When the Rams take the field against the Bills on Monday night, they’ll be doing something no NFL team has ever done before: Playing their fourth prime time game within the first five games of the season.

The Rams are the first NFL team to play four of their first five games in prime time.

In Week 1, the Rams played the 49ers, in a game that kicked off on Friday morning in Australia but was televised on Thursday night in the United States. In Week 2, the Rams were on Monday Night Football against the Giants. In Week 3, the Rams were on Sunday Night Football against the Broncos. In Week 4, the Rams played their first Sunday afternoon game against the Eagles. And in Week 5, they’ll be back on Monday night against the Bills.

A combination of factors led to the Rams’ unusual schedule, primarily that they were expected to be the best team in the NFL, meaning the league wanted to showcase them, and the league plays a lot more prime time games than it used to. In the old days, when Monday Night Football was the only prime time slot, the NFL would never have put one team in four of the first five Monday night games. Now that there are prime time games on Sunday, Monday and Thursday every week, and occasionally other nights of the week as well, it’s easier for the league to find prime time slots for marquee teams.

But when the NFL is putting the best teams in prime time, it weakens the Sunday afternoon slate. The NFL now plays more games in prime time than ever before, more Europe games on Sunday mornings than ever before, and more games on holidays than ever before, including Thanksgiving Eve, Black Friday and Christmas Day. Those games tend to feature top teams the league wants to showcase before a big audience, and those games have to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is Sunday afternoon.

After Monday night against the Bills, the Rams play their next five games on Sunday afternoon, assuming none of them are flexed into a prime time slot. But they still have a Thanksgiving Eve game against the Packers, a Thursday night game against the Chiefs and a Christmas Night game against the Seahawks ahead.

The Rams have the kind of schedule that couldn’t have existed for most of NFL history.