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The 2020 NFL schedule has arrived and the Kansas City Chiefs will be spending a good chunk of time on the road.
According to ESPN’s Stats & Info Twitter handle, the Chiefs will travel a total of 15,661 miles during the 2020 NFL season. That number doesn’t include travel distance for Super Bowl LV. It is over 1,000 more miles than the team traveled during the 2019 NFL season (14,298), which is surprising because they had the Mexico City game against the Chargers in Week 11.
The Seahawks (29,203), Rams (26,104), 49ers (25,507) and Chargers (25,455) are among the teams that will travel the most miles during 2020. The one common factor here, of course, being that all four teams are located on the west coast of the United States.
The Chargers have to travel 25,455 miles in 2020, or 9,794 more than the Chiefs (15,661)… That's the biggest disparity between any 2 division rivals in the league this season. pic.twitter.com/tHfQONF3mr
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 8, 2020
ESPN noted that the Chiefs and Chargers have the biggest disparity in travel miles between division opponents in the NFL. Kansas City has an innate advantage when it comes to travel miles, being centrally located in the middle of the country. Teams on the west and east coasts just tend to have a disadvantage, especially during seasons when they play against divisions at the opposite ends of the country.
Sometimes teams will augment travel plans in order to limit the time spent on the road. For instance, the Rams will play the Eagles and Bills in back-to-back weeks. They’ll likely stay on the east coast instead of flying back to Los Angeles, only to have to turn around and head back to the opposite coast.
The Chiefs only have one stretch of games where doing this might make sense, in Weeks 14 and 15 where they play the Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints on the road in back-to-back weeks.
Check out game-by-game score predictions from around the NFL Wires network:
Buf / Mia / NE / NYJ // Bal / Cin / Cle / Pit // Hou / Ind / Jax / Ten // Den / KC / LV / LAC //// Dal / NYG / Phi / Was // Chi / Det / GB / Min // Atl / Car / NO / TB // Ari / LAR / SF / Sea
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