2024 NFL Strength of Schedule for All Teams

• Look back at the NFL SOS for all teams during the 2024-25 NFL season
• See which teams were believed to have the easiest and toughest schedules for the 2024 season
• Looking for the current NFL strength of schedule?

Take a look back at the 2024 NFL season and the strength of schedule for all 32 teams. See which teams overcame / succumbed to tough schedules, which were unable to take advantage of easy schedules, and the teams who were just much better/worse than sportsbooks expected.

I updated the SOS following Week 9, the middle of the 2024-25 NFL season, to look at the NFL strength of schedule for the remaining nine games (second half of the season). If you scroll further down, you can also see another look at the SOS for the second half of the season.

Note: 1 is the most difficult, while 32 is the easiest 2024-25 schedule.

2024 NFL Strength of Schedule Rankings

The range in my NFL Strength of Schedule rankings is from 128.5, on the easy end, to 154.5, on the tough end. The median sum of 2024 opponents’ win totals is 144.75, while the average (mode) is 144. The easiest schedule this year is slightly easier than last year’s easiest, while the toughest is not as bad as what we saw last year.

The team with the toughest 2024 NFL schedule is the Pittsburgh Steelers, while the team with the easiest 2024 NFL schedule is the Atlanta Falcons.

Looking to the three teams with the toughest schedules in 2024, two of them ended up going under their respective win total. The Steelers, who had the toughest schedule in the pre-season view, ended up as the lone team to go over. Only one of the three teams with the easiest schedules went over their win total, as both the Falcons and Jets squandered what was believed to be an easy schedule – the Chargers had the second-easiest schedule and went over their win total.

Who Has the Toughest 2024 NFL Schedule?

• Pittsburgh Steelers

The AFC North sent three teams to the playoffs last year, one of which was the AFC’s #1 seed, and their worst team finished 9-8 with Joe Burrow only playing in ten games, and he appeared to be playing injured in at least a couple of those ten. Burrow is expected to be healthy heading into the 2024-25 NFL season. The Browns will also get their starting QB, Deshaun Watson, back this year, and the Ravens are expected to be among the league’s top contenders again this season.

So, things look pretty tough for Pittsburgh in their division.

Six of Pittsburgh’s games will be played against those divisional foes in the Ravens (win total of 11.5), Bengals (10.5), and Browns (8.5). But even when the Steelers get out of the AFC North, it doesn’t get a lot easier. They take on the AFC West, which projects to be tough games against the Chiefs and Chargers, and NFC East, which will bring tough games against the Eagles, Cowboys, and maybe Giants/Commanders.

Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2024-25 Schedule

Three of the Steelers’ first four games of the season will be played on the road, and their final eight games are about as tough as you can imagine. All six of their divisional games come in the final eight weeks, with the two non-divisional games coming against the Eagles and Chiefs. If the Steelers manage to find their way into the playoffs again this season, they will have truly earned it!

Pittsburgh’s average opponent in 2024 is a 9.1-win team and they have to deal with seven games against a double-digit-win opponent.

The Steelers only have to face one more projected opponent win than the team with the second-toughest schedule, the Patriots. New England finds themselves in a very similar situation to Pittsburgh within their division. The third-toughest schedule belongs to another AFC North team: the Cleveland Browns.

Who Has the Easiest 2024 NFL Schedule?

• Atlanta Falcons

The easiest schedule in the 2024 NFL season belongs to the Atlanta Falcons. Just like above with the Steelers, their division plays a big role in this. The NFC South was awful last year and Atlanta is the only team who projects to be much better than they were last season. The Falcons added Kirk Cousins (and Michael Penix Jr) at QB, who is expected to unlock the potentials of Drake London, Kyle Pitts, and Bijan Robinson. Atlanta also fired head coach Arthur Smith and replaced him with defensive-minded Raheem Morris. Zac Robinson will serve as their offensive coordinator this year, coming over from the Rams coaching staff.

The same optimism can’t be shared about the rest of the division. New Orleans (win total of 7.5) was a major disappointment in Derek Carr’s first season with the club, and didn’t really add anything notable coming into this season. Tampa Bay (8) won the division last year with a 9-8 record and will probably be a decent team again this year. Carolina (4.5) is tied for the lowest projected win total in the NFL this season after finishing with a league-worst 2-15 record last year. The Panthers are praying last year’s first-overall pick, Bryce Young, has not shown all he has so far.

Atlanta Falcons’ 2024-25 Schedule

Looking outside of the NFC South, the Falcons also get the NFC East and AFC West, which presents a bit of a mixed bag, as mentioned above with the Steelers. Atlanta’s average opponent is just a 7.6-win team and they only face three opponents with win totals higher than 8.5. They will play six games against teams with win totals of 6.5 or less.

Atlanta will get two of their tougher games out of the way in the first three weeks of the season, as they take on the Eagles in Week 2 and the Chiefs in Week 3. If you wanted to roll the dice on Atlanta losing both of those games, you would likely get a slightly lower line on their win total.

The second-easiest schedule in the league belongs to the Chargers, whose schedule is notably tougher with a 133 combined win total from their opponents.

Other 2024 NFL SOS Notes

• The toughest first-half schedule belongs to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who face an average 9.3-win team during the first nine weeks. Minnesota is a close second, as they also play an average 9.3-win team each of the first nine weeks.
• The easiest first-half schedule is the Chargers and Bears, who both face an average 7.4-win team for the first nine weeks.
• As mentioned above, the Steelers have the toughest schedule in the league this season, and the bulk of it comes in the second half of the year. Pittsburgh’s average opponent gets 1.8 wins tougher in the second half, the biggest increase in difficulty.
• Atlanta has the easiest schedule in the league, and it’s especially easy in the second half. The Falcons’ second-half opponents are an average two wins worse than their first half opponents, which is the biggest decrease in difficulty.
• The Chiefs have the toughest first four games in the NFL, as their first four opponents combine for 40 projected wins, an average of a 10-win team per week. The easiest first four games belongs to the Bengals, who only have to face a combined 27 projected wins, an average of 6.8 per week, through the first four weeks
• The Steelers play the toughest final four weeks of the season, seeing a grueling 44 projected wins from their opponents, or an average of an 11-win team each week. The easiest final four games belongs to the Falcons, who only face a 6-win team on average over the final four.

NFL 2nd Half Strength of Schedule Rankings

There is one flaw in these NFL SOS rankings for the second half of the 2024-25 NFL season: no sportsbook has released a win total for the Dallas Cowboys with Dak Prescott’s timetable for return very much up in the air.

I went ahead and set Dallas’ win total myself, putting it at 6.5. The Cowboys’ win total was 8.5 entering Week 9, and then they lost a coin-flip game to the Falcons. Even without Dak’s injury, I suspect the Cowboys would have reopened at 7.5/8. Without Dak, I see their only winnable game over the next four weeks coming against the Giants, but then it doesn’t get any easier after Dak’s potential return from the IR, if he misses the shortest possible time.

Some quick notes from the table above, as well as comparing the 2nd half SOS update with what we had to start the season:

• The Chicago Bears have the toughest second-half schedule, followed by the Pittsburgh Steelers
• The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the easiest second-half schedule, followed by the Atlanta Falcons
• The team who played the toughest first-half schedule, based on the update above, was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They are also the team whose schedule improves the most in the second half, going from an average 10.67-win team in the first half to an average 6-win team in the second half. (Two games against the Panthers help!)
• The team who played the easiest first half schedule, based on the update, was the Washington Commanders
• The team whose second-half schedule worsens versus what they saw in the first half is the Chicago Bears, who played an average 7.63-win team in the first half, but now have to deal with an average 9.94-win team in the second half
• The team whose second-half schedule is much harder than originally expected (updated SOS versus preseason SOS) is the Chicago Bears. Their average second half opponent was believed to be an 8.61-win team, but now appears to be a 9.94-win team.
• The team whose second-half schedule is much easier than originally expected is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Their average second-half opponent was believed to be a 7.5-win team, but it now appears to be just a 6-win team.