47 NFL Matchups Have Never Been Played Outside a Sunday Afternoon
Updated: September 10, 2026
Through the 2025 season, 47 of the NFL's 496 possible matchups have met only on Sunday afternoons. Never on Monday night, Sunday night, or Thursday night. Never on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or a Saturday. Never abroad. The Cardinals and Lions lead the list with 32 straight Sunday afternoon games since 1967. Six teams appear on the list zero times.
Cardinals–Lions: 32 games, zero night games, 1967–2024
Arizona and Detroit have been in the same conference since the 1970 merger, never in the same division. That still produced 32 games between 1967 and 2024. The league scheduled every one of them on a Sunday afternoon.
Both teams know standalone windows well. Detroit hosts every Thanksgiving. Arizona has played 44 primetime games since 2002. They have just never been given one against each other.
The Browns and Chiefs are next at 28 games since 1971. The Eagles and Steelers, two teams from the same state that once merged into one roster during World War II, have met 20 times since 1966 without a single night game.
Every NFL matchup only ever played on Sunday afternoons, 1966–2025
The table counts regular-season games since 1966, the first Super Bowl season. A matchup qualifies when none of its games fell in a standalone window: Monday night, Sunday night, Thursday night, the Kickoff Game, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Saturday, Friday, Wednesday, or an international site. Team names open that team's Schedulegami page.
Why 41 of the 47 matchups are AFC vs. NFC
The schedule formula does most of the work. Division opponents meet twice a year, so the league has plenty of chances to put them at night. Interconference opponents meet once every four years, and when they do, the night windows usually go elsewhere.
That leaves six same-conference matchups on the list. Two are NFC: Cardinals–Lions and Cardinals–Panthers. Four are AFC: Browns–Chiefs, Browns–Jaguars, Browns–Texans, and Jaguars–Raiders. Cleveland and Jacksonville were AFC Central rivals from 1995 through 2001 and played 20 times, all on Sunday afternoons.
Carolina appears in 10 of the 47 matchups. Six teams appear in none
Some teams keep showing up. Carolina is in 10 of the 47 matchups. Arizona, Cleveland, and Houston are in 7 each. Jacksonville is in 6.
That is not a coincidence. All five rank among the eight teams with the fewest primetime games since 2002. Jacksonville is last with 31. Cleveland has 39, Carolina 41, Arizona 44, and Houston 50.
Six teams are on the list zero times: the Bills, Cowboys, Broncos, Colts, Patriots, and 49ers. Each has met all 31 opponents at least once outside a Sunday afternoon.
One game ends any of these streaks: the first schedulegami
That is all it takes. If the Cardinals and Lions finally land on a Monday night, that game is their first-ever Monday night meeting: a schedulegami, MockSlate's term for a matchup appearing in a scheduling window for the first time. Every matchup above is one schedule release away from one.
The list is wider than the three night windows. 77 NFL matchups have never been played on Monday, Sunday, or Thursday night. The 47 here are the ones that have never left Sunday afternoon at all. The other 30 have met on a Saturday, a holiday, or abroad.
Nothing on the 2026 schedule changes the list.
To see which scheduling windows any two teams have never shared, try the NFL Schedulegami tool. To see how standalone games fit into a full 272-game schedule, try the NFL mock schedule builder.
About the data
Regular-season games from 1966 through 2025, from the Lee Sharpe / nflverse games dataset with MockSlate's 1966–2001 extension. A game counts in every window it fits, so a Monday night game in Mexico City is both a Monday night game and an international game. Sunday night games before 2002 come from MockSlate's 1987–2001 Sunday night ledger. Counts refresh after each season.
FAQ
Which NFL matchup has gone the longest without a primetime game?
The Cardinals and Lions. They have met 32 times since 1967, every one of them on a Sunday afternoon. No other matchup with a Sunday-only history comes close; the Browns and Chiefs are next at 28 games.
Why are so many of these matchups interconference?
Because interconference opponents meet only once every four years, and the league fills its night windows with rivalries and contenders. Of the 47 matchups, 41 cross conferences. Only six are same-conference: Cardinals–Lions, Cardinals–Panthers, Browns–Chiefs, Browns–Jaguars, Browns–Texans, and Jaguars–Raiders.
Which teams appear most often on this list?
Carolina appears in 10 of the 47 matchups. Arizona, Cleveland, and Houston each appear in 7, and Jacksonville in 6. Six teams appear in none: the Bills, Cowboys, Broncos, Colts, Patriots, and 49ers have met every opponent at least once outside a Sunday afternoon.
Does any 2026 game end one of these streaks?
No. None of the 47 matchups has a Monday, Sunday, or Thursday night game, a holiday game, a Saturday game, or an international game on the 2026 schedule. The list stands until at least the 2027 schedule release.
What is a schedulegami?
MockSlate calls it a schedulegami when two teams meet in a scheduling window they have never shared before. The first Cardinals–Lions Monday night game would be a schedulegami. Every matchup on this list is one game away from its first.
This article covers 26 teams. See every team’s 2027 opponents →
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