Five early predictions for who the Kansas City Chiefs will host on 2024 opening night
The Kansas City Chiefs' season opener in 2023 against the Detroit Lions was a night to forget. With Travis Kelce (knee injury) and Chris Jones (contract negations) out and after several wide receiver mistakes, the Chiefs lost 21-20 after several wide receiver mistakes.
With Kansas City winning a second consecutive Super Bowl, the first game of next season will be held at Arrowhead again. Let's explore five teams that could make the trip to start the new season.
5 teams the Kansas City Chiefs could play on opening night
#5, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Few teams exceeded expectations like Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers in 2023. A Chiefs-Buccanneers game would be a previous Super Bowl matchup from just three years ago. The Chiefs suffered greatly from that loss where the Bucs D-line crushed Patrick Mahomes. The ideology of these two defenses is similar as they both live off applying pressure.
With Mayfield's fun offense, this could be a good opener.
#4, Los Angeles Chargers
The fun Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs rivalry was nonexistent in 2023. The October game at Arrowhead was a complete blowout, and Mahomes sat out Week 18 while Justin Herbert was injured. With eight one-possession games between these two since the 2018 season, the games tend to deliver.
Jim Harbaugh's biggest task as Chargers coach is to end the Chiefs' reign. For Los Angeles to get home-field advantage and go far in the playoffs, it has to better Patrick Mahomes.
#3, Houston Texans
This could have been the 2023 AFC championship game, but the Texans were taken to school in the second half by the Baltimore Ravens. Quarterback C.J. Stroud had one of the better rookie seasons in NFL history, and it will be interesting to see how his second season pans out. This was the opening night game after the Chiefs' Super Bowl victory in 2019. Kansas City won that game.
You expect big points to be put up in games between Stroud and Patrick Mahomes. This would be the biggest game of Stroud's regular season career as every AFC team chases the Chiefs.
#2, Cincinnati Bengals
Even with Joe Burrow injured we still got a close game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals. Ever since the 2021 AFC championship game, there have been plenty of verbal disagreements on both sides. Mahomes got his revenge in the 2022 championship game, and the hatred between the two just grew even more.
In an era where we don't get as many petty rivalries, it's nice to see one of these propositions. The Chiefs ended the Bengals season in 2023, and those fans will never forget that.
#1, Baltimore Ravens
We were promised a great game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens in the AFC title game in Baltimore, but it never got going. Steve Spagnuolo's defense completely locked down 2023 MVP Lamar Jackson, and the Ravens embarrassed themselves. Andy Reid perhaps played it too safe in the second half, but the Chiefs held on 17-10 to head to the Super Bowl.
This was a once-in-a-decade Ravens team on both sides of the ball, yet they fell to the same fate as pretty much every AFC playoff contender. The AFC North should be more competitive for the one spot with Joe Burrow returning from injury, the Chiefs have to play the whole AFC North in the divisional rotation this year.
We can only hope the NFL starts the 2024 season with a bang.