The NFL will stage a game on the night before Thanksgiving for the first time when the Los Angeles Rams host the Green Bay Packers on Wednesday, Nov. 25, at 8 p.m. ET on Netflix. The rare midweek slot comes at a cost for both clubs, and the wife of Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has publicly taken the league to task over it.
Kelly Stafford posted on Instagram this week to question why the Rams were handed what she views as a scheduling disadvantage compared with the rest of the league. To make the Wednesday game work, both teams effectively had to sacrifice their traditional bye week.
"Just curious to hear the thought process behind making the Rams the only team in the NFL without a true bye week," she wrote. "Because damn, after 18 years around this league, even I need a week off during the season..and I have never played a single snap."
A typical bye gives a team 14 days between games, but the Rams will get only 10. After visiting the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Nov. 15, their scheduled off week falls on Nov. 22. They then return to face the Packers on that Wednesday before playing the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday, Dec. 3.
The Packers face a similar squeeze, though their version is slightly kinder. Green Bay plays the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, Nov. 15, takes its listed bye on Nov. 22, visits the Rams on Nov. 25 and then does not play again until Sunday, Dec. 6, at the New Orleans Saints. That leaves Green Bay with only one game over a 19-day stretch, though it still falls short of a full bye.
Bye weeks are valued around the league as a chance for players to rest and heal, and neither the Rams nor the Packers will get the full version in 2026. Kelly Stafford suggested the strain goes beyond the field. "I'm tired just watching from the stands," she wrote. "Can't imagine how the guys feel."
She closed her post by inviting the league to justify the decision. "Anyway, feel free to leave that explanation right here," Stafford wrote.
The Wednesday game is only one quirk in what has been one of the wildest schedules in the NFL this season. The Rams also have a Friday game against the Seattle Seahawks on Christmas Day, and if they get flexed into a Saturday slot in Week 17 or Week 18, they would end up playing a game on six different days of the week during a single season.
Los Angeles has served as the league's guinea pig in other ways, too. The Rams played in the inaugural Australia game back in Week 1, and thanks in part to that trip they are scheduled to travel more than 34,000 miles this season.
There is at least one consolation for the Stafford family and everyone else in the organization. Because the Packers game is at home, the Rams will spend Thanksgiving in Los Angeles, leaving players free to enjoy the holiday weekend with their families despite the unusual calendar.
