All eyes in the football world will be on the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs when they square off on Monday Night Football in Week 1 — the final game in a blockbuster opening week that kicks off the previous Wednesday.
The Broncos and Chiefs also have something else really important in common as they begin the long, slow march toward kickoff on September 14 at Arrowhead Stadium. They both have quarterbacks coming off serious injuries, and neither team can say exactly when they’ll be back.
For the Broncos, 3rd-year quarterback Bo Nix is coming off a fractured ankle he suffered in an overtime win over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Divisional Round. Originally projected to keep him out 4-6 weeks, Nix now seems like he won’t be back until training camp, at least.
For the Chiefs, that’s the NFL’s singular marquee player in 2-time NFL MVP and 3-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes, who is coming off a torn ACL suffered in a Week 14 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
For the Broncos, things get considerably easier if they face backup Justin Fields, which seemed like a lock a few months ago.
Now, maybe not so much.
“You would never bet against Patrick Mahomes and the NFL certainly hasn’t,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter said on “Get Up” on Thursday morning. “The league has scheduled the Chiefs for the opening Monday night game of the year. The league doesn’t do that unless they think that there’s a realistic chance that Patrick Mahomes is going to be back. And I think the feeling is right now you have to see how the knee is progressing during the course of the summer, but the feeling right now within the organization is that he is tracking to be ready for that Monday night game against Bo Nix, who is coming off his own surgeries on his ankle, and the Denver Broncos in Kansas City.”
MNF Game Testament to Chiefs Box-Office Draw
The Chiefs have been the NFL’s elite box-office draw ever since Mahomes became the full-time starter in 2018 — his 1st NFL MVP season. In his 8 seasons as the starter, they’ve played in 5 Super Bowls and advanced to the AFC Championship Game for the 1st 7 seasons.
The NFL scheduling the Chiefs in the Monday Night Football season opener is not only a testament to Mahomes but to the rising profile of the Broncos, who went 14-3 in 2025, snapped the Chiefs’ 9-year streak of AFC West Division titles, and earned the No. 1 seed in the AFC Playoffs.
The Chiefs are coming off a 6-11 season and missed the playoffs for the 1st time since 2014, which means Broncos fans might be a bit overconfident headed into 2026.
“I wholeheartedly believe the Chiefs are no longer a threat to the Broncos,” Denver Broncos 365 wrote on X on May 12. “I think the tides have completely turned. Bo Nix will have a better career at this point going forward than Mahomes. We were the champs last year, and that won’t change. Bookmark this.”
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