The NFL regular season is dwindling down to its’ last few weeks. With that, we expect to see marquee matchups that help shape the playoff picture. Yet, looking at the NFL schedule, there’s still games sitting in these primetime slots that will have no meaning.
Before discussing what games need to be flexed out, let’s recap the NFL schedule flex policy.
NFL Flex Policy
The NFL Flex Scheduling Policy states the following:
- Sunday Night Football may be flexed any week during Weeks 11-17
- Monday Night Football may be flexed any week during Weeks 12-17
- Thursday Night Football may be flexed up to twice during Weeks 14-16
- Only Sunday afternoon games are allowed to be flexed into these slots, and vice versa.
Now there also is the caveat that CBS and Fox get to protect one game each weekend from flex scheduling. As well, there has to be an announcement from the NFL 12 days prior for MNF, 21 days prior for TNF, and 6 days prior for SNF.
With this in mind, let’s get to the games that need to be flexed ASAP.
Week 15: Dolphins @ Steelers, MNF
Now, this game has to be flexed 12 days prior to its’ kickoff, which today is exactly on this deadline. Considering there hasn’t been an announcement made yet for this game, it’s likely this will stay put. But, let’s get into why this should be flexed.
The Dolphins will be entering this game under 500 no matter what, better yet, they sit at less than 1% chance of making the playoffs. Even with a few wins stacked in a row, they have been dreadful to watch this year and do not deserve to be on primetime this late in the year.
On the other hand, we have the Steelers who even though are sitting square in the playoff race, have not been much better to watch lately. Their season is spiraling, and a breakup between Tomlin and Pittsburgh seems more likely than ever.
But, the NFL will be hard pressed to flex the Steelers out of a late season primetime game at home, especially when they are still in the playoff race. So this one is more than likely to stay.
Week 16: Bengals @ Dolphins, SNF
Seriously, back to back weeks of the Dolphins in primetime this late in the year?
Now the Bengals do have Joe Burrow back, and are holding on by a thread in the AFC North division race. But, one more loss this year will likely knock them out of contention.
For the Dolphins, I already said what needed to be said, they do not deserve to be on primetime this late in the year.
Barring some miraculous run by either of these teams, this game is the most likely to be flexed out. Now for other games that could replace this on SNF.
There are a few important games with playoff implications being played that Sunday. These include, the Chargers @ Cowboys, Bucs @ Panthers, and Patriots @ Ravens. Since CBS and Fox get to protect one game, and the Cowboys will likely be protected by Fox, and the Ravens game will be protected by CBS. So the Bucs @ Panthers game will be most likely to be flexed into primetime, as these teams are in a tight race for the NFC South.
Week 17: Rams @ Falcons, MNF
Yes, the Rams are debatably the top team in the NFC, and this game will help determine the NFC West race and playoff seeding. This is more so an indictment of the Falcons being on primetime this season.
The Falcons have been a brutal watch as of late, coming off a loss to the Jets, and will be without Penix the rest of the year. For a team with so much promise, they have failed to deliver this year. And now, with a week to go in the NFL season, fans will be subject to watching them get blown out by the Rams on Monday Night Football.
This game is unlikely to be flexed since the Rams are an entertaining watch and top team in the league, but outside of Falcons fans, who wants to watch this Falcons team any more this year?
