Chiefs-Ravens: Start time, channel, how to watch and stream NFL Kickoff game

It’s been 207 days since the Kansas City Chiefs narrowly defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII, but after a long offseason, NFL football is back.

The Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes will host Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens Thursday in a rematch of last season’s tight AFC championship game. The Chiefs begin their season looking to become the first team in NFL history to three-peat Super Bowl victories.

It’s Andy Reid’s 12th season as the Chiefs’ head coach. Reid, 66, was hired by Kansas City after the Eagles fired him following the 2012 season. Under Reid, the Chiefs have gone 179-128 and have made the playoffs for nine straight seasons, including three Super Bowl wins. Reid now has more Super Bowl wins than Vince Lombardi, for whom the trophy is named after, and trails just two coaches in NFL history — Bill Belichick (six) and Chuck Noll (four).

Reid, 66, is under contract with the Chiefs through the 2028 season, but was noncommittal when asked about his future earlier this week.

“I signed a five-year deal, so we’ll see how all that goes,” Reid told reporters Tuesday. “I’m getting older.”

Also back with the Chiefs is Travis Kelce, who signed a new two-year deal this offseason that will keep him in Kansas City through the 2025 season. He and his brother, former Eagles center Jason Kelce, also finalized a deal worth at least $100 million to take their popular New Heights podcast to Amazon’s Wonderly, which drew some lighthearted trash talk from Ravens defender Marlon Humphrey.

“I pray for this, to go against him because he has tried to take everything from me,” Humphrey jokingly said on his own Punch Line podcast Monday. “He has got to pay for what he has done to the podcast space. How he has tried to eliminate us … it’ll be pod versus pod and we’ll see what heights is higher.”

The Eagles will open their season Friday in Brazil against the Green Bay Packers, which is considered a home game despite taking place at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, more than 4,700 miles south of Philly. In a nod to the stadium’s home soccer team, the Corinthians, the Eagles will be wearing black and white uniforms with little to no green. The game will stream exclusively on Peacock, NBC’s subscription streaming service, but will air in the Philadelphia TV market on NBC10.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch or stream tonight’s Chiefs-Ravens game:

The NFL Kickoff game between the Chiefs and Ravens is scheduled to begin at 8:20 p.m. Eastern on NBC.

Calling the game will be Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth, who are entering their third season together on NBC’s NFL coverage. Melissa Stark will report from the sidelines at Arrowhead Stadium.

“The season, the NFL just continues to hit the ceiling and keep going higher,” Tirico said on a recent conference call. “There’s so much anticipation in all the markets, so much anticipation around the league. And I love that we started with two guys who have won the MVP four of the last six years in Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes.

The Chiefs-Ravens game can also be heard on 94.1 WIP in and around Philadelphia via Westwood One, with Kevin Harlan and Hall of Famer Kurt Warner on the call.

The Chiefs-Ravens game will stream on Peacock, NBC’s subscription streaming platform.

Peacock will exclusively stream at least one more NFL game this season — the Eagles’ Week 1 matchup against the Green Bay Packers in Brazil.

The Chiefs-Ravens game will also stream in the Philadelphia market on any so-called skinny bundle that carries NBC, including fuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and DirecTV Stream. Most offer a free trial.

Fans can also stream the game on NFL+, the league streaming service. It’ll set you back $6.99 a month, though there is a free seven-day trial.

If you’re looking to watch the game for free and you live in or around Philadelphia, your best option is using a digital antenna, since the game will air on broadcast television.

The biggest question leading up to the game is whether pop megastar Taylor Swift will be in the stands rooting her boyfriend Travis Kelce on.

There haven’t been any official announcements, but Swift’s Eras Tour is on a two-month break, scheduled to resume Oct. 18 in Miami. So there’s certainly a window of opportunity for Swift to be there to support Kelce, who has attended 13 Era Tours concerts since the couple went public with their relationship, according to USA Today.

Swift and Kelce have been dating for about a year, and last season her attendance at 13 Chiefs games helped grow the NFL’s TV ratings. And no, they haven’t broken up — even though a fake contract claiming their relationship was staged has been circulating online.

Coverage on NBC begins at 7 p.m. with the NFL Kickoff Special, an on-site edition of the network’s Football Night in America pregame show broadcasting live from Kansas City and São Paulo, Brazil.

Maria Taylor, fresh off covering the Paris Olympics, returns to host NBC’s studio coverage. Joining her in Kansas City will be former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett, former Patriots Super Bowl champ Devin McCourty, former quarterback Chris Simms, NFL insider Mike Florio, and fantasy expert Matthew Berry.

Jac Collinsworth, son of Cris Collinsworth, will cohost coverage from Brazil alongside Hall of Fame head coach Tony Dungy and former Patriots Super Bowl champ Rodney Harrison.

Yes, it’s Thursday, but tonight’s game is technically part of NBC’s Sunday Night Football package. Here’s NBC’s full slate of games this season, with the Eagles scheduled to play twice in prime time on the network.

Schedules could change thanks to the NFL’s flex rules, allowing better games to be moved into prime time. Week 18′s game has not been scheduled yet because the league will wait to make sure it has an impact on the playoffs.