium are held on a synthetic surface, which is disappointing, especially since England is a place where natural grass surfaces thrive. 

The Broncos are 10–8–1 as visitors against the Jets, which includes last year's 10–9 soggy September slugfest win at MetLife Stadium. Eight of the previous 19, and 7 of the last 10 overall, games played between the teams have come in the month of October. Now that Nathaniel Hackett is no longer the Jets' offensive coordinator, the dramatic effect is now diminished some.

WEEK 7 – N.Y. GIANTS – Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, at 2:05 p.m. MDT

The Broncos elected not to have their bye week immediately following their international game and will return home to face the N.Y. Giants. The FOX network obtained broadcasting rights to the NFL for the first time beginning in the 1994 season, which was primarily for NFC games and games in which an NFC team played an AFC team on the road. Since that time, the Broncos have played the Giants in Denver three times—2001 (ABC Monday Night Football, as the Broncos christened the then-new Invesco Field at Mile High. Ed McCaffrey suffered a gruesome leg injury in that game. The world then changed forever the next morning following the 9/11 terrorist attacks), 2009 (Thanksgiving night game on NFL Network), and 2017 (an NBC Sunday Night Football game in which the injury-depleted 0–5 Giants stunned the Broncos in a 23–10 upset. This loss was the catalyst for the unraveling of that Broncos' team season).

No game played between the Broncos and Giants in Denver has been broadcast by FOX. In 2025, the game will not be on FOX either. CBS will broadcast that game, marking the first time it has shown a game between the two teams in Denver since the 1989 season when CBS had the NFC broadcasting rights. FOX did broadcast the most recent game between the teams played in 2021, but that game was held at MetLife Stadium.

The 1992 game between the Broncos and Giants was an ESPN Sunday Night Football broadcast with the recently passed Mike Patrick providing play-by-play. John Elway injured his ribs on a scramble in the costly win. Elway ended up missing several games, and it spelled the beginning of the end for Dan Reeves' 12-year tenure as head coach of the Denver Broncos. At the end of that season, the Broncos dismissed Reeves as head coach. Reeves would then become the new head man for the Giants the following season.

The Giants have a brutal schedule and little is expected of them this season. Whether or not Russell Wilson is NYG's quarterback for this game, the Broncos need to remember recent history from 2017 not to take Big Blue lightly to avoid falling victim to another home upset.

WEEK 8 – DALLAS – Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, at 2:25 p.m. MDT

The Broncos will play NFC East teams in consecutive weeks when the Dallas Cowboys make their way to town. The Cowboys have previously played at Denver in the month of October twice—on Oct. 4, 2009 and Oct. 5, 1986. The 1986 game featured the one and only time that Dan Reeves coached against Tom Landry, who was his head coach when he played for Dallas and also when Reeves was one of Landry's assistants. 

Dallas has not won at Denver since 1992. The 1992 game marked the last time these two teams played on CBS at Denver and also featured the Broncos alternating quarterbacks in Tommy Maddox and Shawn Moore who were filling in for an injured John Elway that day. 

The Cowboys have lost seven straight time to the Broncos. It will be over three decades since Dallas' last defeat of Denver, which occurred on Sept. 10, 1995, at Cowboys Stadium, when the two teams square off in 2025.

WEEK 9 – @ Houston – Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, at 12:00 p.m. CDT

This game feels like it has potential to be flexed into the late afternoon slot, if not Sunday Night Football, depending on how well the teams' two young quarterbacks in C.J. Stroud and Bo Nix play in their respective third and second seasons. 

All four of the matchups between the Broncos and Texans in Houston occurred in the month of December. Denver has won twice and lost twice in regular season games played in Space City. This will be the teams' first matchup played on FOX.

WEEK 10 – LAS VEGAS – Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, at 6:15 p.m. MDT

The Denver Broncos host their long-term archrival in the Las Vegas Raiders. The Broncos and Raiders last played on TNF in Dec. 2012 at Oakland, a game in which Denver won 26 to 13. Last year, we saw the Broncos sport 1977 throwback uniforms for a Sunday afternoon home game against the Raiders. Hopefully, we see these same uniforms for this year's matchup under the primetime lights. When this game is played, it will be a week before the 25th anniversary of the Broncos beating the Raiders in what was a thrilling, and final, Monday Night Football contest played at Mile High Stadium.

WEEK 11 – KANSAS CITY – Sunday, November 16, 2025, at 2:25 p.m. MDT

In 2023, the Broncos finally snapped a 16-game losing streak to the Chiefs, which included an eight-game home losing streak. The Broncos shutout the Chiefs at home last season, but Kansas City rested most of its starters for that game. The level of competition from the Chiefs in this contest stands to be considerable stronger this time around. On the same date of Nov. 16 in 1986, the Broncos soundly defeated the Chiefs in Denver by a score of 38 to 17.

WEEK 12 – BYE 

This will be the first bye week in team history to occur in Week 12 of a season.

WEEK 13 – at Washington – Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, at 8:20 p.m. EDT

As of now, this game is one of the jewels on the schedule, not only for the Broncos, but for a national audience, so it is only fitting to be played on Sunday Night Football. The Broncos are 2–4 all-time at Washington, with the series knotted at 8–8 overall. The last primetime game played between the teams was on Monday Night Football on Nov. 20, 1989. Gary Kubiak, filling in for an ill John Elway, led the Broncos to a 14–10 upset. 

On Nov. 30, 2014, the Broncos beat the Chiefs in Kansas City on NBC Sunday Night Football thanks to forcing three turnovers, five Connor Barth field goals and touchdowns by C.J. Anderson and the late, great Demaryius Thomas.

WEEK 14 – at Las Vegas – Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, at 1:05 p.m. PST

The Broncos swept the Raiders last season after inexplicably losing eight straight games to the Raiders, including four at home and four away. One of the biggest Broncos road wins against the Raiders came on Dec. 3, 1978 when recently inducted Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Randy Gradishar returned a fumble 30 yards for a touchdown to seal a 21–6 win.

WEEK 15 – GREEN BAY – Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, at 2:25 p.m. MDT

The Denver Broncos are 7–1 all-time at home against the Green Bay Packers. The Broncos, however, have lost every game that they've played in at Green Bay and tied the Packers in a game played at Milwaukee in 1987. The Broncos hold a 1–0 record in neutral site games between the clubs having won their first Super Bowl against the Pack at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium in 1997.

This will be only the second time in which the Broncos have hosted the Packers in the month of the December. In the 1990 regular season finale, and Sammy Winder's last game, the Broncos defeated the Packers in Denver by a score of 22–13.

WEEK 16 – JACKSONVILLE – Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, at 2:05 p.m. MST

The Broncos have played the Jaguars four previous times in December. Two of these games were played Denver, including in Jacksonville's inaugural season of 1995 and a 1997 AFC Wildcard game, where the Broncos exacted revenge from the previous season's crushing upset loss, and two games in Jacksonville (1999 and 2016). This will be the first time that these two teams have played each other on FOX.

WEEK 17 – at Kansas City – Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025 – Christmas Night, at 7:15 p.m. CST

The Broncos will play at Kansas City for the second time on Christmas night in the last decade. This will also mark the third major holiday matchup at Kansas City in the past twenty years, as the Broncos and Chiefs played in the first Thursday Night Football game on Thanksgiving in 2006. At some point, it would be nice if the Broncos got to host the Chiefs in primetime on a major holiday.

The Broncos have lost nine straight game at Kansas City. They have traditionally struggled on the road against the Chiefs, but particularly in the month of December and overall since Christmas night in 2016. The Broncos' best December win at Kansas City came on the first day of the month in 2013 when Peyton Manning threw five touchdown passes, four to Eric Decker and one to Knowshon Moreno in a 35 to 28 triumph.

WEEK 18 – L.A. CHARGERS – Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026 or Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, TTBA

The Broncos will host the Chargers to cap off the 2025 regular season. The Broncos have hosted the Chargers to finish the season seven previous times (2022, 2018, 2015, 2010, 1999, 1997 and 1987). The four-win Chargers gave the Broncos everything they could handle in the 2015 regular season finale best known for Peyton Manning coming off of the bench to lead the Broncos to a 27–20 win, which captured fifth consecutive AFC West crown and homefield advantage en route to winning Super Bowl 50.

FINAL THOUGHTS OF NOTE

The Denver Broncos have not finished the regular season by playing at Kansas City since 1992 and have not played the Chargers on the road in a regular season's final week since 2008. 

Please make sure to follow my account, @MileHighMoments, on X, as we look back at previous matchups between the Broncos and those who they will play in 2025. 

This post was updated on May 22, 2025 to reflect the passing of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay.