LA Chargers schedule: Predicting the 2021 primetime games
By Jason Reed
Thursday Night Football: LA Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs
There has been a trend in recent years that the LA Chargers play division foes on Thursday Night Football. The team has played the Raiders two years in a row on Thursday and the year before that the Chargers had the now-infamous Thursday Night Football victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
There was a break in 2017 as the Chargers beat the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving but they played the Denver Broncos on Thursday in 2016, the Raiders in 2015, the Broncos in 2014 and 2013, the Chiefs in 2012 and the Raiders in 2011. Nine of the last 10 seasons have seen the Chargers take on a division foe on Thursday Night Football.
That trend will continue in 2021 and it is such an easy matchup to book. Patrick Mahomes vs. Justin Herbert. Division foe vs. division foe. A playoff team vs. (hopefully) a playoff team.
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It should happen later in the year where the stakes are higher and it likely will take place in Kansas City. Now, you could make the case for this to be a Sunday or Monday game but I think the NFL will maximize the ratings by putting it on Thursday.
All NFL fans want is an entertaining game on Thursday and that is exactly what this would be. Plus, the Chiefs are going to be playing on Sunday and Monday so much already, so it makes sense to make the best division matchup a Thursday night affair.