Chiefs: Predicting primetime TV games for 2023

The Kansas City Chiefs have become one of the NFL’s marquee attractions. What primetime games will they get for the 2023 season?

Few teams have become more synonymous with the NFL over the past few years than the Kansas City Chiefs. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes has become the face of the league and the Chiefs are a perennial Super Bowl contender, which is a team the league will love to showcase in primetime.

The NFL has set a maximum of five scheduled prime-time appearances for teams over the course of a season with the ability to add up to two more through flexes. There is no question that the Chiefs will be slotted for the maximum five prime time slots, but what games could they see put in front of a national audience?

Predictions for the Chiefs’ prime-time games

The important thing to start with for Kansas City when projecting prime-time games is the opponents on their 2023 schedule. Besides the six divisional games, Kansas City will face off with teams from the AFC East and NFC North as well as the first-place foes from the AFC North and South, adding Cincinnati and Jacksonville to the ledger.

The AFC has the ninth home game this year and that will be a doozy for the Chiefs, who are slated to host the Philadelphia Eagles in a rematch of Super Bowl LVII. That game should be the most highly-requested matchup on Kansas City’s schedule with all four broadcast networks and Amazon Prime arguing to have it on their platform.

The first place to start with the Chiefs’ primetime games is the Thursday night opener on NBC, a traditional place for Super Bowl champions to begin their title defense. The NFL likely won’t want to waste the Eagles or Bills in that slot, but having Joe Burrow and the Bengals staging another edition of the NFL’s hottest new rivalry would be a slam-dunk pick.

There is no shortage of potential storylines for Kansas City in primetime as well, including Tyreek Hill’s return to Arrowhead Stadium with the Miami Dolphins and a showdown between Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers at MetLife Stadium against the New York Jets. The breakdown should end up with three Chiefs games on NBC, including the Thursday opener, one on Monday Night Football and one on Thursday night.

Chiefs Primetime Games: 5 (Vs. Bengals, Vs. Dolphins, At Chargers, Vs. Eagles, At Jaguars)