The Kansas City Chiefs schedule for the 2024 NFL season has been released.
More often than not in the NFL, the actual opponents are more important than when you play them. However, sometimes one team can have an advantage, such as extra rest or less recent travel. Earlier in the offseason we found out every teams’ opponents for the 2024 season months ago. Yet now, we know when the games will be played. And the NFL certainly didn’t do the Chiefs any favors. These are my thoughts on the Kansas City Chiefs schedule in 2024.
Early Gauntlet
The first three games of the season are against teams that are expected to compete for divisional and conference championships. The Baltimore Ravens will come to Arrowhead to watch the Chiefs unveil their Super Bowl banner, just months after losing to them in the AFC Championship. Then, the Bengals take their trip to Burrowhead (are they still calling it that?) in Week 2. With a presumably healthy Joe Burrow, the Bengals will be looking for vengeance from the 2023 AFC Championship.
If those two games weren’t tough enough to start the season, the Chiefs travel to Atlanta in Week 3 for a matchup with the Atlanta Falcons and newly acquired quarterback Kirk Cousins.
The Falcons should be much improved from last season, where they went 7-10 with below average quarterback play. Of those 10 losses, six of them were one possession games or losses on the final possession. Bijan Robinson is looking to build off his near-1,500 total yard rookie season, while Drake London is poised to become a top tier receiver in the league. Considering that Charles Omenihu and maybe Rashee Rice (depending on how his legal situation shakes out) will be out for these games, this will be a tough stretch to start the season. If the Chiefs can come out of Week 3 with two or three wins, I will consider that a success.
The Easy Stretch
Luckily for the Chiefs, the stretch of games after the Ravens-Bengals-Falcons gauntlet should be significantly easier. The Los Angeles Chargers continue to underperform with the talent they have (which is now even less than previous years). And, getting them early in the year before the rookies find their footing will help even more.
The New Orleans Saints could be a solid team with a solid roster from top to bottom. However, Derek Carr coming into Arrowhead Stadium on Monday Night Football sounds like a recipe for success for the Chiefs. Then Week 6 brings the bye week.
Having an early bye is almost always worse than having it late. The only positive will be that Charles Omenihu will miss one less game while recovering from his late season torn ACL in 2023.
Week 7 in San Francisco will likely be one of the toughest games on the schedule. This is especially true with the Niners having revenge on their mind after losing the Super Bowl. Luckily, Andy Reid is almost unbeatable coming off the bye week. His teams are 27-5 the week after a bye. The extra week off for him (and Patrick Mahomes) to get ready makes them nearly unstoppable. That will certainly be put to the test this season with a trip to San Francisco on board.
Weeks 8 and 9 feature a couple potential trap games. Being on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders has been a tough game for the Chiefs in the past. Everyone in the AFC West pulls out all the stops to take down the eight-time defending division champions.
Next up is a clash against the Bucs on Monday Night Football. Baker Mayfield had a career renaissance last season. He made his first Pro Bowl and led the Bucs to the playoffs and wild card win over the defending NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles. Tampa has weapons on offense and plenty of talent on defense to keep pace with any team in the league. Four of their eight losses in 2023 were decided by one score. Another factor in making this a potentially tough game is that it’s a non-conference game sandwiched between two divisional matchups, so the Chiefs could be focused on seemingly more important games.
Weeks 10-12 house a couple “easier” games with a tough one in between. The Denver Broncos come to Kansas City in Week 10. By then, rookie Bo Nix will have likely gotten at least a little acclimated to the league. Steve Spagnoulo should have the defense firing on all cylinders by then, so they will look to put the rookie through his toughest test up to that point.
A trip to Buffalo follows, with yet another team looking for revenge from a playoff loss. After “Wide Right 2.0” cost the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Divisional round matchup, they will certainly be looking to make a statement against the Chiefs.
Following that will be a trip down to Charlotte to take on the upstart Carolina Panthers. Right now, this looks like a seemingly easy matchup on the schedule. That could change if Bryce Young makes a significant leap in his second season, but it would have to be a pretty monumental leap in order for the two-win Panthers to be a competitive team in 2024.
Back-to-Back Division Games on National TV
After a Christmas Day game last season, the Chiefs will clash with the Raiders on Black Friday in 2024. The Chiefs will look to avenge that Christmas loss last season and move closer to a late season playoff push.
The following week sees the Chargers come to town for Sunday Night Football. The Chargers have disappointed in the Justin Herbert Era, but I think this could be the worst year yet for them. A new coach and an entirely new (and worse) group of weapons for Herbert will likely lead to a struggle in John Harbaugh’s first season. This is an important stretch for the Chiefs to assert themselves in the division before the final push for playoff seeding at the end of the year.
Three Games in 11 Days
If the league is concerned about player health and safety, they sure didn’t show it when they scheduled the Chiefs in Week 15 through Week 17. The first game is on December 15th (Sunday), on the road against the Cleveland Browns. Depending on how Deshaun Watson is playing, that could be a very tough game.
That Saturday, they come back home to play the Houston Texans. Assuming CJ Stroud doesn’t have a sophomore slump, the Texans should be a real threat in the AFC and will be a tough test on short rest. Then just four days later the Chiefs are back on the road facing the Steelers on Christmas Day. If one of Russell Wilson or Justin Fields reaches their ceiling, they could also be a tough test.
So to recap, not only do the Chiefs have three potentially tough games in 11 days, but they also have to travel between all three of them. Normally teams that have a short rest week (Sunday one week then Thursday the next week) get almost 10 days off after the Thursday game. In this case, the Chiefs get shorted one day from Week 15 to 16, then get shorted three days from Week 16 to 17. That doesn’t seem like a way to prioritize player safety, especially considering that they will have had their bye 10 weeks prior to the shorted rest game.
Divisional Matchup to Close the Regular Season
Twice in the past four years, the Kansas City Chiefs schedule has allowed them to rest a majority of their starters in Week 18. Both of those seasons have seen them make the Super Bowl. I think this team has a real shot to get another extra bye week this season. They will probably need it, after the three game stretch prior to Week 18.
If Kansas City can come out of September undefeated or with one loss, they will have at least one tiebreaker over a top AFC team (two if they beat both the Ravens and Bengals). If they don’t get to rest in Week 18, then the matchup in Denver could be an interesting one. The divisional opponents love nothing more than spoiling the party for the team who has dominated the division for almost a decade. With a rookie quarterback just finishing up his first season, they could tell him to go out there and just go all out and see what happens. That can turn into trouble for any team. Playing in Denver in January probably won’t be easy, but I trust Andy and company to get the job done if they need to.
Overall Thoughts
Aside from the tough start, short rest stretch, and early bye week, the Kansas City Chiefs schedule is a good draw overall. There is only one back-to-back-to-back travel stretch of games. There is a nice stretch of games that they should win (Weeks 4 through 14 only have two games I am worried about). The end of schedule is also pretty forgiving as far as the teams they play. Aside from the Texans, there’s unlikely to be any other 2024 division winners on the schedule after the Bills in Week 11.
- First Glance Record Prediction: 13-4
