2024 NFL schedule release winners & losers: 49ers, Steelers, Seahawks face tough tasks

2024 NFL schedule release winners & losers: 49ers, Steelers, Seahawks face tough tasks

The 2024 NFL schedule was announced Wednesday night to great fanfare and contained several high-profile matchups in Week 1 and handful of quirks along the way.

It was revealed earlier in the week that play will kick off Thursday, Sept. 5, with the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs playing host to the Baltimore Ravens in a rematch of last year's AFC title game, which KC won on the road 17-10.

The next day, the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers, another pair of 2023 playoff clubs, will meet in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It's the first NFL game to ever be played in South America.

And on that Monday night, QB Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets will be in San Francisco to face the reigning NFC champion 49ers.

That MNF game will be the first of six prime-time games for both the Jets and 49ers this season, tied with Dallas for the most.

Let's take a look at the winners and losers of the 2024 NFL schedule release.

2024 NFL win total odds

Here are the latest 2024 NFL season win total odds at top U.S. online sportsbooks:

Jaguars playing overseas twice

In England, British fans no doubt will be hoping to get a marquee matchup of sorts (probably just one would be jolly) when three games are held in London: Minnesota vs. the Jets in Week 5, Jacksonville vs. Chicago in Week 6 and Jacksonville the next week against New England. And with what has become a new trend, the Jets, Patriots and Jaguars didn't request to have their bye week right after returning.

Dating to 2007, there have been 36 games played in London but just once did both teams arrive with a winning record. Eight times a team showed up winless.

There also will be a Week 10 game in Munich, Germany, when the New York Giants and Carolina tangle.

Several NFL teams face rough 10-day stretches in 2024

Not since 2018 has any squad had to play three games in a 10-day window, but this season 10 teams will have such a tight schedule at some stage this season, including the Jets in Weeks 1-3.

Probably the most brutal 10-day span will take place for Pittsburgh in Weeks 15-17  when the Steelers hit the road to face Philadelphia on a Sunday, head to Baltimore to face the Ravens on Saturday followed by a home game four days later against Kansas City on Christmas.

Also with three games in 10 days will be Baltimore, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, New Orleans and Seattle.

And to compound the difficulty of Seattle's schedule, four times the Seahawks will play at home against a team that has had extended rest off a Thursday night game.

More: NFL Week 1 odds | Ravens vs. Chiefs odds, opening line, prediction | Packers vs. Eagles Week 1 odds

49ers have it tough, too

San Francisco, which is tied with KC for the shortest Super Bowl odds at +600, will be trying to become the second team since 1993 to return to the Super Bowl after losing in that game the previous year. But it won't be easy.

The 49ers have the misfortune of having to face a league-high four teams coming off byes — twice as many as anyone else. Three of those foes were division winners in 2023 (home vs. KC, Dallas; at Buffalo).

And making matters worse regarding their Week 13 Sunday night meeting with Buffalo: The Bills will be coming off a bye. As an FYI, bye teams have gone 45-28-1 the past three seasons against foes who played a week earlier.

As for the L.A. Chargers and new coach Jim Harbaugh, they knew all along they would have five cross-country games this year, most in the league, but it wasn't until Wednesday they realized they were the only West Coast team that had back-to-back games three time zones away (Weeks 2-3 vs. Carolina, Pittsburgh).

And the Chargers got an extreme atomic wedgie from the schedule maker in Week 13 for their matchup in Atlanta. It will be the only time this year a team will travel east across three time zones on short rest and play a squad off a bye. But on a positive note, when Harbaugh last coached in the NFL, with the 49ers in 2011-2014, his teams were 10-1 back East. His only loss came against Baltimore and coach John Harbaugh, his older brother.

Tennessee, meanwhile, has a very favorable fourth-place schedule, but with the Titans listed as a consensus +15000 choice on oddsboards to win the Super Bowl, it probably won't matter much in the grand scheme of things.

Tennessee won't face any teams coming off a bye and will take on four squads working on short rest.

Chiefs all over prime time, Panthers not so much

Indianapolis and Carolina are the only teams that will play each of their 17 games on Sundays. The Panthers, 2-15 last year, also are the only team not to play in prime time.

Kansas City, meanwhile, will have outings on six days of the week this year (but not on a Tuesday), the first time any team has had such a schedule since Red Grange and the New York Yankees in 1927.