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We already knew the Baltimore Ravens will get another crack at the Kansas City Chiefs in the opening game of the 2024 NFL season on Thursday, September 5th at 8:20 p.m. on NBC. Now, we now we know the rest of the schedules after Wednesday night's full release and, over the next several days, we will take a look at the 2024 season.
Last year, the Chiefs bounced the Ravens from the playoffs in the AFC Championship game with a surprisingly low-scoring 17-10 win in Baltimore. This year's game will be played at Arrowhead with the Chiefs favored by 2.5 at FanDuel as of Thursday morning. Lamar Jackson, who eventually won the league MVP award, and his team were held to just one touchdown and no touchdowns were scored by either team in the final 34:04. The Ravens lost the turnover battle 3-0 and two of those came in the second half with a fumble at the KC 8 and and interception in the end zone.
The game started off as if it would be a track meet. After Baltimore's 1st drive ended with a punt, the teams exchanged touchdowns over the next three possessions and Kansas City was up 14-7 with 10:56 still to play in the second quarter. Baltimore then went fumble-punt-punt on its other first half drives. Kansas City could not capitalize on the Baltimore fumble sack/fumble by Jackson at the Ravens' 33 after advancing to the 13-yard line, but getting stopped on a 4th-and-1 for no gain. The Chiefs finished out the half with a punt, followed by a 52-yard field goal with 4 seconds left.
Every Kansas City possession in the second half ended with a punt, but Baltimore obviously failed to take care of the opportunities that its defense gave to the offense. The Ravens fumbled at the 8-yard line of KC on the first play of the 4th quarter after punting twice in the 3rd quarter. And the next possession ended with an interception in the end zone with 6:45 to play in the game. Baltimore managed to get a 43-yard field goal with 2:34 to go, but opted to kick deep instead of attempting the onside kick and never got the ball back for one last effort.
Last season's playoffs got underway in January 13-15.
The NFC games saw Tampa Bay bounce Philadelphia, Detroit take out the LA Rams, and Green Bay eliminate Dallas. In the AFC, Kansas CIty easily handled Miami at home while Buffalo took care Pittsburgh and Houston continued its strong finish to the season with a 45-14 romp over Cleveland.
In the 6 Wild Card games, only Dallas was a home loser. That was a huge surprise given that the Cowboys had gone 8-0 at home in the regular season and were the only team in the entire NFL to not lose at least twice at home. On top of that, Green Bay had been 4-5 on the road.
As the #1 seeds, San Francisco (NFC) and Baltimore (AFC) had free passes to the next round. Detroit's run would continue with a 31-23 home win over Tampa Bay, while Green Bay could not perform a second road miracle but only lost 24-21 at San Francisco. Kansas City had a narrow 27-24 ouster of Buffalo on the road, while Baltimore brought Houston's magical season to a screeching halt with a 34-10 beatdown.
San Francisco had another 3-point squeaker, but ended Detroit's season with a 34-31 win at Levi's Stadium, while Kansas City took the aforementioned 17-10 win at Baltimore.
Kansas City prevailed 25-22 over San Francisco in only the second overtime finish in Super Bowl history. The other was New England's comeback from a 28-3 deficit against Atlanta in Super Bowl 51 to cap the 2016 season.
All of San Francisco's playoff games were decided by 3 points
Kansas City will be looking to become the first team ever win 3 straight Super Bowls. Eight teams have gone back-to-back. None made it all the way back to the Super Bowl to attempt a 3-peat.
The Chiefs were the first to go back-to-back since the Patriots for the 2003 and 2004 seasons. The 2005 New England squad lost in the divisional round to Denver
Denver went back-to-back to end the 1997 and 1998 seasons. John Elway retired after the Super Bowl and the 1999 Broncos stumbled to a 6-10 finish.
Dallas accomplished that feat with its 1992 and 1993 success. The 1994 Cowboys lost in the NFC Championship game at the 49ers.
San Francisco ended the 1989 campaign with a second straight Super Bowl win. In 1990, the 49ers came up 1 win short of earning a shot at a Super Bowl 3-peat when they lost at home to the NY Giants in the NFC Championship game .
The Pittsburgh Steelers did it at the end of their 1978 and 1979 seasons, as well as the 1974 and 1975 seasons. In 1980, Pittsburgh did not qualify for the playoffs after going 9-7 and finishing 3rd in their division. In 1976, Pittsburgh fell just short of earning a 3-peat attempt by losing 24-7 at the Oakland Raiders in the AFC Championship game.
The Dolphins did it at the end of their 1972 and 1973 seasons. In 1974, an 11-3 season was second-best in the NFL, but the Dolphins lost to the Oakland Raiders in the AFC Divisional Playoff Game.
Green Bay won the first two Super Bowls to end the 1966 and 1967 seasons. The Packers did not qualify for the playoffs the following year, though they finished 8-6 after Vince Lombardi left for Washington.
9/5 (Thur.) at Kansas City
9/15 Las Vegas
9/22 at Dallas
9/29 Buffalo
10/6 at Cincinnati
10/13 Washington
10.21 (Mon.) at Tampa Bay
10/27 at Cleveland
11/3 Denver
11/7 (Thur.) Cincinnati
11/17 at Pittsburgh
11/25 (Mon.) at LA Chargers
12/1 Philadelphia
12/8 BYE
12/15 at NY Giants
12/21 (Sat.) Pittsburgh
12/25 (Wed.) at Houston
1/ 4 or 1/5 Cleveland
9/5 (Thur.) Baltimore
9/15 Cincinnati
9/22 at Atlanta
9/29 at LA Chargers
10/7 (Mon.) New Orleans
10/13 BYE
10/20 at San Francisco
10/27 at Las Vegas
11/4 (Mon.) Tampa Bay
11/10 Denver
11/17 at Buffalo
11/24 at Carolina Panthers
11/29 (Fri.) Las Vegas
12/8 LA Chargers
12/15 at Cleveland Browns
12/21 (Sat.) Houston
12/25 (Wed.) at Pittsburgh
1/5 at Denver
Friday, 9/6 Packers vs. Eagles in Sao Paolo, Brazil at Corinthians Arena
Sunday, 10/6 Jets vs. Vikings in London at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Sunday, 10/13 Jaguars vs. Bears in London at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Sunday 10/20 Patriots vs. Jaguars in London at Wembley Staium
Sunday, 11/10 Giants vs. Panthers in Munich, Germany at Allianz Arena