NFL gifts Chiefs a major rest advantage over Bengals with Week 2 scheduling decision

The Kansas City Chiefs are set to face the Cincinnati Bengals at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 2 of the 2024 NFL season.

That makes for back-to-back home games against tough opponents to kick off the 2024 NFL season, but this particular matchup leaves the Chiefs with a key advantage. Everyone knows about Andy Reid's tremendous record of success with extra time to prepare during a full bye week. He's also not too bad at preparing his team to play with extra time to prepare following games played on Thursday night.

Last season alone, the Chiefs were 2-0 coming off a 10-day rest advantage. After losing to the Detroit Lions in the season opener, they bounced back with a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road. After defeating the Denver Broncos at home on "Thursday Night Football" in Week 6, the Los Angeles Chargers faced the same fate in Week 7 at Arrowhead Stadium.

During the Patrick Mahomes era, the Chiefs have a 4-3 record (.571 winning percentage) coming off the mini-bye week with 10 days of rest following a Thursday night game. When you consider that Mahomes didn't play in that 2019 game after dislocating his kneecap the week prior, the team should probably get a pass for just being competitive with Matt Moore facing off against the Green Bay Packers the following week.

Since Steve Spagnuolo has been defensive coordinator (2019), the Chiefs haven't lost both a Thursday game and the following game on 10 days rest. It's more common that they win both games than split or lose both games. That's good news given the difficulty of the opponents Kansas City will face in the first two weeks of the 2024 NFL season.

It really feels like the NFL did the Chiefs a bit of a favor here. Especially after they gave the team a stretch last season where they faced five consecutive opponents (Packers, Bills, Patriots, Raiders, and Bengals) who had a rest advantage by two or more days. The Chiefs will have a chance to get off to a hot start against two of their biggest AFC rivals right out of the gate, and they'll be well-rested and better prepared for that second leg.

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