The Kansas City Chiefs are one of four NFL teams in the middle of a stretch that sees them playing three games in just 10 days. Along with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans, the Chiefs will play games on Dec. 15, Dec. 21, and Dec. 25.
After all four teams played Week 15 games on Sunday, they will play games on back-to-back short weeks. They face their Week 16 opponent on Saturday, before having just four days before taking on another opponent the following Wednesday, on Christmas Day. All four teams will then have 10 days before their regular season finales on Jan. 5.
The Chiefs began this stretch with a win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. They face the Texans on Saturday, followed by the Steelers on Wednesday.
Chiefs wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who was traded to the team in October, was critical of the NFL for scheduling three games in 10 days.
“I’ve never played this many games in a short amount of time,” Hopkins told the media on Thursday. “I think the league should definitely do something about that. … As they preach player safety, I don’t feel this is the best situation for any team. I think the league should review that after the season, just to see how they can help player safety in the future.”
For many teams and players, it’s already tough to get through a 17-game season without playing three games in 10 days. Over the course of an NFL season, many players become banged up or are working through injuries, making that rest period between games more crucial. For a Chiefs team dealing with an ankle injury to quarterback Patrick Mahomes, this period could potentially add more strain to his ankle, or to any other players on the team working through injuries.
Mahomes, who is expected to play in Saturday’s game, also spoke critically of playing three games in a 10 day stretch earlier this month.
“It is not a good feeling,” Mahomes told the media of the upcoming stretch. “I’m excited to play on Christmas to hopefully get back from what we did last year, but you never want to play this many games in this short of time. It’s just not great for your body. But at the end of the day, it’s your job, your profession. You have to come to work and do it.”
The good news for the NFL is they will not have to deal with this problem when scheduling games for Christmas Day over the next few years. The NFL only ran into this issue because Christmas Day fell on a Wednesday in 2024. Due to this timing, they had to schedule the teams playing on Christmas to also play on the Saturday before, giving them enough time between those two games. Next season, Christmas will fall on a Thursday, meaning the NFL can approach the timeline like they would for a typical Thursday Night Football game.
