Conspiracy theories are alive and well. The following conversation between my agent I.M. Slick and yours truly has revealed an unusual conspiracy theory.
Slick: You need to write about how the NFL hates the Chiefs so much that they are rigging the 2024 football season against them.
Joe: Huh? That’s a bit extreme, don’t you think? The Chiefs will be featured as much or more than any NFL team in prime-time games this year. That’s what happens when you win two consecutive Super Bowls.
Slick: Ha! Let me tell you why the Chiefs have little to no chance of winning the title for the third consecutive year.
Joe: You mean other than the fact that the odds are heavily stacked against them to begin with, because no NFL team has ever won three consecutive Super Bowls?
Slick: Even so, the NFL is doing its best to squash any three-peat with a ridiculous schedule. Consider that nine of the Chiefs’ final 15 games are on the road.
Joe: Yeah, and the Chiefs won two playoff games on the road last year, so your point is?
Slick: The Chiefs are scheduled for five prime-time games plus three contests in an exclusive TV window, including a Black Friday game against the Las Vegas Raiders, and a Christmas Day meeting with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Joe: So? It’s no secret that the Chiefs have a bullseye on their backs after back-to-back titles.
Slick: The Chiefs will rarely get a normal week. Their eclectic schedule features two games on Mondays, one game on a Wednesday, one on a Thursday, one on a Friday, one on a Saturday, and only 11 on Sundays – that’s every day of the week except Tuesday.
They will have a high number of shorter-than-usual or longer-than-usual weeks, and not as many breaks as normal of the typical six-day variety.
Joe: That’s a fair point. How they handle the unusual schedule will be a challenge. The Chiefs are a veteran team, and their experience should help, but a lot may depend on how healthy they are during the course of the year.
Slick: Late in the season, the Chiefs have to play three games over an 11-day span. That’s brutal.
Joe: I agree. That’s rough.
Slick: So there you have it. I believe the conspiracy theory that the NFL wants KC to lose this year.
Joe: You make a good point about their challenging schedule. There’s not much of a routine to the schedule and athletes tend to perform better with a routine. But I’m not sure you can make a leap to a conspiracy theory that the Chiefs are being set up to fail.
I like what Coach Andy Reid had to say about the unusual schedule – “It’s the first time in my career that this has happened, it’s unique, and you know how we are. We don’t really care,” Reid said matter of factly, via a Chiefs transcript.
“They can give us a Tuesday game if they want, and we’ll be okay there, too,” Reid said. “We work through it, we’ll play anybody, anywhere, whatever they want to do. We’re on board.”
One writer said: “The Chiefs always have many eyes on them, and through the ups and downs, the spotlight never fades. However, when you want to make NFL history, that’s just the way things are.”
Slick: I still think there’s a conspiracy, and I don’t think the Chiefs will win it all this year.
Joe: No doubt the Chiefs are unlikely to win it all this year for any number of reasons besides the funky schedule, but being in a position to try for a three-peat is a pretty special place to be. You might want to take a chill pill, and enjoy another exciting roller-coaster ride of a season.
