Chargers rumors: Bolts named a potential candidate to play first game of 2023
By Jason Reed
While we know who the LA Chargers are playing in 2023, we do not yet know the order in which they will play those teams. The Chargers 2023 schedule will be released on Thursday, May 11, revealing when the team will play each of its opponents, when the bye week will be and what games will be on primetime.
The Chargers received five primetime games in their initial schedule last season and it seems likely that they get the same number this year. After all, they play in the second-largest market in the country and have one of the best quarterbacks in the entire sport under center.
Perhaps one of those primetime games could come in Week 1 of the 2023 season. Nothing is official, of course, but the Chargers have been named as a potential candidate to open the 2023 season alongside the Kansas City Chiefs by Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer.
"The Chargers would be fun, too, and some K.C. folks think that’s who it’ll be, but only one of the last 10 of these kickoff events was a division game, and that was Bears-Packers in 2019, scheduled there to commemorate the league’s 100th season."
The defending Super Bowl Champions open every season on Thursday before Sunday of Week 1. The NFL always makes this a high-profile matchup with last year's game being between the LA Rams and Buffalo Bills.
Chargers-Chiefs makes sense to open the NFL season in Week 1
If the NFL were to open the season with the Chiefs hosting the Chargers it would make a lot of sense. The league would be putting two of the best quarterbacks in the world against each other in a game that is almost guaranteed to be entertaining.
Kansas City and Los Angeles always play a close game. Each of the Chargers' last four losses against the Chiefs have come within one score with two of the games going to overtime. Anything can happen but there is a really good chance that this would be a competitive, entertaining matchup.
Plus, the league has shown that it loves putting the Chargers and Chiefs on primetime, specifically on Thursday night. The two teams played the first-ever Thursday Night Football game on Amazon Prime last season. Three of the last four games between these two AFC West foes have been in primetime with two of those primetime games being on Thursday.
It makes all the sense in the world and would also benefit the Chargers as well. Not only do they get to play in a national spotlight (where Justin Herbert thrives) but they wouldn't be playing the Chiefs on a short week like a regular matchup on Thursday night.