Here’s the speculation on who Chiefs might face in season opener (banner night)
Two months ago Monday*, the Royals announced a scheduled game on Sept. 10 instead would be part of a doubleheader at Kauffman Stadium two days earlier.
*Thanks to the coronavirus, this seems more like 6 months ago
That move would free up the Truman Sports Complex should the NFL decide to have the Chiefs open the 2020 season with a home game. It would allow the Chiefs to raise a banner and celebrate their Super Bowl victory in front of a nationally televised audience.
In five of the last six seasons, banner night in the NFL was on a Thursday and involved the Super Bowl champion. Last year’s game was the exception as the NFL celebrated the start of its 100th season by having two of its oldest franchises play: the Bears and Packers.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL is expected to announce its 2020 schedule in the coming week, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.
Who might the Chiefs face in that opener? We know it’ll be one of these eight teams:
- Denver Broncos (7-9 record a year ago)
- Las Vegas Raiders (7-9)
- Los Angeles Chargers (5-11)
- New England Patriots (12-4)
- Houston Texans (10-6)
- New York Jets (7-9)
- Atlanta Falcons (7-9)
- Carolina Panthers (5-11)
It seems probable that three of those teams could be scratched off the list of potential opening-night foes: the Jets, Falcons and Panthers, as they lack a wow factor. The Patriots and Texans are coming off playoff appearances, while the Chargers, Raiders and Broncos are AFC West rivals, so there would be some, to quote my friend Terez Paylor, juice with those contests.
Over the last 10 years, only one defending Super Bowl champion has opened against a division foe: the Giants played host to the Cowboys in 2012.
However, NBC Sports’ Peter King speculated about NFL’s first two weekends. He wrote after the scouting combine: “(T)he Chiefs could host the opener against, say, the Raiders or Texans.
“That would leave Sunday night for the opening of the new jewel of the league: SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. I’d expect the Rams to open at home in Week 1 and the co-tenant Chargers opening at home in Week 2 or 3. If it’s the Rams in Week 1, imagine Cowboys-Rams on Sunday night, with the glitterati schmoozing with Roger Goodell and Al Michaels and LeBron James pre-game.”
Jon Gruden and the Las Vegas Raiders facing the defending Super Bowl champions? That has an allure.
Pro Football Focus predicted Houston would be the opponent:
Joe Reedy of the Associated Press wrote in late March: “The easiest choice to oppose Kansas City during the Sept. 10 kickoff game would be New England because it would be the Patriots’ first game without Tom Brady since early in 2001. But three of the last seven opening games have been playoff rematches. If that trend continues it could be Houston.”
A Patriots-Chiefs matchup also would feature the last two Super Bowl champions.
So it seems the likely candidates are the Texans, Patriots and Raiders, but one dark-horse opponent is the Broncos.
Denver is all-in with Drew Lock, the former Lee’s Summit High School/Mizzou star, and linebacker Von Miller has recovered from COVID-19, giving NBC Sports a storyline about the first game after the pandemic, which hopefully will be over by then.
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 9:46 AM.
