10 takeaways from the Chiefs Schedule release

The Chiefs start the season with a tough two game-stretch and end their season with a string of playoff teams on short rest. Here is more on that and a few other storylines on the 2024 slate.

After a few days of early releases and leaks to the Kansas City Chiefs 2024 schedule, the full slate is finally here. It is a very unique lineup of games as the Chiefs play on six different days of the week throughout the season and play on six different networks or streaming services. 

Check out what the Chiefs have coming for them on their quest to be the first-ever team to three-peat and break down the 10 aspects of the schedule that stood out to me the most. 

• Week 1: Vs. Baltimore Ravens 9/5 7:20 P.M. NBC (Thursday Night Football)

• Week 2: Vs. Cincinnati Bengals 9/15 3:25 P.M. CBS

• Week 3: @ Atlanta Falcons 9/22 7:20 P.M. NBC (Sunday Night Football)

• Week 4: @ Los Angeles Chargers 9/29 3:25 P.M. CBS

• Week 5: Vs. New Orleans Saints 10/7 7:15 P.M. ESPN (Monday Night Football)

• Week 6: BYE

• Week 7: @ San Francisco 49ers 10/20 3:25 P.M. FOX

• Week 8: @ Las Vegas Raiders 10/27 3:25 P.M. CBS

• Week 9: Vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 11/4 7:15 P.M. ESPN (Monday Night Football)

• Week 10: Vs. Denver Broncos 11/10 12:00 P.M. CBS

• Week 11: @ Buffalo Bills 11/17 3:25 P.M. CBS

• Week 12: @ Carolina Panthers 11/24 12:00 P.M. CBS

• Week 13: Vs. Las Vegas Raiders 11/29 2:00 P.M. Amazon Prime (Black Friday)

• Week 14: Vs. Los Angeles Chargers 12/8 7:20 P.M. NBC (Sunday Night Football)

• Week 15: @ Denver Browns 12/15 12:00 P.M. CBS

• Week 16: Vs. Houston Texans 12/21 12:00 P.M. NBC (Saturday)

• Week 17: @ Pittsburgh Steelers 12/25 12:00 P.M. Netflix (Wednesday/Christmas)

• Week 18: @ Denver Broncos 1/5 TBD

1) Tough first two weeks 

We have known weeks one and two for over 48 hours now, so this is nothing new, but it is still by far the toughest two-game stretch of the season, although they are at Arrowhead. The Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals are no strangers to the Chiefs. The Chiefs have won two different Super Bowls in years the Ravens are the AFC’s one-seed, but Baltimore will not be scared to come into Arrowhead. The Bengals on the other hand are 1-1 in the AFC Championship Games against Kansas City and Burrow has bested Mahomes in three out of four matchups. I doubt the Chiefs go 0-2 in this span, but it would not shock me if they dropped one of them. Mahomes has won four of five matchups with Jackson though and they will have a rest advantage over Cincinnati, so it would not shock me if they went 2-0 either. 

2) The rest of the Super Bowl contenders are sprinkled throughout

After starting off the season with two of their biggest conference rivals, the Chiefs can breathe a little bit. Their presumed toughest remaining matchups are against the 49ers, Bills and Texans and those matchups fall on weeks seven, 11 and 16. This sets the Chiefs up with time to prepare and not allow any of these games to trap them. Who knows exactly how good the Chargers will be in year one of Jim Harbaugh, but I imagine they will be a tough out at the very least and those games are weeks four and 14. Brock Purdy, Josh Allen, C.J. Stroud and Justin Herbert represent the toughest quarterbacks they will face after getting Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson out of the way. The rest of the schedule is filled with Kirk Cousins, Derek Carr, Gardner Minshew, Baker Mayfield, Bo Nix, Bryce Young, Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson. Barring facing a backup, that is about as easy as it gets in this league. 

3) Early bye

A week six bye is by far the earliest bye week in the Mahomes era. This could be a potential blow for the Chiefs who will then play 12 straight weeks heading into the playoffs. It could be imperative that the Chiefs find a way to make week 18 not matter or assure themselves the one-seed. They will have nine days of rest heading into week 14 against the Chargers and 11 days of rest heading into week 18 against Denver, however. 

4) Eight stand-alone games

No other NFL games will be taking place when the Chiefs take on the Ravens, Falcons, Saints, Buccaneers, Raiders in Kansas City, Chargers in Kansas City, Texans and Steelers. Networks and streaming services are bargaining for the Chiefs after winning three Super Bowls in five years and being able to market Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Two of these games will be exclusively streamed on Amazon Prime and Netflix. Mahomes and company is their big-ticket item. 

5) Very little rest from weeks 12 to 17

The Chiefs have a stretch here where they will play six games between November 24th and Christmas Day. Against the Raiders they will be on five days’ rest, against the Texans they will be on six days rest and against the Steelers they will be on four days’ rest. From December 15th to December 25th, they will play three games against the Browns, Texans and Steelers. Those are all teams that made the playoffs last year, so this will be the Chiefs' toughest three-game stretch with two of those coming on the road. 

6) Five early window games, but only three on a Sunday

While they do not miss the reasons why the Chiefs used to have a schedule filled with noon games, a lot of Chiefs Kingdom do miss them. They got their wish this year, albeit in an unconventional way after only having three 12 p.m. games last year with only two of them scheduled before the season. There will be three traditional Sunday noon games, but only one at Arrowhead, which is against the Broncos in week 10. The other two come on the road against the Panthers in week 12 and week 15 against the Browns. The other two noon games come on the Saturday before Christmas and the other on actual Christmas Day, a Wednesday.  

7) One home game between week two and nine

With only eight home games compared to nine road games and then having two home games to start the season, there were sure to be some oddities with the rest of the home schedule. With the bye week coming in week six and weeks three, four, seven and eight coming on the road, the Chiefs will have one home game between weeks two and nine. That will be a Monday Night Football game against the Saints, which makes for one home game within 50 days. Weeks nine and on is pretty split between home and away. It will be interesting to see what the Chiefs record is heading into Monday night football against the Bucs in week nine after playing four of five games on the road, on top of starting with the Ravens and Bengals. 

8) Extra or similar rest in the key matchups

Sure, the Chiefs are littered with short rest at the end of the schedule, but that does not exactly put them at a disadvantage. In weeks 13 through 17 where they play on a Friday, two Sundays, a Saturday and a Wednesday in that stretch, all of their opponents will be on the exact same rest as them. After playing on a Thursday night in week one, they will have 10 days to prepare for the Bengals, compared to their seven days. The Chiefs also have two days of rest against the Chargers in week 14. 

9) Four two-game road trips

With the way the schedule panned out, there are three two-game home-stands and four two-game road trips. In September the Chiefs go back-to-back against the Falcons and Chargers, in October it is the 49ers and Raiders, in November it is the Bills and Panthers, followed by the last two weeks of the season coming against the Steelers and Broncos. Luckily none of these games are against back-to-back powerhouse programs, but the Chiefs will have to be road warriors this year. 

10) Favorable true prime-time matchups

We have known the Chiefs opponents since early January and there were a few opponents you figured would be no-brainer early window Sunday games. Coming into the Schedule release one might have thought the Falcons, Saints, Bucs and Panthers had noon games written all over them. While they did make the Panthers a noon kickoff, the Broncos and the Browns are as well, and that is a rival and a 2023 playoff team.  It was a surprise the NFL made the Bengals, 49ers and Bills matchups all on Sunday afternoon. Instead, they made the Falcons, Saints and Bucs matchups all on either Sunday or Monday Night Football. Anything can happen, but on the surface, it appears the Chiefs have very favorable matchups in those three primetime games. The Ravens and Chargers might be a different story, but the Chiefs have a real chance to have a great record in night games. The Chiefs went 2-3 in true primetime games last season.