A Look at the 2025 Monday Night Football Schedule

Are you ready for some Vocal?!

After much messing around, finally, here's the conclusion of the 2025 NFL schedule preview. It started with the Sunday Night Football preview, followed by the Thursday Night Football on Prime preview, the international games, and the holiday games. Now it's time to talk about the spot that ends nearly every week of NFL action: Monday Night Football.

I did laze about with other stories before finally getting to this, but it's pretty much fateful that I'm writing about this today: Labor Day. For one, I'm old enough to remember when Labor Day Weekend kicked off the NFL season, and Labor Day featured the first Monday game of the season. I still remember watching that Labor Day game and drinking it in as a kid, mainly because it would be the last thing I would enjoy before school starts. Nowadays, Labor Day Weekend serves as the final weekend without the NFL.

Monday Night Football began as a bit of an experiment in the late 1960s, as then-NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle had fathomed the possibility of an NFL primetime game on a select day. The tail end of the 60s saw some Monday games in the AFL and the NFL, but it was in 1970 that the developments occurred. That year saw the leagues merge into one, but it would also see Monday Night Football become an official staple, with ABC serving as the home of the primetime game that would serve as the finale of a week's worth of NFL action. September 21, 1970 was the official beginning, with the Cleveland Browns defeating the New York Jets, 31-21.

Among many other things, Monday Night Football is definitely known for the voices behind the game. For the longest time, fans heard three familiar voices: Frank Gifford, Don Meredith, and of course, the always imitated Howard Cosell. They weren't the original tandem; the first year saw Cosell and Meredith working with Keith "Whoa, Nellie!" Jackson, but for the most part, on and off, it was those three. Cosell was worked play-by-play, Gifford and Meredith, both football legends, were the color analysts. Cosell and Meredith, on-screen, played like they were combative; in real life, they were close friends. Cosell's whole delivery was his signature, and "Dandy" Don's signature was singing the famous "Turn out the lights" snippet in blowouts.

This was the tandem of my childhood; Gifford remained even after Cosell and Meredith left MNF for good, but replacing Meredith was Dan Dierdorf, and replacing the iconic Howard Cosell was another icon in the form of Al Michaels. We all know Al Michaels, he of the famous "Do you believe in miracles?" call back in 1980 when Team USA beat the Soviets in hockey. This trio was formed in 1987, and they were together from that year until 1997. Michaels had various different partners, including the memorable 2000 season where Michaels was calling games with Dan Fouts and, yes, Dennis Miller. Yes, I remember the Dennis Miller "ratings grab" hire. It was absolutely desperate, big time. However, the trio, as odd as it was, was on call for this:

Remember this? I sure as hell do. November 6, 2000. I, a sophomore in high school at the time, was watching this game that Monday night, an NFC Central battle between the Vikings and Packers at Lambeau. Game went to OT tied at 20. Packers ball. Favre throws this pass that is nearly intercepted, but it's deflected by the defender. Antonio Freeman gets some hands on it, but the defender walks off. Freeman doesn't. Freeman picks up the ball, gets up, runs all the way. No one can believe it. I sure as hell couldn't believe it. Al Michaels' shock can be summed up in just three short words:

"HE DID WHAT?!?!"

Yeah, turns out, that ball? Never hit the ground. Never. Somehow, #86 managed to keep the ball from even touching the grass, doing so while he was down on the ground, mind you. And after successfully and miraculously catching the ball, Freeman rose up and ran all the way for the game winning touchdown, which he could do because he was never touched. Packers won, 26-20, and I was elated as hell!

The Freeman miracle was one of many memorable moments in MNF's long history. There was the Monday Night Miracle (which happened two weeks prior), where the Jets came back from down 30-7 in the fourth quarter to win in OT. Another memorable Packers game on MNF was the game against the Raiders in 2003, where Favre (one day after losing his father) had one of his best performances in a game we needed to win to keep our playoff hopes alive. A MNF game we Packers fans would love to forget was the infamous "Fail Mary" against the Seahawks. There's also the offense-filled shootout between the Chiefs and Rams (the game that was originally supposed to be played in Mexico). So many memorable moments from MNF.

After 36 seasons on ABC Sports, Monday Night Football was moved to sister station ESPN, with this year being the twentieth on the cable network. For most of ESPN's tenure, the opening week would see a Monday doubleheader, followed by one game a week until the penultimate week of the season. In the last few seasons, we've seen ABC return to the MNF fold, working alongside ESPN in airing games, and some select games air exclusively on ESPN+ (with local simulcasts applying). Since 2003, there are no Monday games in the final week, but since 2021 (the year that the regular season increased to 17 games in 18 weeks), ESPN airs a Saturday doubleheader that kicks off Week 18; airing in the same slots that Wild Card Saturday used to air.

And here, again, is the Monday Night Football schedule for Year 56 (Year 20 on ESPN). I remember when I was a kid, the MNF slot was quite exclusive. I remember exactly how it went. Teams who reached the Super Bowl got three games, teams who won at least one playoff game got two games, and those who didn't make it past Wild Card Weekend got one. Of course, at the time, MNF was the main event spot. Now it's NBC's Sunday Night Football that's in the main event spotlight, though MNF still remains a prime spot. There are 21 Monday Night games this season, with Weeks 2, 4, 6, and 7 having two games each. ESPN counts the Saturday Doubleheader on Week 18 as games that are part of the MNF banner, and ESPN/ABC will air some playoffs as well.

Regarding flex scheduling, the NFL finally added Monday games to the flex rotation in 2023. Games played in Weeks 12-17 are subject to flex scheduling, and the decision must be made 12 days in advance; similar to SNF games in Weeks 5-13.

Of course, I have to mention the current voices of Monday Night Football. Following in the footsteps of the legendary voices of MNF are Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, who joined ESPN in 2022 after spending two decades as Fox's top duo in their NFL coverage. Their tenure also included calling several Super Bowls for Fox, and the NFL's relatively new four-network Super Bowl rotation will give Buck and Aikman an opportunity to be at the big game again. They'll have to wait just a bit longer; ESPN and ABC's first time in this rotation will come next year with Super Bowl LXI in Inglewood.

I love Monday Night Football and have since I was a kid. As a kid and as a teenager, I loved MNF because it served as an amazing end to a week of action. Now, as a Fantasy Football buff and participant, I really love it, because MNF is a chance to get a late win. Say you're down by about 15 points, the Ravens play on Monday, your opponent's done for the week, but you have Lamar Jackson left as your starting QB that Monday. As good as Lamar is, you should win. I've won my fair share of fantasy matchups on Monday Night; sometimes in the final seconds.

Monday Night Football's 56th season begins on September 8 with an NFC North battle between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears in the Windy City. As the song that has been part of MNF for decades goes, I am definitely ready for some football!