Football fans across the country threw their hands into the air with joy when the NFL announced the full 2020 game schedule on May 7th. Kicking off the season on September 10th will be the Kansas City Chiefs, still high off their Super Bowl 2020 win, who will play against the Houston Texans.
In the last Super Bowl, the Chiefs wowed the crowd as they achieved their first win in five years after being down 20 points throughout the majority of the game. It was a historic moment, for it was the first time that the league had seen a team who’d been down by 20 come back to life and end up winning by 20, especially in such a high-intensity nail-biter of a game.
With the return of two of the most talented quarterbacks on their side, Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, speculation presumes that the Chiefs could have another great year up their sleeves, despite the loss of wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins who was recently traded to the Arizona Cardinals.
Hopkins and Watson were an amazing combination and worked wonders together, with Hopkins managing to catch 104 passes last year and helping to solidify the Chiefs’ rightful place in the Super Bowl Championship game.
Now that Hopkins is gone, time will tell on whether or not his loss will be felt by the Chiefs. Even so, team owner Clark Hunt has expressed confidence in his current lineup of players. With 20 out of the 22 starters returning this football season, his hope was to keep the winning players together in order to recreate that same magic that led the Chiefs to their win on the most recent Super Bowl Sunday.
Why the NFL Chose the Texans
Among others, the Chiefs are slated this year to play against the Broncos, Raiders, Chargers, Patriots, Jets, Falcons, and Panthers. Because of their game schedule, it is likely that the Texans were chosen to play against them for a number of reasons, one of them being that the last game played between the two high-profile teams was the most exciting and intense of the season.
In the divisional round of the playoffs, Houston was ahead by 24 points and expected to destroy the Chiefs that night. However, in an unexpected turn of events, the Chiefs pulled it together and not only flew past the Texans but left them behind in their dust in a win of 20 points.
Since this opening game of the season is highly-anticipated by the athletic community who has been missing their dose of sports since the pandemic halted the world, the Texans were the obvious choice to place against the Chiefs. The two are sure to deliver another high-intensity, entertaining game.
Addressing Concerns of the Pandemic For the Upcoming Season
As much as excitement as we are all feeling about the release of the 2020 NFL football schedule after having been following the rules of quarantine for months now, there are still some pieces that are up in the air. In fact, the entire schedule is what we’re calling “tentative” for the time being as the coronavirus pandemic could have an effect on whether the games go on at all or under what conditions.
Though Roger Goodell has said that the NFL will be continuing with plans as normal, there will be contingency plans put into place in the event that the crowd control will still be an issue. Preseason and offseason activities could see these effects as well, but fans have been assured that should anything happen, their ticket purchases will be entirely refunded.
As of now, however, fans across the country as well as all the teams, players, and families of athletes, are hoping that the season may proceed as normal. The Super Bowl date has been set for February 7th, 2021 in Tampa, Florida.
Catch the kick off game Texans verses Chiefs on September 10th on NFL Redzone available only on DISH Network.