Carolina Panthers Schedule: Five toughest games in 2020
By Luke Tucker
No. 1: Week 9, at Kansas City Chiefs — 1 p.m. on FOX
How can this not be no. 1? The Chiefs are the defending Super Bowl champions and have arguably the best player in the National Football League in Patrick Mahomes. Playing the Chiefs on the road makes the task even harder.
Even with Mahomes missing several games last season, the Chiefs finished as a top-five offense. When Mahomes returned, the team’s offensive blitz ability was on full display in the postseason. Despite falling behind 24-0 against the Texans in the Divisional Round, the Chiefs scored 28 points in just over nine minutes to take control of the game. The Chiefs repeated a similar blueprint against the Titans and 49ers en route to winning the championship.
The Chiefs have the ultimate quick-strike offense and added weapons in the offseason to make it even more dangerous. Kansas City drafted star running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire out of LSU with its first-round pick and attempted to square away the defense with inside linebacker Willie Gay in the second round.
The Panthers haven’t beaten Kansas City since 2008, losing each of its last two matchups. And that’s before the Chiefs were the best team in football.
If there was ever a potential blueprint for the Panthers to beat the Chiefs, it came in the Chiefs’ Week 10 matchup with the Tennessee Titans. The Titans ran for 225 yards and two touchdowns, while Ryan Tannehill played solid, mistake-free football to pace the game. Mahomes still passed for nearly 450 yards, but the Titans were able to block a field goal at the end of the game to win. If that sounds like a crazy formula, well it is, but that’s the type of magic that is required to beat the Chiefs.
Getting a shot at the defending champions is an opportunity to be relished, and seeing McCaffrey and Mahomes face off will be a display of the league’s best talent. Unfortunately, there are just very few teams that will beat the Chiefs in 2020.