The 2022 NFL regular season schedule was released, and fans from all over have had plenty of time now to mark down the top must-watch games on their calendars.
Thanks to the NFL's schedule rotation plus the 2021 addition of a 17th game, the 2022 campaign is absolutely loaded with can't-miss contests. For instance, the NFC West will play the AFC North. Expect a lot of fireworks in those tilts. Plus, we get Tom Brady vs. Patrick Mahomes at least one more time because of the 17th game.
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With that all said, let's dive into the 10 teams who have the toughest schedules for the 2022 season.
10 New England Patriots
The Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins both finished above .500 in 2020 and 2021. Including the playoffs, New England went 1-4 against those two clubs last season.
Bill Belichick's group has a brutal four-game stretch to open the season: At Miami in Week 1, at Pittsburgh in Week 2, vs. Baltimore in Week 3 and at Green Bay in Week 4. Their final six games will be against teams with winning records from 2022, including a Week 18 home tilt with Buffalo.
9 Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers would have missed the playoffs last season if the Ravens and Cleveland Browns didn't have their seasons derailed by injuries. Both of those clubs will vastly improve in 2022, so Pittsburgh shouldn't expect a season series sweep of both clubs this time around. That's before mentioning the two annual games with the powerhouse Cincinnati Bengals.
On top of that, the Steelers must face the Patriots, Buccaneers, Eagles, Saints, Colts and Raiders. Good luck with that schedule.
8 Las Vegas Raiders
Patrick Mahomes owns the Raiders, so we won't blame Las Vegas fans who choose to mark down guaranteed losses in Weeks 5 and 18. The Chargers and Broncos aren't pushovers in the division anymore, either.
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Las Vegas must also play the entire NFC West division, the Saints, Colts, Patriots, Titans and Steelers. It's hard to find an absolute gimme win on this schedule.
7 New Orleans Saints
Good thing the Saints brought in Chris Olave, Jarvis Landry, Trevor Penning and Tyrann Mathieu to a roster that won nine games with four different starting quarterbacks last season. With a daunting schedule, Dennis Allen's group will need all the help they can get.
For starters, the Saints must play the dangerous Buccaneers twice. The Saints will also play the NFC West, a division that featured three playoff teams in 2021, the AFC North and two other 2021 posteason clubs in the Eagles and Raiders.
6 San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers finished third in the NFC West, but it didn't stop them from reaching the NFC Championship Game last year. Impressive and all, but the Rams and Cardinals will do their best to hold off another deep playoff run for Kyle Shanahan's group.
San Francisco also has to play the Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders, Broncos, Dolphins, Saints and Buccaneers. Ten of their games will be against teams who boasted winning records last year.
5 Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals are absolutely going to have to earn the ever-difficult AFC North repeat.
They'll play 10 teams who finished with winning records last year. And that's before bringing up the rival Ravens and Browns, who both finished with 8-9 records due largely to injuries to key players. Both of those teams should be in contention for the division this season, meaning the Bengals essentially have 14 games against very competitive teams.
Only Atlanta and Carolina should be marked down as guaranteed wins. You can't even include the Week 3 tilt with the Jets, because New York actually stunned them in Week 8 of last season.
4 Arizona Cardinals
Playing in arguably football's toughest division doesn't help matters. That means four games alone against the 49ers and Rams. But the Cardinals also have to play the entire AFC West which features the Chiefs and three other playoff hopefuls in the Raiders, Broncos and Chargers.
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The Buccaneers, Saints, Eagles and Patriots also loom on Arizona's 2022 schedule. Looking at their slate of games, only contests with Atlanta and Carolina feel like gimme games. The Seahawks, even without Russell Wilson, are capable of giving Kyle Murray and company some trouble.
3 Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City's 2022 opponents combined for a .533 winning percentage, but their schedule is actually much tougher than that. The division rival Chargers, Broncos and Raiders all made significant moves to get better. This will not be the year when the Chiefs run away with four, five or even six easy divisional wins.
Patrick Mahomes and company also must play the defending AFC Champion Bengals and two premier teams in the Bills and Buccaneers. The always stingy Titans and bound-to-improve Colts will not be easy opponents, either. And we mention all of this before reminding you that Kansas City must play the entire NFC West division.
2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers can at least mark down four easy wins against the NFC South rival Panthers and Falcons. Their game against Seattle in Munich, Germany also looks to be a lopsided victory.
But the rest of the schedule? Yikes. They open the season against the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium then must visit the Saints, who are 4-1 against Tom Brady during his tenure as a Buccaneer. Tampa will then head home for games against Aaron Rodgers' Packers and Patrick Mahomes' Chiefs.
And we have yet to mention that the Bucs have to play the entire AFC North, which features two bonafide Super Bowl contenders (Baltimore and Cincinnati) plus two other playoff hopefuls in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Not to mention they also have to play the entire NFC West (Rams, 49ers, Cardinals and Seahawks) and the Saints at home.
1 Los Angeles Rams
If the Rams don't repeat as Super Bowl champions in 2022, you can probably blame the unbelievably difficult schedule they must deal with.
Their 2021 opponents combined for a .567 winning percentage. The addition of the 17th game means they must play Josh Allen and the powerhouse Bills to kick off their season. In all, 10 of the Rams' 17 regular season games will take place against teams that made the playoffs in 2021. They also have to play the Saints (9-8 last season), Chargers (also 9-8) and Broncos, who figure to compete for a playoff spot with Russell Wilson in the fold.
Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Dallas, Kansas City, Green Bay plus the two games with both San Francisco and Arizona make this one of the most incredibly unforgiving schedules in the history of the league. A lot will have to go right for Sean McVay's team to repeat.
