With the 2023 NFL schedule expected to be released next month, there will be a lot of rumors about the schedule between now and then and those rumors started this week with a report of who the Kansas City Chiefs will be playing when they travel to Germany this season.
According to Dave Kaplan of ESPN-1000 in Chicago, the Chiefs will be facing the Bears in a game that will mark Chicago’s third trip to Europe for a regular-season game, but their first trip to Germany.
Although the NFL‘s international series started in 2007, the league didn’t start playing games in Germany until last year. The Buccaneers beat the Seahawks 21-16 in Munich back in November, which marked the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game in Germany. The game was such a success for the NFL that the league is sending two games to Germany in 2023.
After getting to watch Tom Brady last year, fans in Germany will now be treated to a game featuring Patrick Mahomes against Justin Fields. The fact that the Chiefs will be playing is a big deal, because it will mark just the second time in the history of the international series that the defending Super Bowl champion has played a game in Europe. The only other time it happened came in 2018 when the Eagles played in London following their victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
The Bears will be the road team in Germany, which shouldn’t be all that surprising since they’ve been the road team in every game where they’ve traveled abroad. The Bears first trip to Europe came in 2011 when they beat the Buccaneers in London. In 2019, they returned to London for a game against the Raiders that they lost 24-21.
Although the Bears are expected to play in Germany, this is only a report and nothing will be official until the NFL announces it. The league has actually already revealed the home teams for each international game this year. Besides the Chiefs, the Bills (London), Titans (London), Jaguars (London) and Patriots (Germany) will also be hosting games abroad this year.
The rest of the schedule will be announced at some point in May. In each of the past two seasons, the schedule was released on May 12, so you can probably expect it to come out at some point around that date.
