By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos will square off in the first "Monday Night Football" game of the season on Sept. 14th this coming season.
The site of the game will be known when the NFL unveils the complete 2026 regular-season schedule on Thursday at 7pm. A two-hour prime-time special will air on ESPN and NFL Network for the full season schedule release. Another unknown is whether quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be available for the game as the two-time NFL MVP recovers from a torn ACL and LCL in his left knee suffered on December 14th in the final minutes of a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Mahomes has stated his goal is to be ready for Kansas City's 2026 season opener. Who should be ready for the matchup is Broncos quarterback Bo Nix, who is expected to be ready for training camp after breaking a bone in his right ankle on January 18th during the AFC playoffs. Nix did not play in Denver's season-ending loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.
The Broncos wrested the AFC West title from the Chiefs last season, ending Kansas City's nine-year streak atop the division. Kansas City suffered a down season, filled with injuries and underperformances, finishing 6-11, while Denver topped the AFC West with a 14-3 record, beating out the Los Angeles Chargers for the top spot.
A trio of games announced Monday came as NBC, Fox and Prime Video made their upfront presentations to advertisers. More matchups will be revealed in the coming days. The Dallas Cowboys were part of two of the unveilings Monday, both against NFC East rivals. The Cowboys will visit the New York Giants in the first NBC "Sunday Night Football" game of the season on Sept. 13th, and will host the Philadelphia Eagles on Thanksgiving on Fox.
The Buffalo Bills' first regular-season game in their new stadium will be against the Detroit Lions on September 17th and will kick off Amazon Prime Video's "Thursday Night Football" schedule. The Denver-Kansas City and Dallas-New York Week one matchups also mean none of those teams will be the visitor at Seattle on Wednesday, Sept. 9th, when the defending champion Seahawks unveil their Super Bowl banner and kick off the season.
Chicago, Arizona, the Chargers or a title-game rematch against New England are the remaining possibilities.
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