Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs will be featured in at least eight stand-alone games during the upcoming NFL season.
Their Super Bowl rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles won’t be one of them. The teams will meet Week 2 in Kansas City in the late afternoon game on Fox.
Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and the Eagles dominated the Chiefs 40-22 to capture their second Vince Lombardi Trophy in February. Philadelphia is getting seven stand-alone games.
There won’t be a long wait for a Josh Allen-Lamar Jackson showdown. Allen and the Buffalo Bills visit Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1 on Sunday Night Football. Allen edged Jackson for the NFL MVP award last season while Jackson was the AP’s first-team All-Pro quarterback.
No waiting for Aaron Rodgers to face his former team if he does end up signing with Pittsburgh. The Steelers will visit the New York Jets – who now have former Pittsburgh quarterback Justin Fields – in Week 1.
After the Eagles raise their championship banner, they’ll kick off the league’s season against the NFC East rival Dallas Cowboys on 4 September. The Chiefs will take on the Los Angeles Chargers in the league’s second game in Brazil, on 5 September at Corinthians Stadium in Sao Paulo.
The Chiefs are visiting Dallas on Thanksgiving Day and hosting the Denver Broncos on Christmas night. Dak Prescott, Micah Parsons and the Cowboys also will play on both holidays. They’ll visit Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders to kick off a triple-header on Christmas.
The Chiefs are scheduled for three games on Sunday night: at the New York Giants in Week 3; v the Detroit Lions on 12 October; v the Houston Texans on 7 December. Kansas City have two Monday night games in the same month: at the Jacksonville Jaguars on 6 October and v the Commanders on 27 October.
All of those prime-time games give Taylor Swift more opportunities to share the NFL spotlight. The 14-time Grammy Award-winning superstar has been dating Kelce since the 2023 season.
The Chiefs-Bills AFC championship rematch will be in Buffalo on 2 November. The NFC championship rematch between the Eagles and Commanders will take place in Washington on Saturday 20 December. The teams meet again two weeks later in Week 18.
The NFL schedule has become a weeklong event with various networks revealing select marquee games each day leading up to Wednesday night’s full release.
Netflix, which is streaming the first two games of a Christmas triple-header, announced earlier that the Lions will face the Vikings in Minnesota in the late afternoon game.
Six of the record seven international contests were announced Tuesday.
The Vikings are playing consecutive games in Ireland and Britain, facing the Pittsburgh Steelers at Croke Park in Dublin on 28 September in Ireland’s first NFL regular-season game. They’ll become the first team to play two international games in two different countries when they go to London to face the Cleveland Browns at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium a week later on 5 October.
In other international games, the Broncos play the Jets on 12 October at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, the Los Angeles Rams face the Jaguars a week later at Wembley Stadium in London, the Atlanta Falcons take on the Indianapolis Colts on 9 November at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin and the Commanders play the Miami Dolphins on 16 November at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.
Philadelphia visit the Giants on Thursday Night Football on 9 October and host the Lions on Sunday night 16 November.
New Bears coach Ben Johnson, who was the offensive coordinator for the Lions, will face his former team for the first time in Week 2 in Detroit.
No 1 overall pick Cam Ward could make his NFL debut with the Tennessee Titans against Bo Nix and the Broncos in Denver on 7 September.
Former Titans coach Mike Vrabel faces his former team in Week 7 when the New England Patriots visit Tennessee.
Besides Chiefs-Cowboys, the Thanksgiving Day slate includes the Packers-Lions in the early game and the Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore in prime time.
