Here’s why the Chiefs will play at New England in regular season again next year
As it was for all NFL teams, the Chiefs’ opponents and home and away designations for the 2019 regular season were known with the conclusion of the Week 17 games on Sunday.
One opponent and destination got more attention than others: The Chiefs will play at New England next season.
Again.
If you’re counting, 2019 will be the third straight year the Chiefs will have played in Foxborough during the regular season.
Seems a little much, doesn’t it?
Two reasons explain the streak. First, all matchups are a product of a scheduling formula devised by the NFL in 2002, when the league added the Texans and expanded to its current structure of 16-team conferences each with four, four-team divisions.
Second, the Chiefs and Patriots are seeing more of each other these days because they’re both good.
The reasons are related.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the formula:
Every team plays its division opponents, home and away. That’s six games.
The teams from one division play all four teams from another division within the conference on a rotating basis. In 2018, the AFC West played all the teams in AFC North. Next season, AFC West teams will play all AFC South teams.
The teams from one division play all four teams from a division in the other conference also on a rotating basis. In 2018, the AFC West met the NFC West teams. In 2019, AFC West teams will play all teams in the NFC North.
We’re up to 14 games. Here’s where being good comes into play.
The final two games are played against conference opponents based on the division standing. That is, first-place teams will meet first-place teams from another division, second vs. second, and so on.
From 2003-12 the Patriots and Colts played every season. They weren’t in the same division but they often finished first, which put them on an annual collision course.
That’s what is happening with the Chiefs and Patriots. Finishing first in the AFC divisions this season were the Chiefs (West), Patriots (East), Ravens (North) and Texans (South).
The Chiefs already play all AFC South teams in 2019, leaving the Patriots and Ravens to fill out the schedule.
In 2017, the Chiefs played at New England in the divisional rotation. The previous time the teams played in the regular season, in 2014, the game was at Arrowhead in this formula. The rotation will bring the teams together in Kansas City in 2020.
The 2018 and 2019 meetings are products of the standings, and a NFL official put it this way: “The scheduling system is not random. It is a straight rotation that ensures that over any six-or 12-year stretch, the number of home games between intra-conference teams will even out.
“So if the Chiefs and Patriots have played three consecutive years in New England (one by rotation, two by standings), they would play the next three years in Kansas City (one by rotation and two by standings, if applicable).”
Before the current rotation system was in place, the Steelers played at Arrowhead seven straight times in the regular season from 1992-2003.
Also, remember the next time the Chiefs and Patriots could meet again is in the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 20. That game would be in Kansas City.