Kansas City Chiefs: Why it's way too early to look at the schedule

The first thing fans do when the schedule is released is start picking winners and losers and realistically that makes no sense in April.

Immediately after the Kansas City Chiefs schedule was announced, social media exploded with fans and media declaring how the season would play out. People were giving their predictions on the season record, was the bye week fair and did the schedule makers screw them.

I’ll even admit that I was excited about schedule day and did the exact same thing. For anyone wondering, I predicted the Chiefs would go 11-5. While it’s fun to do, nobody should take it really seriously or dig too deep into the analysis of the schedule in April.

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There are many reasons why over analyzing the schedule this early is frivolous, the most obvious being roster construction. The draft hasn’t even happened yet but people are trying to predict how games will play out. How different will the two games against the Broncos look if they draft say Baker Mayfield and play him over Case Keenum?

Teams are grown in the draft and the season for any given team can change with just one pick. Any team the Chiefs face this year could hit a grand slam in the draft and go from a perceived easy win into a perceived loss by the time the season starts. The Cleveland Browns with all their picks could easily fit into this mold.

Even when the draft is over, we still won’t know what teams are going to look like come the season. There are still a ton of free agents unsigned including big names like Eric Reid, Johnathan Hankins, Tre Boston and Dez Bryant. All of these players will find teams eventually, and when they do who they go to could drastically change the outlook on the Chiefs schedule.

Even when the season starts it’s still nearly impossible to try and predict the season because of the nature of football. Football is a sport where injuries and age can take a player down at any time. We’ve witnessed guys who teams depend on and then the season starts and it’s clear that age has finally won. Derrick Johnson this past season is a prime example of the effect this can have on a team.

Chiefs fans know as well as anyone how much injuries can derail a season and change the schedule. When Eric Berry went down in week one this week, the Chiefs defense was never the same. Just imagine how much the New England Patriots season would change if Tom Brady were to get injured for the season in week one.

On the flip side for the Chiefs, other team injuries can sure help a lot. We all remember the 2013 seasons when we faced a group of backup quarterbacks like Terrel Pryor, Case Keenum, and Jeff Tuel.

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It’s all this unknown that makes analyzing the schedule a pointless routine. Everyone says the first half of the schedule is the hardest, maybe it is maybe it isn’t. People are saying the fact the Chiefs don’t have a bye until week 12 is unfair, yet it could come at a perfect time depending on how the season plays out.

I agree it’s fun to put Ws and Ls by games the second the schedule comes out. But to analyze it like we know anything or that the schedule in April has anything to do with how the season plays out is just wrong. So have fun with the schedule, enjoy some debates with friends and family, but I wouldn’t bet any money or stake a career on it.

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Kansas City Chiefs: Why it’s way too early to look at the schedule

By Britt Zank | Apr 22, 2018

The first thing fans do when the schedule is released is start picking winners and losers and realistically that makes no sense in April.