The Athletic has live coverage of the Bills vs Chiefs in NFL Week 14 action.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In the spring, before he starts preparing for the first opponent, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes studies the team’s schedule.
Similar to NFL fans, Mahomes is eager to see when he and his teammates will play certain opponents, including their divisional rivals and AFC challengers such as the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills. Then, Mahomes checks how many games the Chiefs will play in prime time and the number of national TV games on Sunday afternoon, his favorite time slot to play at Arrowhead Stadium. Next, he contemplates how many games can be considered special moments during the season — a much-anticipated rematch from last year, a showcase game on a holiday or even an international game.
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This past May, when the league unveiled the sequencing of its 272 games for the regular season, Mahomes observed perhaps the most extraordinary schedule in the Chiefs’ 64-year history.
“Whenever you start winning a lot, you play the better teams,” Mahomes said last month. “Obviously, we play a lot of prime-time games and not a lot of 12 p.m. (CT) games. When you win, they want to put you on those nationally televised games. We’re excited for it.
“What better way to prepare you for the playoffs than playing in different time zones, playing at different times of the day and playing in front of everybody, so you can prepare yourself that, whenever you get to the playoffs, you’re ready to go.”
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As the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Chiefs are being featured in six prime-time games. They have only one home game scheduled for noon CT, and even that is a showcase game — on Christmas Day against the rival Las Vegas Raiders. And one of the Chiefs’ most intriguing games comes Sunday in Frankfurt, Germany, when they will face the Miami Dolphins and All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill playing against his former team for the first time.
In less than a decade, the Chiefs have become one of the NFL’s most prominent franchises, helping boost the league’s business growth in the United States and beyond, including Germany, Mexico and Austria. The franchise — featuring one of the league’s most respected club owners (Clark Hunt), a future Hall of Fame coach (Andy Reid) and the league’s reigning MVP (Mahomes) — has reached the Super Bowl in three of the past four years, becoming the league’s newest dynasty.
Hey @PatrickMahomes, have you seen the Chiefs 2023 schedule?
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) May 12, 2023
One reflection of the Chiefs’ popularity — even before pop superstar Taylor Swift began dating tight end Travis Kelce and attending games — is that they will be one of the only teams this season to play at least one game in each of the league’s possible time slots.
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“They’re a heavy request from our network partners,” said Mike North, the NFL’s vice president of broadcast planning. “In terms of a home schedule, I would say this is probably unique — kickoff Thursday, plus Germany, plus not a single noon CT start other than Christmas. This might be an all-time unique NFL schedule. It’s, more than anything, a testament to their success and their star power.
“There were always going to be a lot of national TV games for the Chiefs. Multiple Thursdays is a thing in the league. Maximum prime-time exposure is a thing. Having a really good schedule and, therefore, being on a lot of 4:25 (p.m.) ET games is a thing. Going to Germany now is a thing. All those things put together and landing on one team in one season? Yeah, that’s probably a new one. Call it a perfect storm or the luck of the draw in terms of the opponents and how it all matched up by rotation and (last year’s) standings.”
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By having Sunday’s game in Germany instead of at Arrowhead, the Chiefs are just one of seven teams that will travel more than 24,000 miles during the regular season, crossing into a new time zone 30 times, according to Bookies.com.
Reid and his players went through their usual practice Thursday at the team’s training facility before they boarded their charter for their overnight flight to Frankfurt. Unlike the Dolphins, who are spending the entire week leading up to the game in Frankfurt, Reid decided to keep his players in Kansas City as long as possible before flying, which is what he did in 2015 when the Chiefs beat the Detroit Lions in London.
“It worked, so I’ve kind of stuck by it,” Reid said. “I’m not sure there’s any right or wrong way.”
Bags packed for Frankfurt 🇩🇪 @NFLDeutschland#MIAvsKC — Sunday 9:30am ET on @nflnetwork
Also available on #NFLPlus— NFL (@NFL) October 30, 2023
During their nine-hour flight, some players will play card games. Others will watch a movie or binge episodes of a TV show. The Chiefs, though, are encouraging their players to stay as hydrated as possible and spend at least half of the trip asleep.
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“It was a cool experience,” said left tackle Donovan Smith, who played in Munich last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “The fan base there was crazy and they love football. They’re cheering nonstop. It was a beautiful country when I went to explore. It’s clean, very green and it was nice.”
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Sunday’s game at Deutsche Bank Park will serve as the midway point of the Chiefs’ 17-game schedule. Both teams are 6-2, making it the league’s first international game to feature two teams that are four games over .500.
The Chiefs have been marketing their brand in Germany for the past few years, and those efforts have all led to Sunday’s game.
“We’re hopeful the new fans we attract will want to watch the Chiefs and the NFL on a weekly basis,” Hunt said.
Team president Mark Donovan said: “In 2028, 2035 and 2040, they are going to be Chiefs fans based on what we’re doing now.”
Meet the man behind the NFL schedule for the last 28 seasons: Mike North 🗓️
— NFL (@NFL) May 12, 2023
In February, after Super Bowl LVII, North and five other NFL executives started putting the 2023 schedule together, selecting the best possible sequence of matchups after cloud-based computers produced thousands of possible schedules.
The league could’ve selected the Dolphins to be the Chiefs’ first opponent for Sept. 7, the league’s opening night. Instead, the league chose the Lions, who entered the season as one of the most intriguing teams.
“I’m not sure that any of the Chiefs games would’ve been too good or not good enough for any national window, including Germany,” North said. “Certainly, the viewership for the 9:30 a.m. ET is one thing. The opponent was still subject to all the machinations, constraints and predictive analytics of the scheduling process.
“We just kind of lucked into what might be the best international game we’ve ever played.”
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That statement led Donovan to reflect on how far the Chiefs have elevated themselves in the league. In 2010, Donovan said the Chiefs, who had just finished their Arrowhead renovation, lobbied the league to host one of the two Monday night games for the opening week of the season. Initially, the league declined the Chiefs’ request.
“It was a major blow,” Donovan said.
A few weeks later, at the owners’ meetings, Donovan was working out in the hotel gym when commissioner Roger Goodell decided to get on the elliptical machine next to him. Donovan used the fortuitous moment to persuade Goodell, who has final say, to change the league’s schedule. The Chiefs’ season opener in 2010 was their lone prime-time game that season.
“Now look at us,” Donovan said. “It’s been a long run, and now we’re in pretty rarefied air.”
(Photo of Patrick Mahomes: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
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