NEWSLETTER
In an announcement on Thursday, the NFL shared that international games would be played once again in London and Germany. The declaration comes as the NFL gets back to building its international brand by putting teams in showdowns across the pond after a brief pandemic-caused hiatus. And, once again, the Chicago Bears were *NOT* announced as a home team set to play on a neutral site overseas.
These teams, however, were the chosen few:
If you saw the Chiefs on the list and stopped in your tracks, then I think you know what is coming next. And in case you’re unfamiliar with the NFL’s rotational schedule, let me fill you in.
The Bears are playing teams in the AFC West in 2023. That means the Raiders, Broncos, Chiefs, and Chargers are on the docket for Chicago’s football team. Games against the Raiders and Broncos are going to be Bears home games. This means the Chargers and Chiefs will be “road” games for the Bears.
I think you know where I am going with this…
Would the NFL dare send the Chiefs and Bears to Germany? I can’t say that I wouldn’t put it past ’em to do it. What better way to promote your game overseas than to showcase the Chiefs (a perennial playoff team) and Bears (a franchise steeped in history whose arrow is pointing up) in Germany? And I struggle to imagine a more grand idea than pitting Super Bowl champion and MVP Patrick Mahomes against upstart playmaker Justin Fields. A Fields-Mahomes matchup is the kind of dream scenario that the NFL dreams of when piecing together a schedule. The TV rating numbers would probably be through the roof for that one. And fans would be clamoring for tickets and planning trips as soon as the NFL schedule-release show went on the air with that news. Honestly, I might be one of them.
But on the other hand, I can’t fully bring myself to think that the Chiefs would let the NFL take that particular home game away out of Arrowhead Stadium. Because that game would have a strong pull if it stayed stateside. Not only would it still have the Mahomes-Fields drawing card, but it would also represent the Bears’ first trip to K.C. since 2015. In that game, the Bears erased a 17-3 halftime deficit by scoring 15 second-half points to snatch an 18-17 victory from the jaws of defeat.
This box score was an absolute treat to dig through.
In the end, I think this is worth monitoring. The Bears’ road slate of games is unique. And I’ve been mentally preparing for a trip to Kansas City since realizing a Bears-Chiefs game was on the horizon. Arrowhead Stadium has been on my bucket list for years. Then again, I got my passport in 2021 hoping to make international travel part of my future. Maybe the NFL will step in and make that happen. We’ll see.
