NFL makes the right call when it comes to scheduling the Kansas City Chiefs-Cincinnati Bengals showdown Skip to main content
NFL makes the right call when it comes to scheduling the Kansas City Chiefs-Cincinnati Bengals showdown

NFL makes the right call when it comes to scheduling the Kansas City Chiefs-Cincinnati Bengals showdown

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Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Kansas City Chiefs News

Everyone loves a late-season showdown between Super Bowl contenders with playoff implications, but there's an inherent risk when it comes to scheduling a matchup such as that: injuries to star players.

I'm pretty sure 100% of NFL fans would say they'd prefer Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs and Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals to face off in December, but the league made the right decision scheduling the game in Week 2.

The NFL announced Tuesday that the Chiefs and Bengals will play each other in Kansas City during the 4:25pm ET slot that Sunday:

Based off Burrow's injury history, and just the natural injury risk tied to the game, this is the right call. Pushing the game back into the later months makes sense, but a Jake Browning-Carson Wentz showdown or even a Browning-Mahomes showdown is no where near as enticing as the top two guys. We saw the latter last year and it was plenty enough.

The Chiefs and Bengals have played five times since Burrow entered the league in 2020. The Bengals won the first three games, all by three points in each game, but the Chiefs are rallying back. They've won the last two contests by three and eight points, respectively. The eight-point win is the largest margin of victory in the five contests. 

Chiefs' first two games are stacked but will go a long way when it comes to playoff implications

The first two weeks of the 2024 season are going to be very interesting for the Chiefs. They open the season by hosting the Baltimore Ravens before playing the Week 2 game against the Bengals - both contests are at home.

The Chiefs beat both of these teams, last year, albeit the Bengals were without Burrow when they faced off in December. Still, a win is a win, and if the Chiefs start off 2-0 against the Ravens and Bengals -two teams that are considered top contenders- they'll be in great shape not only in the short-term, but in the long-term, as well.

Then, there's the flip side, of course. The Chiefs could also start off 0-2 and we all know how unkind history is to teams that start off that way. Even if the Houston Texans managed to win the AFC South after 0-2 start, last year.

Regardless, there's no debating that the first two games of the Chiefs' season are massive and they'll go a long way in determining how the path to the playoffs plays out.