Schedule Makers Want Spotlight on One AFC West Team and It's Not the Chargers

The Chargers will be getting only half of the primetime games that the Chiefs were given. Will it matter in the end?

Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Chargers social media team does not miss when it comes to the business of dropping the best schedule release videos. The NFL schedule was finally revealed on Thursday and despite more primetime games being on the Chargers schedule wish list, the NFL did not oblige.

Los Angeles finished with an 11-6 record in 2026 and made the playoffs for the second year in a row. They swept their AFC West opponents with their starters, they dropped a Week 18 game to the Broncos after opting to rest their starters to prepare for the playoffs. The schedule makers over at the NFL only gave the Chargers three primetime games despite having five in 2025.

It may be due to the intrigue of quarterback Patrick Mahomes returning from injury or a potential Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift wedding, but the schedule makers clearly wanted the Kansas City Chiefs in the spotlight and handed them six primetime games. The Chargers and Broncos made the playoffs out of the AFC West last season, the Chiefs missed the playoffs altogether.

Obviously, the NFL is an entertainment business, and the Chiefs have been deemed the more marketable commodity in the AFC West. If there is any further proof beyond the schedule, tune in to watch an NFL game and prepare to be smacked across the face with an endless run of Chiefs players featured in awful State Farm commercials.

Amount of primetime games by NFL team:

7: LAR

6: GB, KC, BUF, SEA

5: DAL, PHI, CHI, NE, SF

4: MIN, NYG, PIT, BAL, DET, HOU, WSH

3: JAX, DEN, CIN, ATL, CAR, LAC, TB

2: IND

1: NO, CLE

0: NYJ, ARZ, TEN, MIA, LV

Reminder: Primetime for the NFL = game at night. https://t.co/8YATyTg3O6

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) May 15, 2026

It may be conspiratorial but the schedule also gave the Chiefs a light schedule to start. Patrick Mahomes is rehabbing from a brutal knee injury and he by all reports is hellbent on being ready for the start of the season even if not fully back to one hundred percent.

The Chiefs do start the season on Monday Night Football against the defending AFC West Champions but who are also dealing with a quarterback returning from a brutal injury themselves. Following the Broncos, Kansas City plays the Indianapolis Colts who will likely be starting a backup quarterback, then the tanking Miami Dolphins and finally the rebuilding Las Vegas Raiders before getting a bye before hosting the Chargers.

The Chiefs have a built-in on-ramp to their season, and they need one with Mahomes working his way back. The Chiefs have a brutal stretch to finish the season and there is a chance, if Mahomes and crew start slow for the second straight season, the Chiefs could be facing an 0-3 start in the division by week six.

The schedule makers gave the Denver Broncos a brutal slate to start the season. If the Chiefs are able to handle the opening of the season and get their feet under them, the Chiefs visiting the Chargers in Los Angeles for Week 17 may be a contest that gets elevated to a primetime game and will serve as de facto AFC West title eliminator.