The Kansas City Chiefs will be playing their regular-season finale in Week 18 against the Denver Broncos on Saturday instead of Sunday.
The Chiefs were originally slated to play the Broncos at 3:25 p.m. CT on Sunday, January 9. NBC revealed during its Sunday Night Football broadcast that the matchup between Kansas City and Denver had been flexed to Saturday, January 8 at 3:30 p.m. CT on ABC/ESPN. It’ll be part of a Saturday doubleheader that includes the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles at 7:15 p.m. CT.
There’s not much to like about this timeslot move for Kansas City. Their loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17 makes this Week 18 game all the more important for the Chiefs. They can drop as far as the No. 4 seed with a loss, or potentially regain the No. 1 seed in the AFC with a win and a Tennessee Titans loss. This change will give the Chiefs a short week of preparation ahead of a pivotal road game. The only saving grace is that this could set the team up for extra rest ahead of their first playoff game.
The Broncos don’t have much more to play for than pride in this game, so it’s hard to see the value in moving it to this time slot. Denver is not in the playoff hunt and they’ve lost 12 consecutive games against Kansas City dating back to 2015.
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