In some sports, playing three games in 11 days would be seen as a quiet stretch in the schedule. However, football is different, though this type of stretch is becoming more common in the NFL.
“I just kind of put myself in a basketball perspective. Those guys play back-to-back, so I guess there’s a little merit behind us quote-unquote complaining about it, but they are playing 82 games,” said Baltimore Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton.
“MLB players are playing 162 games, and we have 17, and we’re trying to fight them to go to 18 right now. I think it’s good in a sense that we’ll see who is most prepared down the stretch, and it’s really challenging for teams — everybody that’s involved.”
The Ravens are one of five teams that will go through a three-game, 11-day stretch. The Ravens, Chiefs, Steelers, and Texans will play Sunday, the following Saturday, and then Wednesday after that on Christmas. Chicago has a game this coming Monday night, followed by a Sunday game and then a Thursday game on December 26.
Before this season, only 21 teams in the Super Bowl era had played three games in 11 days, according to Sportradar. In 2024, there are nine stretches like that in the schedule. In addition to the five teams above, four other teams have already had a three-game, 11-day stretch.
The Jets, Seahawks, Saints, and Cowboys all had Monday-Sunday-Thursday stretches like the Bears will face. The Jets and Cowboys went 2-1 during those stretches, but the Seahawks and Saints went 0-3.
“Try to win the first one, rest, try to get your body back how it should be,” said Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson. “If it’s not 100 percent, try to get it close as possible — just get ready to play football. That’s all.”
For Baltimore, the easiest game of the three is, in theory, the first. As of Thursday afternoon, the Ravens were favored by 16 points at the New York Giants this weekend, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. However, Baltimore has already lost to last-place teams like the Raiders and Browns this season.
So the Ravens need to avoid overlooking the struggling Giants. After their trip to New Jersey, Baltimore will return home to face Pittsburgh in a game crucial to their AFC North title hopes. Then, they will play a road game against AFC South-leading Houston on Christmas.
“The big picture is, ‘All hands on deck.’ We’re focused toward playing our best game so far on Sunday,” coach John Harbaugh said. “We’re going to need to do that, and that’s what we’re training and preparing to do. We have a plan for the three-game stretch, and that plan starts with Sunday.”
The Ravens also played on Christmas last year, but that was on a Monday, so it wasn’t a huge change to the schedule. If there’s one advantage for Baltimore this season, it’s that they had their bye week last week, right before this tough three-game stretch.
But that also meant Baltimore was one of the last teams to have a week off. The Ravens started earlier than almost anyone else, as they were part of the NFL’s opening game against Kansas City.
“We reported to camp earlier than everybody else for that Thursday night game, and I think KC had their bye a little while ago,” Hamilton said. “I guess we had the longest stretch, continuous, of anybody else.
It’s just going to be that much better at the end of it all, when we do what we need to do, and we can look back on that and say, ‘We did that, and we came out and won these three games.’”
