3 ways NFL screwed Kansas City over with 2022 schedule

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

The Kansas City Chiefs will have one of the hardest schedules in the NFL this upcoming season.

If the Kansas City Chiefs want to play deep into the postseason, they will have to navigate an incredibly difficult regular-season schedule first.

Even if the AFC West faces the NFC West in its entirety this season, the NFL did not do the Chiefs any favors with their first-place schedule. Though drawing the AFC South in its intra-conference rotation helps, getting the Buffalo Bills, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as part of the competitive balance portion of the schedule does not make things the least bit easy.

Here are three instances where the NFL decided to make things even more difficult for the Chiefs.

Kansas City Chiefs: 3 instances where the NFL did not do them any favors

3. Week 7: at San Francisco 49ers (Sunday, Oct. 23)

There is no way around it. The Chiefs’ first eight games are absolutely brutal. They become the first team in NFL history whose first eight opponents finished the previous year above .500. The “worst” teams they play in this stretch are the Indianapolis Colts and the Los Angeles Chargers, both of whom missed the playoffs with 9-8 records. At least the Chiefs have a bye during Week 8.

The final game the Chiefs will play before the bye will be at the San Francisco 49ers in Week 7. While San Francisco is one of a handful of teams that offer great variance this season, it would be more shocking than not if they were to fall off a cliff. The 49ers may roll with Trey Lance as the starting quarterback over Jimmy Garoppolo, but they still employ Kyle Shanahan as head coach.

After an immensely difficult first six games of the season, the Chiefs will have to make the trek to the Bay Area to take on this Super Bowl contender out of the NFC West. Keep in mind this game comes the week after the rematch of the AFC Divisional Round barnburner between the Buffalo Bills at Arrowhead. With the bye week in sight, this Week 7 affair feels like a prime letdown game.

Taking a loss heading into the bye week will leave a bitter taste in all of Chiefs Kingdom’s mouth.