Ranking the 5 best NFL games of the 2025 season (so far)

• Week 1 | Sunday, Sept. 7 (SNF) | Highmark Stadium (Orchard Park, N.Y.)
• FINAL SCORE: Bills 41, Ravens 40 (Watch replay)
• Previously: No. 1 (Weeks 1-12)

This game was supposed to be a heavyweight fight, and it didn't disappoint. The Ravens scored 40 points in only 25 minutes of possession. Bills quarterback Josh Allen showed why he won last year's MVP award by passing for 394 yards and scoring four total touchdowns. Baltimore actually dominated this contest with Lamar Jackson's passing and the running of Derrick Henry (169 yards and two touchdowns), but a late Henry fumble helped Buffalo rally from a 15-point deficit with a little more than four minutes to go. In the end, Allen put his team in position with timely runs and devastating throws. The Ravens and Bills have hopscotched around the AFC standings, putting forth exceptionally uneven performances for teams that typically shape into conference powerhouses in time for the stretch run. The fact that this game has ruled this list throughout the year anyway speaks volumes about how thrilling it was as a lid-lifting prime-time showcase.  

-- Jeffri Chadiha

• Week 7 | Sunday, Oct. 20 | Empower Field at Mile High (Denver)
• FINAL SCORE: Broncos 33, Giants 32 (Watch replay)
• Previously: No. 2 (Weeks 7-12)

The Giants absolutely bullied the Broncos for three quarters, to the point that, dare I say, there was zero to little belief from almost anyone that Denver could prevail. In fact, according to Next Gen Stats, the Broncos' win probability was as low as 0.7% with 6:38 left in the game, when they were facing fourth-and-2 while down 26-8, a deficit of 18 points. And NFL teams had won 1,608 consecutive games (!) when leading by 18 points or more with less than 6 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Until this day. It was then that the Broncos flipped a switch, ultimately ripping off 33 points. The final two minutes, which featured three lead changes, deserve their own flowers. Bo Nix's 18-yard TD run gave Denver a 30-26 advantage, its first lead of the day, with 1:51 remaining. Jaxson Dart answered with an end-zone dive of his own, putting Big Blue up 32-30 with 37 seconds left. However, Giants kicker Jude McAtamney missed the PAT (the second such blown kick of the day), leaving an opening for the Broncos to drive back down, whereupon Wil Lutz took the dagger and finished the job with a 39-yard field goal as time expired.

-- Brooke Cersosimo

• Week 9 | Sunday, Nov. 2 | Paycor Stadium (Cincinnati)
• FINAL SCORE: Bears 47, Bengals 42 (Watch replay)
• Previously: No. 3 (Weeks 9-12)

There's a clear formula for cracking this list: pack as much chaos as possible into 60 minutes. Joe Flacco had a dream game, in that you could imagine him saying, "I dreamt that I was suddenly the starting quarterback in Cincinnati, and everyone else on the field was at least seven years younger than me, and my arm didn't really work, but I threw for more yards than I ever had before in my life because Tee Higgins just kept catching the ball, and we made up a 14-point deficit in the last 2 minutes -- oh, and we actually recovered an onside kick -- and then we still somehow lost?" With Joe Burrow returning to his rightful place under center for the rest of the season and the Bears climbing the NFC standings, this bonkers afternoon will only feel more like an odd historical curio in retrospect. Which is exactly why it belongs here. So what if some swinging-saloon-door-style defense helped keep the party going? Between Flacco's unlikely heroics and Caleb Williams getting to add another triumphant moment to his resume, there were plenty of giddy hijinks to enjoy.

-- Tom Blair   

• Week 3 | Sunday, Sept. 21 | Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia)
• FINAL SCORE: Eagles 33, Rams 26 (Watch replay)
• Previously: No. 3 (Weeks 3-4), No. 4 (5-6, 9-12), No. 5 (7-8)

With their most recent playoff exit top of mind, the Los Angeles Rams completely wrecked the Eagles for two quarters, holding the reigning Super Bowl champions to a putrid 33 total yards. The destruction continued early in the third, with the Los Angeles offense capitalizing on the extremely short field created by a Jared Verse strip-sack of Jalen Hurts to build a 26-7 lead. As my colleague and Rams radio color analyst Maurice Jones-Drew described the scene to me later: "The Linc was shook." Then, little by little, it was like the Eagles remembered they were supposed to be one of the most balanced and talented teams in the NFL. Hurts went on an absolute tear in the second half to obliterate the Rams' 19-point lead. The comeback was cemented with a pair of field-goal blocks, one by Jalen Carter and the second by Jordan Davis, setting up one of the most indelible images of the season: Davis, at 336 pounds, rumbling 61 yards on the return for a touchdown as time expired. Since then, the Eagles have only gotten less reliable, while the Rams have mostly sparkled, making Philly's theft here that much more impressive.

-- Brooke Cersosimo

• Week 2 | Sunday, Sept. 14 | AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)
• FINAL SCORE: Cowboys 40, Giants 37, OT (Watch replay)
• Previously: No. 2 (Weeks 2-6), No. 3 (7-8), No. 4 (9-10), No. 5 (11-12)

The teams scored a combined 41 points in the fourth quarter, including an insane 17 points in the final 52 seconds of regulation. Russell Wilson threw for 450 yards and three touchdowns, with the 48-yard scoring pass to Malik Nabers with 25 seconds left standing as a beautiful pitch and catch. And Brandon Aubrey nonchalantly booted a 64-yard field goal with several yards to spare to extend the game before hitting the winner in OT. If you like defense, this was probably not the game for you. But the Cowboys and Giants were both desperate to avoid an 0-2 start, and it produced a thriller with one mind-boggling play after another -- a memorable installment in this classic rivalry that stands out even after these teams went in separate directions, with New York plummeting out of contention and Dallas fighting to stay in the playoff mix. The matchup gets bonus points for giving us one more chance to watch Wilson at his best before being replaced by Jaxson Dart, plus a Nabers highlight reel for Giants fans to dream of while the receiver recovers from an ACL tear. 

-- Judy Battista

• Week 13 | Sunday, Nov. 30 | Northwest Stadium (Landover, Md.)
• FINAL SCORE: Broncos 27, Commanders 26, OT (Watch replay)

How did this matchup -- between teams at extreme opposite ends of the competitiveness spectrum -- make the list over some of the other basically entertaining clashes that might have caught your eye in the meantime, like Chiefs-Broncos in Week 11, Cowboys-Eagles in Week 12 or Week 13's eventful Thanksgiving/Black Friday slate? Well, I can't speak for my fellow voters, but Broncos-Commanders kind of had something for everyone. There was Marcus Mariota doing the "failed starter turned momentary folk hero" thing, giving the evening an irresistibly nostalgic hook. There was Treylon Burks, who endured an even more severe fall from grace as a former Titans first-rounder, turning his 58th career reception -- and fifth with Washington -- into the kind of all-time jaw-dropper that many NFL receivers will only ever dream of making. There was Bo Nix spinning highlights and lowlights. And finally, there was the element that will really make this one worth remembering long after the 2025 season has been put to bed: a deliriously unpredictable overtime, packed with enough head-spinning reversals of fortune that even the theoretically anticlimactic final moment -- Mariota's batted-down two-point try -- felt electric.

-- Tom Blair