Five things we know about the Chiefs’ 2024 schedule ahead of NFL’s official release
Here’s a tip of the cap to the NFL.
No other sports league can get fans worked up about the release of its schedule quite like the NFL. The full schedule will be revealed Wednesday night, but the NFL began sharing some details on Monday.
That’s kept the sports-talk show people focused on the NFL this week while the NBA and NHL playoffs are in full swing and Major League Baseball games are played each night.
Here are five things to know about the Chiefs schedule ahead of the full release.
1. Christmas all over again
The Chiefs played on Christmas a year ago and the NFL has asked them to do it again. This time, the Chiefs will be playing the Steelers in Pittsburgh and the game will stream on Netflix (but also be shown locally in KC).
Because Christmas is on a Wednesday, the NFL has said any team that plays that holiday will have a Saturday game in the previous week. That’s so players have enough rest ahead of the Christmas game. Well, that’s the NFL’s logic.
That Chiefs’ game on Saturday likely would be against the Texans, because Houston plays the Ravens on Christmas.
2. Two Monday games
ESPN broadcaster Joe Buck said Tuesday on “Good Morning America” that the Chiefs would be playing two “Monday Night Football” games.
Saints reporter John Hendrix said that one of those Chiefs games on “Monday Night Football” would come on Oct. 7.
3. Strength of schedule
Regardless of the order in which the games are played, the Chiefs will have the 19th-most difficult schedule, per the NFL.
Sharp Football Analysis uses the projected win totals from oddsmakers to determine each team’s strength of schedule. Using that method, the Chiefs have the 12th-most difficult slate of games.
4. The opponents
The Chiefs will play eight games at home and nine on the road this season.
Here’s who is coming to GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium: Bengals, Broncos, Buccaneers, Chargers, Raiders, Ravens, Saints and Texans.
The Chiefs’ road games: Bills, Broncos, Browns, Chargers, Falcons, Panthers, Raiders, Steelers and 49ers.
5. Home and home
The NFL has already announced the Chiefs will open the season against the Ravens in the NFL Kickoff Game. That’ll be Sept. 5 at Arrowhead Stadium and the Chiefs will raise their Super Bowl LVIII championship banner. The game will air on NBC.
In Week 2, the Bengals will come to KC. That game is set for Sept. 15 at 3:25 p.m. and will air on CBS. It’s almost certain that Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will call that game.
Playing their first two games at home means the Chiefs will play nine of their final 15 games away from Kansas City.
It seems likely they will end the regular season with a road game.
Bonus: Rumor mill
The Chiefs’ Super Bowl rematch with the San Francisco 49ers will be Oct. 20, reports Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. That would be a Week 7 meeting.
Should that game be on Fox, it could be the first time Chiefs fans will hear Tom Brady calling their game.
A couple of X accounts were saying the Chiefs would face the Raiders on Amazon Prime’s Black Friday game. That’d be the day after Thanksgiving.
Should those rumors prove true (and take that with a grain of salt), it would mean the Chiefs would play at least one game on every day of the week except Tuesday in the upcoming season.
Zach Klein, a sports director at an Atlanta television station, said the Falcons would play host to the Chiefs in Week 3.
NFL reporter John Schultz reported the Bills would play host to the Chiefs in Week 11.
This story was originally published May 15, 2024 at 8:06 AM.
