Ranking Chiefs’ Week 1 opponents for new NFL season by how good game would be

The NFL will release the full schedule for the 2024-2025 season on Wednesday. But ahead of its release, the league will start to unveil some of the key games for the upcoming campaign.

One of those key games? The traditional “NFL Kickoff Game” which historically features the defending Super Bowl champions, as a night to honor their accomplishments before beginning a brand-new year. That likely means for the second season in a row, the Kansas City Chiefs will be hosting that game on the first night of the season.

But who will they be playing?

Below are the eight teams on Kansas City’s home schedule, with the potential matchups for opening night ranked by the thrill factor. Which game do we think would be the most exciting for opening night? Read on to find out.

At some point the quarterback battle between Bo Nix and Patrick Mahomes may very well be appointment television.

But the opening game of the 2024 season is probably not going to be that point.

The historic rivalry between the Chiefs and the Broncos has made for thrilling television over the years, but with the Broncos coming off an 8-9 season, and likely starting a rookie quarterback, this game has “Week 4 Thursday Night Football” written all over it.

It might be difficult to pick a more disappointing team than the 2022-2023 New Orleans Saints. With the addition of Derek Carr — and questions at quarterback in the rest of the division last summer — the Saints seemed an easy bet for an NFC South title.

But nothing in the NFL is guaranteed, and New Orleans lost five of eight games after starting the year with a pair of wins. While the Saints stayed in playoff contention until the final day of the season, it was still an underwhelming year.

And at the moment the Saints are listed at +8000 when it comes to Super Bowl LIX over at DraftKings, giving them some of the longest odds in the league.

There are better options for the season opener.

Last Christmas Day the Las Vegas Raiders shocked the NFL world — as well as Taylor Swift — with a 20-14 upset of the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. That surprising victory led to many questions about the Chiefs as they headed towards the playoffs, and could make this an intriguing option for the league for the “NFL Kickoff Game.”

However, there are two things working against this game as an option.

First, the league tends to shy away from divisional games as the season opener, given the implications of those games come playoff time. The last time a divisional game was featured on opening night came back in 2019, when the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots were not featured. Instead, the league paid tribute to the Chicago Bears’ 100th season, featuring a game between the Bears and the Packers.

In fact, you would have to go back to 2012 to find the last time the season opened with a divisional game as well as the defending Super Bowl Champions, when the New York Giants hosted the Dallas Cowboys.

Beyond those factors? There are still some better options.

This is a very sneaky option for the league, and ultimately the NFL could come down to this as the choice.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are coming off a surprising season of their own, having won the NFC South and a road playoff game last year. With Baker Mayfield and company back, the Buccaneers could make another run to the playoffs.

If the league were to pick from one of Kansas City’s two NFC home opponents for the season opener, Tampa Bay is the choice.

Jim Harbaugh’s first game back to kick off the season?

Certainly an option.

However, with the Chargers and Ravens slated to play this season, odds are those two teams meet in Week 1 for the latest installment of the “Harbaugh Bowl.”

Now we are getting somewhere, and from where we sit, one of these three teams are the most likely — and exciting — option for the season opener.

The Bengals-Chiefs rivalry has flourished these past few seasons, with these two teams meeting in two of the past three AFC Championship Games. Joe Burrow’s wrist injury helped to derail Cincinnati’s season a year ago, but with Burrow coming back, this would be one heck of a way to begin the year.

The only thing stopping this from being the pick? There might be two better choices.

Last year the NFL season began with an up-and-coming team viewed as a likely playoff squad going into Arrowhead Stadium on opening night.

It could happen for the second year in a row.

Of course, a season ago it was the Detroit Lions, who won on opening night and marched to an NFC North title as well as a spot in the NFC Championship Game. Could the Houston Texans be the choice along similar lines this year? Thanks to a tremendous rookie season from C.J. Stroud, the Texans stormed to an AFC South division title and a home playoff win, and have enjoyed an incredible offseason as they added around their talented rookie QB.

The only matchup on the Chiefs’ home schedule that could be better?

A rematch of the AFC Championship Game.

An AFC Championship Game rematch to start the 2024-2025 NFL season?

Sounds like a winner to us.