LOCATION: Wembley Stadium
Initially, I shied away from the Chiefs, being drawn to a more hipster-ish pick like the Chargers, especially since we don’t know at this early date if the Jaguars’ new coach will have this four-win team ready to compete with Patrick Mahomes. And as one of the decade’s marquee organizations, Kansas City is just so obvious as an ideal choice to up the entertainment quotient of just about any game anywhere in the world. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go for the Chiefs, despite how unsurprising the choice might be.
First, the London crowd has only had one chance to see the Chiefs thus far, in a 2015 game against Detroit, when they somehow scored 45 points despite Alex Smith throwing for 145 yards (it probably helped that they started seven drives at their own 39-yard-line or better). It’s only fair to give the U.K. a close-up look at K.C. in the Mahomes era (even if it wouldn’t be a total shock these days to see him put up a W while throwing for fewer yards than Smith did nine seasons ago). All the better if the Chiefs are pushing for a four-peat.
As for the Jags, the new coach will get a great chance to stress-test the operation, by either a) gathering valuable info about how far Trevor Lawrence and Co. are from the upper tier of the AFC, or b) walking on air, because guess what, his team just beat the Kansas City Chiefs.
Belgium
