Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh is undefeated (5-0) on opening day as an NFL head coach. It is a record he shares with former Patriots coach Raymond Berry, who never lost an opener. (Though he won his final season opener, Berry’s 1989 Patriots went 5-11, which resulted in his firing.)
If Harbaugh is going to break the record he shares with Berry, then he is going to have to travel over 6,000 miles to do it.
Jim Harbaugh And Chargers Can Potential Break Streak Overseas
The Chargers will “host” a regular-season kickoff event in São Paulo, Brazil, as part of the NFL’s international game series. Though it has not been made official, The Athletic’s Nate Taylor and Daniel Popper have reported that the reigning AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs are the Chargers’ most likely opponents on Friday, September 5, at Arena Corinthians.
The choice makes sense from a viewership perspective. Kansas City has become a Prime Time staple in the Patrick Mahomes era. The Super Bowl champions have hosted the Thursday kickoff game since 2004, including Kansas City, which has hosted the last two.
Though the Lombardi Trophy will be hosted in Philadelphia the night before, slotting the Chiefs into the Brazil game allows the league to have their cake and eat it too.
If that is the matchup that the league settles on, then the Chargers will have their work cut out for them. Before the Chargers can break the Chiefs’ stranglehold on the division (nine straight AFC West titles), they will have to provide proof of concept by actually beating them on the field—something that has not happened since former coach Brandon Staley’s third game.
Andy Reid is 10-2 in season openers since taking over the coaching duties in Kansas City in 2013. With extra time to prepare, his KC record after a bye week is 9-3. Even when pitted against the best teams in the postseason, his record doesn’t fall off much; The Chiefs are 8-3 in the playoffs with an extra week to prepare.
If Harbaugh hopes to extend an undefeated streak on opening day, he might have to end Kansas City’s seven-game winning streak over the Chargers.
Only six current players remain from the most recent iteration of the team to beat the Chiefs back in 2021: Justin Herbert, Derwin James, Mike Williams, Rashawn Slater, Alohi Gilman, and Trey Pipkins. In the NFL, teams turnover their rosters dramatically from season to season, even the good teams. But the point is, how many of the current Chargers even know what it feels like to win a game against the defending AFC champs?
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In all, Andy Reid’s Kansas City teams are 27-8 (a .771 winning percentage!) after the extra rest provided by a bye week or on the opening day.
The NFL announced last month during the draft that the full 2025 schedule would be revealed on May 14, but because of the game’s high profile, expect the international game slate to leak as early as Tuesday.
Though the previous game played in São Paulo, Brazil, was broadcast exclusively on Peacock, the speculation is that the league will broadcast the game on YouTube for free; a first for the service, which bought a seven-year contract to broadcast Sunday Ticket last year.
Andrew Marchand of The Athletic wrote on Thursday that the price tag of the next Brazil game is not known yet, but it could be in the neighborhood of the $105 million that NBC paid last year to air the game on Peacock.
“This partnership would be different from the agreements with Amazon and Netflix, as it is anticipated not to be tied to any paid subscription,” Marchand wrote. “The game is expected to be available globally for free on YouTube.”
Sounds like another reason to believe that Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and a close friend of Taylor Swift’s will all be there, even if it is just rumors.