For the Buffalo Bills, five games matter more than the rest. They aren’t within the AFC East. They have nothing to do with celebrating the final season at old Rich Stadium.
Spread evenly throughout the Bills’ 2025 regular season is the Super Series, five gargantuan opponents in an otherwise dull schedule.
The Super Series features: The past three Lombardi Trophy winners; two coach/quarterback combos that eliminated Buffalo each of the past four postseasons; winners of the six MVP Awards before Josh Allen — if Aaron Rodgers signs where expected; four non-division enemies Buffalo has rematched against in the playoffs seven times over the past five years.
The Super Series is where the Bills demonstrate to the world whether they’re worthy title contenders:
- Week 1: Baltimore Ravens
- Week 9: Kansas City Chiefs
- Week 13 at Pittsburgh Steelers
- Week 14: Cincinnati Bengals
- Week 17: Philadelphia Eagles
These are the supercharged rivalries that emerge for great teams, for perennial contenders.
𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄‼️https://t.co/v8vL05zdhf | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/F77HDrBOlt
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) May 15, 2025
Although the Bills can’t treat the AFC East as an afterthought, their mission is bigger than just another division crown. They’ve been there, done that without the ultimate prize. The Bills have won the AFC East five straight seasons, and each of their counterparts is in a state of flux. The New York Jets and New England Patriots have new coaches. The Jets also have a new quarterback. The Miami Dolphins are the most stable AFC East club, and their star players keep lashing out against the organization.
Granted, the Bengals and Steelers aren’t as fearsome as the other Super Series opponents, but their coaches and quarterbacks (again, if Rodgers signs in Pittsburgh) have reached the Super Bowl. Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow was the NFL’s best passer last year and, when he remains upright, is a legitimate MVP candidate.
You can fathom all six quarterbacks in this Super Series making the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Four of the five games happen in Highmark Stadium, where the Bills own an NFL-best 39-11 home record since 2019.
NFL schedulers reinforced the bookends for the stadium’s farewell. It opens on Sunday night against the Ravens, another showdown between the two most recent MVPs. Buffalo split with Baltimore last year, each winning at home. Baltimore was favored by a point in the playoff rematch, but Buffalo escaped thanks to tight end Mark Andrews’ fumbled catch-and-run and dropped two-point conversion.
Smack dab in the middle of the season, two weeks after Buffalo’s bye, is the annual heavyweight matchup against Kansas City. Bills Mafia knows too well September through December doesn’t mean much when you can’t beat the Chiefs in the tournament. The Bills are 4-1 against them in the regular season since Allen became the quarterback and 0-4 in the playoffs, but that won’t matter in the heat of the Week 9 moment. Highmark Stadium will froth over.
The Bills might not have anything to play for Week 18 against the Jets, but tremors will reverberate through the ballpark a week earlier for the potential Super Bowl preview against the defending champs – plus the reigning season MVP versus reigning Super Bowl MVP.
Philadelphia captured everyone’s imagination with its Super Bowl beatdown of Kansas City and now is the NFL’s organizational measuring stick. We’ll never know how well Buffalo would have fared against Philly in the grand finale — the Bills’ offensive line was far superior to the Chiefs’, and Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio wouldn’t have had the luxury of dominating up front without a blitz — but what unfolds three days after Christmas will be fascinating to watch.
The last time they met, the Bills lost a rainy, overtime heartbreaker at Lincoln Financial Field. Allen and Jalen Hurts combined for nine total touchdowns in the first NFL game that involved both quarterbacks passing and rushing for at least two TDs apiece. Gobs of blown officiating calls slammed the Bills repeatedly.
Aside from the Super Series, the schedule is fairly cushy. Based on last year’s records, Buffalo’s opponents owned a combined .467 win percentage. Just eight clubs have lower schedule strengths, and none were good enough to make the playoffs.
The Bills are, by far, the best team with the softest schedule, and it looks like they have a glorious opportunity to build a great record through October against a slew of new coaching systems and quarterback swap-outs.
AFC East teams have nine home games and eight away this year. Just two of the Bills’ road games are with playoff teams, and they occur back-to-back: the Houston Texans on Thursday night in Week 12 and the Steelers 10 days later. Mike Tomlin is the only road coach to have won a Super Bowl, but that was 17 years ago; the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in nine years.
Then there is Buffalo’s light mileage. Houston is the lone trip outside the Eastern time zone and, for those Bills fans who travel, the only destination among the eight road games that usually requires a connecting flight. The NFL South locales, Charlotte and Atlanta, are high-traffic hubs. AFC North foes Cleveland and Pittsburgh are casual drives.
The Bills avoided four potential international dates through road games with the Jets and Browns (London), Steelers (Dublin) and Dolphins (Madrid).
Also beneficial is that coveted Sunday rhythm can commence with six games left in the regular season, meaning all the off-day and primetime games will be out of the way by Week 13 and the Bills can settle into a routine players love. Last year, the Bills played their last 14 games, including playoffs, on Sundays. They went 11-3, with starters rested for the Week 18 loss to the Patriots.
The Bills’ 2025 calendar presents the chance to amass a lopsided record that finally earns them the No. 1 seed, the first-round playoff bye and home-field advantage throughout the tournament.
Within that schedule is the Super Series, and how the Bills perform in those games will be the truest indication of whether they have what it takes.
(Photo: Greg Fiume / Getty Images)