The 2024 season is an interesting one for the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, who at some point in the year will play on every day of the week except Tuesday. It is no surprise that the back-to-back champs were selected for so many prime-time and holiday games as they look to be the first team to three-peat.
The Chiefs kick us off with the first regular season game of the year with their banner ceremony on Sept. 5 against the Baltimore Ravens. From there, they have a Black Friday game, a Christmas Day game, a Saturday game, two Sunday night games and two Monday night games.
It is certainly a lot and is something NFL vice president of broadcast planning Mike North admits will be difficult for K.C.
“We maybe gave the Chiefs the hardest schedule in the league,” North said.
While they will be under the lights a lot this year, their strength of schedule is actually easier than most. According to Sharp Football Analysis, the Chiefs have the 12th-easiest set of opponents, who have an average over/under of 8.2 wins.
Two-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes is content with who he is playing this season and when he is playing them, but he does have one complaint about how Kansas City’s games lined up.
As a father of two, the obvious complaint would be playing on Christmas Day, but it is actually when their bye week falls that he sees slight issue with.
“The only thing I don’t like is the early bye,” Mahomes said. “The early bye is always tough. But other than that, I’m just ready to play football.”
“It’s the earliest I’ve ever had a bye,” Mahomes added. “We do get the Christmas Wednesday night game, which could be like a four-day weekend. But at the same time, that Week 6 bye? It’s Texas Tech’s bye, too, so I can’t even go see my college team.”
The AFC West is paired against the NFC South this year, which is a big reason why their schedule is rated on the easier side.
The Chiefs go almost the entire season without playing back-to-back games against an team who advanced to the playoffs last year. The most difficult section of their schedule comes right at the beginning, when they face the Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals to start the season.