The Kansas City Chiefs are one of the toughest opponents in the NFL to face on opening weekend.
It’s not just because they’re reigning Super Bowl champions or have a human cheat code at quarterback in Patrick Mahomes either. This team has history on their side when it comes to winning in Week 1 of the NFL season.
Chiefs HC Andy Reid has a 13-8 career record in season openers during his 21 years as a head coach in the NFL. That record includes five-straight wins as head coach of the Chiefs in season openers, dating back to 2015 when the Kansas City beat Houston 27-20 in Week 1.
According to Arizona Cardinals digital content correspondent Mike Jurecki, those five consecutive wins by the Chiefs are the longest active streak of wins on opening weekend in the NFL.
The #Chiefs have won their past five Kickoff Weekend games, the longest active streak in the #AFC and tied for the longest active streak in the #NFL (#Packers) https://t.co/XCITuLtuId
— Mike Jurecki (@mikejurecki) September 9, 2020
It gets better too. During the last two wins in 2018 and 2019, with Mahomes at quarterback for Kansas City, the Chiefs defeated their opponents by double-digit margins.
Flipping things around to the Chiefs’ Week 1 opponent, the Texans don’t have a great record lately on opening weekend. They haven’t won a season opener in the last three years, dating back to when Deshaun Watson first became the starter for the team.
Jurecki also noted that reigning Super Bowl champions have a crazy record on opening weekend. During their title seasons, Super Bowl champs have won 44-of-54 possible games dating back to Super Bowl I. That’s over an 80 percent win rate for the defending champions.
Houston will obviously be out to get some revenge after Kansas City knocked them out of last year’s playoffs. In addition to playing a great football team in the Chiefs, they’ll have to contend with history not being on their side.
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