The Kansas City Chiefs will open the 2024 NFL season with a home game against the Baltimore Ravens, the NFL has announced.
The Super Bowl champions will kick off the new campaign at Arrowhead on September 5 in a mouthwatering Thursday Night Football matchup against their AFC rivals.
The game will air on NBC and Peacock, and will see Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Co come up against Lamar Jackson.
It’s a rematch of the AFC Championship game from the 2024 season that saw Kansas City beat Baltimore to reach Super Bowl LVIII.
That was a tight contest – with the Chiefs only just managing to beat the Ravens by a 17-10 scoreline.
That game saw the Chiefs score two touchdowns – one through the air to Kelce and one on the ground via Isiah Pacheco.
Kelce caught eleven passes for 116 yards and a touchdown in that contest and was joined afterwards on the field in the celebrations by his girlfriend, Taylor Swift.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed 30 of 39 passes in that game for 241 yards and a touchdown as well.
As for the opposition, the Ravens were led on offense by Jackson, who completed 20 of 37 passes for 272 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.
Wide receiver Zay Flowers led the way in the catching department for Baltimore with five catches for 115 yards and a touchdown that tied the game in the first quarter.
But the Ravens would give up ten points and only responded with a fourth quarter field goal from Justin Tucker.
As a result, the Chiefs moved on to Super Bowl LVIII – where they took on, and beat, the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime.
Over the past four seasons, the NFL Kickoff game has been split fairly evenly between the reigning Super Bowl winners and whoever they’re facing.
But the past two seasons, the reigning champions have lost their opening matchups.
Last season, the Chiefs lost to the Detroit Lions 21-20 at home at Arrowhead Stadium after Kansas City’s last-ditch effort to score ended up in an incomplete 4th and 25 pass from Mahomes.
The season prior, the Buffalo Bills were able to silence the Super Bowl LVI champion Los Angeles Rams at their home by a 31-10 scoreline.
Super Bowl champions traditionally open the season with the NFL kickoff game – with the recent exception of the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers opening the 2019 season while the then-reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots were forced to play the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1’s edition of Sunday Night Football.
