The 2020 schedule for the Kansas City Chiefs has been released, and at first glance, it looks to be a good schedule for the team. It seems like they should be able to take advantage of a few different parts of the schedule but it also won’t be a walk in the park.
Here are my takeaways from the Chiefs’ 2020 schedule. You can find the full schedule here for reference.
Tough opponents, easy schedule early
The early goings of the 2020 NFL season look to be a grinder for Kansas City as far as opponents. They open the season against three AFC playoff teams from last season in the Texans, Ravens and Patriots.
The nice thing is that the Chiefs will have extra time to prepare for Week 2 and Week 3 opponents because they start the season on “Thursday Night Football” and Week 3 is a “Monday Night Football” game. That also means two of the games will be played in primetime which comes with a little bit more pressure to perform.
Week 1 and Week 4 will occur at Arrowhead Stadium, which is also a nice early advantage.
Primetime kings
For the third consecutive season, the Chiefs will participate in five primetime games. Here is a look at those matchups this year:
| Week | Opponent | Time (CT) | Date |
| 1 | vs. Houston Texans | 7:20 p.m. Thu, Sept. 10th |
| 3 | at Baltimore Ravens | 7:15 p.m. Mon, Sept. 28th |
| 6 | at Buffalo Bills | 7:20 p.m. Thu, Oct 15th |
| 11 | at Las Vegas Raiders | 7:20 p.m. Sun, Nov. 22nd |
| 13 | vs. Denver Broncos | 7:20 p.m. Sun, Dec. 6th |
In the first six weeks of the NFL season, the Chiefs will get a total of three primetime games including two “Thursday Night Football” games. They’ll get a short week against the Bills after facing the Raiders at Arrowhead Stadium.
Two of the late-season primetime games come against AFC West opponents, while none of the primetime games are played against NFC opponents. If the Chiefs want a primetime matchup against an NFC opponent they’ll have to make it to Super Bowl LV.
You can find the full schedule here for reference.
Balanced schedule
The Chiefs’ schedule is very balanced from the get-go. They don’t play more than two games on the road at a given time. That could be done by design to prevent teams from traveling too much with the worry of the COVID-19 pandemic at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
The one worrisome stretch is that after the bye week they play 4-of-5 weeks on the road, with the lone home game coming against the Broncos in primetime. Hopefully, the team will be rested up and healthy for that stretch.
You can find the full schedule here for reference.
Advantageous ending
One thing that stands out as an advantage is ending with back-to-back games at Arrowhead Stadium to end the season. Those games will come against the Falcons and Chargers, who both didn’t have winning records in 2019.
Before that, the Chiefs get Week 14 and Week 15, which are both mid to late-December games, played in Miami and at the Superdome, respectively. They won’t be dealing with any “football weather” in those climates.
Any potential cold-weather games will likely come at home, which just checks off another advantage for the Chiefs.
You can find the full schedule here for reference.
Any Trap games?
Some games that stand out to me right away are:
- Week 4 vs. Patriots
- Week 9 vs. Panthers
- Week 13 vs. Broncos
Week 4 and Week 13 stand out to me for similar reasons, the week beforehand is considered a tough matchup for Kansas City. In Week 3, the Chiefs have the Ravens on “Monday Night Football”. Everyone is expecting the Patriots to be worse off without Tom Brady, but I hope the team doesn’t get caught looking past the Patriots. That team is still a threat with Bill Belichick pulling the strings. The same goes for the Broncos in Week 13, Mahomes vs. Brady IV is happening in Week 12 and you know that game will get hyped up. Kansas City can’t get caught sleeping on their division rivals.
My fear about Week 9 is that the Chiefs will hit a lull ahead of the bye week. Matt Rhule and the Panthers aren’t getting much hype ahead of the 2020 NFL season, but that team has the potential to be much better than people expect.
You can find the full schedule here for reference.
Tailgaters delight
Sometimes the schedules aren’t too friendly to the Arrowhead Stadium tailgating crowd, but that isn’t the case this time around. The Chiefs Kingdom loves to get up at the crack of dawn and head to the stadium parking lot before a noon kickoff. I think fans will be happy to find out that 5-of-6 noon kickoffs for the Chiefs are home games. That should make for some good tailgating experiences for Kansas City.
