How to Watch NFL Games Today Online for Free, Including Chiefs vs. Seahawks on 'Sunday Night Football'
It's week 16 of the 2018 season and, as the playoffs draw near, there are some critically important matchups on the NFL game schedule today — including Texans vs. Eagles and Steelers vs. Saints this afternoon and Chiefs vs. Seahawks on "Sunday Night Football" tonight.
What NFL games can fans watch on TV today, Sunday, Dec. 23? Well, everyone gets to watch the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Seattle Seahawks game for free. All "Sunday Night Football" games are broadcast nationally only on NBC, including Chiefs vs. Seahawks tonight.
Other than that matchup, what NFL games you can see on TV will vary based on where you live. All Sunday afternoon games are broadcast on CBS and Fox, but local stations air different games around the country: They generally have free broadcasts of the local team's NFL games, along with a few other games that should be of interest to football fans in the region.
Here's all the info for how to watch the NFL games today for free — online or on TV — no matter where you live.
What NFL Games Are on TV Today?
Here is the full NFL game TV broadcast schedule for today:
• Cincinnati Bengals vs. Cleveland Browns, 1 p.m. ET on CBS
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Dallas Cowboys, 1 p.m. ET on Fox
• Minnesota Vikings vs. Detroit Lions, 1 p.m. ET on Fox
• Buffalo Bills vs. New England Patriots, 1 p.m. ET on CBS
• Green Bay Packers vs. New York Jets, 1 p.m. ET on Fox
• Houston Texans vs. Philadelphia Eagles, 1 p.m. ET on CBS
• Atlanta Falcons vs. Carolina Panthers, 1 p.m. ET on Fox
• New York Giants vs. Indianapolis Colts, 1 p.m. ET on CBS
• Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Miami Dolphins, 1 p.m. ET on CBS
• Los Angeles Rams vs. Arizona Cardinals, 4:05 p.m. ET on Fox
• Chicago Bears vs. San Francisco 49ers, 4:05 p.m. ET on Fox
• Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New Orleans Saints, 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS
• Kansas City Chiefs vs. Seattle Seahawks, 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC
You don't need cable TV to watch the Chiefs vs. Rams on "Sunday Night Football" or any of the Sunday afternoon NFL games airing on your local CBS and Fox stations. To watch these games, all you need is a digital antenna hooked up to your TV.
A basic HDTV antenna costs around $25. With it, you can watch the local broadcasts of the major over-the-air networks, including ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, in hi-def for free, in most of the country. The exact lineup of channels you can watch with just an antenna will vary based on where you live and the strength of your antenna.
How to Live Stream NFL Games Today Free on Your Phone
If you don't have a TV, or want to watch NFL games online for free on your phone for whatever reason, check out the Yahoo Sports app or NFL App. Either app provides free live streams of all the same NFL games you could watch free on TV.
Specifically, the Yahoo Sports app and NFL app give users free live streams of all of the NFL games broadcasting on CBS and NBC stations in your region, as well as nationally broadcast games including Chiefs vs. Seahawks on "Sunday Night Football" tonight, "Monday Night Football" on ESPN, and "Thursday Night Football" on Fox and the NFL Network. Take note, however, that live streams from these apps are available only on smartphones — and will not work on larger screens, such as laptops or smart TVs.
How to Watch NFL Games Online for Free With a Streaming TV Service
Another way to watch NFL games online — on a smart TV or any size screen you like — is by subscribing to a streaming TV service that includes local broadcast channels in its packages. The live streaming TV services Fubo TV, Hulu Live, DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue, and YouTube TV include such broadcast channels in most of the country.
What's more, new subscribers to streaming TV — which provides bundles of channels like cable, only viewers watch online rather than via a cable box — can try out the services for free for about a week. After the free trial ends, you'll be charged for the first month; rates start at about $40 per month for the services mentioned above.
If you decide not to become a paying subscriber, remember to cancel in time. That way, you'll simply be able to watch NFL games and other content totally for free, at least for a week's time. Before signing up for a free trial, double check with the provider that it includes local broadcasts of CBS, Fox, and NBC channels — they're not available with all streaming TV services in all parts of the country.
How to Watch Every NFL Game Today
For all of the ways to watch NFL games today for free cited above, fans can only watch games that are 1.) broadcast on their local network TV channels; or 2.) broadcast nationally on channels like NBC or ESPN. But what if you're a fan who wants to watch games that aren't broadcast nationally or on local CBS or Fox stations?
To watch out-of-market NFL games, you'll have to subscribe to a special package like DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket. Prices for NFL Sunday Ticket start at about $300 per season, and subscribers can watch (or stream) all out-of-market NFL games every Sunday.
Another option is NFL Game Pass, which costs $99.99 for the season and is available to new subscribers for free during a seven-day free trial. NFL Game Pass provides free broadcasts of all out-of-market NFL games, but subscribers only get to watch after the games have ended. In other words, you can't use NFL Game Pass to watch (or stream) games live.
But quite obviously, NFL Game Pass is cheaper than NFL Sunday Ticket. NFL Game Pass also lets subscribers watch condensed, commercial-free versions of games, so it can save you a ton of time — not to mention the aggravation of watching the same ad over and over during a game.
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