What team will the Chiefs play in the NFL season opener?

Because the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl 54, they will open the 2020 NFL season at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday night. Which team could they play?

Who could the Kansas City Chiefs play in the 2020 NFL season opener?

The Chiefs are the reigning Super Bowl champions. This means Kansas City will have the right to open next football season at Arrowhead Stadium in front of all of Chiefs Kingdom on a Thursday night affair in primetime. Very rarely is the defending Super Bowl champion not given this honor, but it is one that will be most celebrated by a team that hadn’t won a Super Bowl in 50 years.

So who could the Chiefs play in this monumental Week 1 game of the 2020 season? Here are the eight teams we know they have home games with. We’ll look at this octet and go from there and figure out what is the most logical.

Kansas City Chiefs 2020 home game opponents

• Atlanta Falcons
• Carolina Panthers
• Denver Broncos
• Houston Texans
• Las Vegas Raiders
• Los Angeles Chargers
• New England Patriots
• New York Jets

The first two teams we can immediately cross off are the Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers. These two teams play in the NFC South and will be making their first trek to Arrowhead Stadium in eight years.

The next team we can cross off is the New York Jets. Though they play in the AFC, New York isn’t good enough of a football team entering 2020 to be the team the Chiefs open up against.

As for the other five home opponents the Chiefs are facing, you could make a case for any member of that quintet. Going with an AFC West rival in the Denver Broncos, the Las Vegas Raiders or the Los Angeles Chargers makes sense. They’re used to playing in Arrowhead and prime-time rivalry games are always fun. However, playing one of those three opponents wouldn’t feel special.

Now we’re down to two: the Houston Texans and the New England Patriots.

Houston won the AFC South last year and then blew a 24-0 lead at Arrowhead in the Divisional round. Facing the Texans after ending their season would be exceptionally petty, but something the NFL should so lean into. Plus, Chiefs Kingdom would have a hoot and a half trolling Bill O’Brien and his team.

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Of course, if the Chiefs had their way, they’d want to take on the Evil Empire in their season opener. If you care to remember, the Chiefs spoiled the Patriots’ Week 1 opener in 2017 up in Foxborough after New England beat the Falcons in Super Bowl 51.

The Chiefs and the Patriots. Tom Brady (maybe) and Patrick Mahomes. That’s the game.