I’m annoyed. And you, the Kansas City Chiefs, and all of Chiefs Kingdom should be annoyed too. Why? The Chiefs have been given a dud start to the season by the NFL.\u00a0To make matters worse, this ridiculous situation was entirely foreseeable and totally avoidable.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s why you should be mad.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs opened the season with a long-haul trip to Brazil, to say the least. They traveled more than 5,300 miles on an 11-hour flight to S\u00e3o Paulo, making that same trip back to Kansas City four days later.<\/p>\n
\u2708\ufe0f Our Most Tracked Flight of the Day: United Airlines charter #UA3814<\/a>, carrying the Kansas City Chiefs from Kansas City to S\u00e3o Paulo! \ud83c\udfc8\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf7@aero_in<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/mwyjFD7opA<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 AirNav Radar (@AirNavRadar) September 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n I have no issue with this. The Los Angeles Chargers had to make the same journey as well, as did Green Bay and Philadelphia last year. The real problem comes with what awaits the Chiefs now that they\u2019ve returned to the States.<\/p>\n Kansas City will face a Week 2 contest against the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, arguably the toughest test in the NFL right now. To make things even harder, Kansas City will head into that game with a huge, inexcusable disadvantage that\u2019s been handed to them by the NFL: a lack of rest.<\/p>\n There’s no reason for the NFL to treat the Chiefs’ scheduled like this.<\/p>\n K.C.’s season opener was played on Friday night, a deliberate move by the league to give the Chiefs and Chargers more time to recover after their intercontinental trip before their next game. But that extra time goes out the window because Kansas City is playing an Eagles team that will be coming off more rest than the Chiefs had.<\/p>\n Philly opened the new NFL season on Thursday night at home against Dallas, a privilege justly awarded to the reigning Super Bowl champions.<\/p>\n But that means they\u2019ll have a full extra day\u2019s rest over the Chiefs heading into Sunday\u2019s game at Arrowhead, without the added burden of having to travel 10,000-plus miles to another continent and back.<\/p>\n It\u2019s ridiculous.<\/p>\n The most frustrating part about this situation is how avoidable this was, how unnecessary this disparity is.<\/p>\n The NFL chose to have Kansas City open the season in Brazil, and that\u2019s fair enough. The Chiefs are a huge global brand, international games are a part of the NFL now, and every team has to play them. Fine.<\/p>\n But usually those overseas games are followed by a bye week, like what happened in 2023 after Kansas City played the Miami Dolphins in Germany.\u00a0<\/p>\n Of course, the Chiefs aren\u2019t going to be given a bye after literally one game.\u00a0But what the NFL can do is schedule the Chiefs to play literally any team other than Philadelphia or the Dallas Cowboys \u2013the two teams more rested than they are \u2013 in Week 2.<\/p>\n Seriously, it\u2019s not rocket science. The NFL could have simply chosen any other matchup instead. Even another road game would be better than this. But alas, here we are.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, the Chiefs won\u2019t complain. Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid said the timing of games is just part of the season. \u201cListen, you get to the point where you just say, \u2018We\u2019ve got to play everybody,” Reid told SiriusXM before the Brazil game. \u201cLast year we played every day but Tuesday, so you get into the mindset of we\u2019ll play anybody, anywhere. A CVS parking lot, we don\u2019t care, let\u2019s go play.\u201d<\/p>\n Andy Reid has the @Chiefs<\/a> ready to play any time, any place, any where… even in Brazil! Coach Reid discusses his team’s schedule and more on the season premiere of the “Let’s Go!” Podcast with @JimGrayOfficial<\/a> & Coach Bill Belichick!#NFL<\/a> #football<\/a> #ChiefsKingdom<\/a> #Chiefs<\/a>\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/L83rewRiLX<\/a><\/p>\n