Chiefs-Broncos could be coming to Thursday Night Football’s Amazon debut

The NFL’s Thursday Night Football will look and feel vastly different this season, as the broadcast shifts to exclusive streaming on Amazon’s “Prime Video” platform. Among other changes, the new team of Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit will be calling the games this season.

As outlined by NBC Sports’ Peter King in this Monday’s “Football Morning in America” column, the company wants to start with a bang with the first matchup.

To be clear: Thursday Night Football will debut on Amazon in Week 2, following the Week 1 Thursday night NFL opener featuring the world champion Los Angeles Rams — which will be broadcast on NBC.

King suggested that for Week 2, Amazon wants the Kansas City Chiefs:

KING: Now for the Amazon opener. I’ve heard they want Kansas City and the Patrick Mahomes star power. Smart choice, if they can get it. As for the foe, I’m guessing Denver if the Broncos don’t make the opener, or the rejuvenated and explosive Chargers. Russell Wilson or Justin Herbert. Three times Herbert and Mahomes have faced off, and high-scoring tight games (margins of 3, 6 and 6) have resulted. Traditionally, the Week 2 Thursday-nighter has been a repository of mediocrity. This year, just watch: it will be an homage to Bezos.

The Chiefs split with Herbert’s Los Angeles Chargers last season, and every matchup so far has indicated that Mahomes-Herbert will be must-see football. However, 2022’s initial edition of Chiefs-Broncos is likely to feel like a playoff game.

Seeking a quarterback for the better part of the last six seasons, the Broncos landed Wilson this offseason, and the prospect of being able to snap a 13-game losing streak against the Chiefs seems more legitimate than ever.

If King is right, we might just have our first date of the Chiefs’ schedule: Thursday night, September 15 against the Broncos. In recent years, the NFL has released its schedule for the upcoming season in May — a couple of weeks after the draft.

That is when we will know for sure.