Thursday discussion: What will be the Chiefs’ most important game this season?

As the dog days of the offseason continue, let’s keep the wheels turning ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs’ 2023 season.

Last week, we discussed which player might break out for the team in 2023. Now let’s talk about this season’s schedule.

What will be the Chiefs’ most important game this season?

My answer: against the Cincinnati Bengals at home in Week 17.

Of course, a team that’s won seven consecutive AFC West titles and hosted five straight AFC championships is going to face a lot of difficult matchups. While the league’s scheduling formula doesn’t consider a team’s success as much as it once did, it’s still an important factor.

In 2023, Kansas City will play all three of last season’s other AFC division winners and two of the four NFC division titlists. There will be a rematch against all three of last season’s postseason opponents — and in all, the Chiefs will have eight games against 2022 playoff teams. So there are a lot of games from which to choose.

But it’s hard not to pick the game against a team that has defeated Kansas City in three of the last four matchups between them — especially when it will be played in the next-to-last week of the regular season. It’s easy to imagine that the critically important first seed of the AFC postseason will be up for grabs — and this year, it’s unlikely there will be an unfinished game on the Bengals’ schedule to muck up that calculation.

My selection, however, depends on the AFC’s power structure remaining pretty much the same as it was in 2022. By Week 17, it could be unrecognizable.

Now it’s your turn. What will be the Chiefs’ most important game? Do you think Kansas City can win it?