The Kansas City Chiefs knew they would be hosting the Houston Texans in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. Now, they know when they will face off for the right to advance to the AFC championship game.
The Chiefs and Texans will play at 3:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, January 18, the league announced. The Chiefs will host the game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN/ABC.
The stage is set.
See you in our place Saturday, Chiefs Kingdom! pic.twitter.com/434KAekoez
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) January 13, 2025
After recently facing off at Arrowhead on December 21, this will be the second matchup between the Chiefs and Texans in less than a month. It will also be the Chiefs’ first meaningful game since December 25. After securing the AFC’s No. 1 seed on Christmas, the Chiefs were able to rest key starters for nearly a month due to a meaningless Week 18 game and a first-round bye that kept KC sidelined through wild-card weekend.
The NFL Divisional Round schedule is here. 🏈📺🎙️ pic.twitter.com/UIVN02coD5
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 13, 2025
On Friday, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was asked about how the team was preparing for the possibility of hosting any of four potential divisional round opponents. While Reid acknowledged how strange it is that the Chiefs played against the entire AFC playoff field in the regular season, the team was remaining vigilant through the final days of unknowns before the matchups were set.
“We actually have played, which is crazy, but we’ve played all the teams that are in the [AFC] playoffs,” Reid said. “You’ve got to go back, though. You can’t be content with that. The four teams that we have a chance to potentially play in a couple weeks here, we’ve tried to hammer those out. We’re going to continue to do that until we find out what the results are probably Sunday night, somewhere in that area, or at least late afternoon, I would imagine.
“We’ll figure it out and see where it goes, but we’re going to try to be ready for all of them while we have this time. We’ve tried to use it smart as a coaching staff, [but] at the same time, we want to make sure our players are fresh but still stay sharp. They worked [Friday] in pads, and they’ll go [Saturday]. Sunday, regardless of whether it’s a Saturday game or a Sunday game, they’ll have Sunday off.”
Now, with the playoffs officially here and the game schedule set, it’s time for the Chiefs to get back to work as they make a run at the NFL’s first-ever three-peat.
