Chiefs-Raiders Week 18 game will be played on Saturday

The NFL announced late on Sunday evening that the Kansas City Chiefs regular-season finale against the Las Vegas Raiders will be played on Saturday, January 7 at 3:30 p.m. Arrowhead Time.

The downside is that the Chiefs are getting stuck with a short week to end their season. The bright side is that no matter how the remainder of the regular season goes — and whether they finish with the AFC’s No. 1 seed or not, they will have an extra day of rest heading into the playoffs.

The game will air on ESPN and ABC. It’s part of a doubleheader that includes the Tennessee Titans visiting the Jacksonville Jaguars at 7:15 p.m.

During his press conference following Sunday’s 27-24 victory over the Denver Broncos, Kansas City head coach Andy Reid mentioned the possibility that game might be played on Saturday.

“What we’ve done is we have to take it as if we’re playing on Saturday,” he told reporters. “That’s how you have to go about it. So our coaches were working today and yesterday — this morning and yesterday — finishing up the run game and some of the pass game stuff. And so, we’ll get tomorrow to add a little bit to it and then we’re right into it. So, we’re treating it like [it’s a Saturday game], which is the only way you can do it. If they sprawl a Saturday on us, we have to be ready to roll.”