ESPN's Monday Night Football begins with 11 games in the first seven weeks of the NFL season, including the Lions at the Ravens in an NFC-AFC showdown, as ESPN records the most primetime games of any NFL rights holder to begin the year, jumpstarting the 25-game NFL on ESPN 2025-26 schedule.
Continuing the early season momentum, Monday Night Football will enter a four-week stretch featuring the AFC Champion Chiefs (Week 8), the Cowboys multiple times (Weeks 9 and 11), and the Super Bowl Champion Eagles at the Packers (Week 10). The Eagles return to MNF in December (Week 14), as the iconic primetime television franchise gives way to ESPN's Saturday Doubleheader (Week 18), Monday Night Wild Card game (January 12) and a Divisional round playoff game (January 17 or 18).
Monday Night Football's season-long campaign begins with a NFC North rivalry, as the Vikings travel to the Bears, the first of multiple divisional games this season on MNF. The regular season will close with iconic brands taking the field, including the 49ers, Patriots, Giants, Steelers and Dolphins. Overall, the entire Monday Night Football slate includes the league's top teams, star players, and intriguing storylines throughout the season. Highlights:
Multiple High-Profile Debuts in Week 1: As the Vikings and Bears take the field, Minnesota quarterback J. McCarthy will make his NFL debut, while Bears head coach Ben Johnson makes his debut at the helm of the team.
Exceptional Quarterbacks Across MNF: Each of the previous three NFL MVPs appear on Monday Night Football (Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Patrick Mahomes). The two most recent Offensive Rookie of the Year winners, Jayden Daniels and CJ Stroud, Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts, and Comeback Player of the Year Joe Burrow will all play on Monday Night Football.
MNF will feature ESPN exclusive games, ABC simulcasts (with an additional week to be announced), and four weeks where multiple games are played on the same night, with ABC (two occurrences) and ESPN+ (one occurrence) airing an exclusive game in conjunction with an ESPN exclusive game in three of those cases. As part of those four weeks, returning this year in Weeks 2 and 7, a traditional Monday Night Football doubleheader will occur, with the first game beginning at 7 p.m. and the second one kicking off at 10 p.m. ET. All 25 games will stream on the newly announced ESPN direct-to-consumer service.
