The Monday night football schedule is finally finished for the NFL in Week 16 and the season finale has a great matchup with the Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers and the game will be on ESPN and is the final game from Candlestick Park before the team opens their brand new facility in the Bay Area.
The Falcons and 49ers game was looked at as a fantastic finale to the MNF season, but with Atlanta having a horrible year, it will be more about the 49ers making the playoffs and the stadium closing in Candlestick Park. The Falcons can make things tough for the 49ers, as they are playing for pride and it will be interesting to see how this game turns out.
Yeah it's old, but for fun here is a flashback of the Monday night football schedule for the season and some of our best and worst predictions from the NFL year.
This harks back to the preseason, but so what, we all had hope back then right? Falcons fans, Giants fans and Redskins fans too! The rest of the preseason will include the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Washington Redskins on Monday Aug 19 in Week 3 before finishing up with the Carolina Panthers vs. Baltimore Ravens on Thursday Aug. 22 in Week 4 before the season begins. The opening night of the season will have the Philadelphia Eagles visit the Washington Redskins and in usual tradition, it will be a double header with the Houston Texans heading out to San Diego to play the Chargers at 10:15 PM. Both games are big matchups of teams with high expectations and Monday will be the first chance to see the offense from Chip Kelly in action.
The second week of the season will have another division matchup, as the AFC North will see the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to play the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night. The Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos will do battle in the Mile High City for Week 3 at 8:30 PM and the following week the Miami Dolphins will visit with the New Orleans Saints while the Green Bay Packers and the Carolina Panthers have bye weeks. In Week 5 the New York Jets will play against the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome and the following week MNF will return to San Diego for the Chargers and the Indianapolis Colts.
In Week 7, the New York Giants will host the Minnesota Vikings and that will put MetLife Stadium on the national stage before the Super Bowl takes place there later in the year. Oakland and New Orleans have bye weeks and the next Monday Night Football game will be an NFC West tilt with the Seattle Seahawks visiting the St. Louis Rams and that week the Chicago, Tennessee, Indianapolis, San Diego, Baltimore and Houston all have byes. Week 9 is a classic matchup between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field and that will be followed by an in-state battle down in Florida when the Miami Dolphins visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium.
The New England Patriots will visit the Carolina Panthers in Week 11 and the following week, the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins will play in the nation's capital in a game that could be an NFC championship preview. The first game in December will be the New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks in a rematch of a playoff game from years ago and that will be in the loudest stadium in the league at CenturyLink Field. Week 14 will be a matchup of two classic franchises when the Dallas Cowboys visit the Chicago Bears and in Week 15 the Baltimore Ravens will visit the Detroit Lions.
Week 16 will have a matchup of last year's postseason with the Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers and in Week 17 there is no Monday Night Football game, but there are plenty of interesting matchups. The past two seasons the NFC East was decided on the final day of the season in the flexed night game on NBC and this year the Redskins and Giants play in Week 17 and so do the Eagles and Cowboys, so there is a good chance there will be intrigue in the NFC East again.
Click here for the full NFL schedule for 2013 and for more information on Monday Night Football and the NFL from Sports World Report.
