NEW YORK — First, Lamar Jackson. Then, Joe Burrow.
The two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs face a daunting test in opening their season after CBS unveiled Kansas City’s Week 2 opponent as being the Cincinnati Bengals on Tuesday. The league also announced Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets will open their season on Monday Night Football on Sept. 9 in traveling to play the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers.
The Bengals, with Burrow as their quarterback following a season-ending wrist injury, will travel to play at Kansas City in a late-afternoon outing on Sept. 15. The matchup follows the league's announcement on Monday of the Chiefs opening the NFL schedule hosting the Jackson-led Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 5 in a rematch of last season’s AFC title game.
The meeting against the Bengals brings together two teams who met in consecutive AFC championships, with Cincinnati winning in 2021 and the Chiefs winning the following season.
The NFL is releasing highlighted portions of its schedule in advance of the league revealing its full slate of games on Wednesday night.
The Jets are opening on Monday Night Football for a second consecutive season following a 22-16 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills last year, in what became Rodgers' celebrated but injury-abbreviated New York debut. Rodgers attempted one pass, which went incomplete, during a first series which ended with him tearing his left Achilles tendon. He was sidelined for the rest of the season.
Rodgers is on track to return to practice without limitations once the Jets begin voluntary spring sessions next week.