2015 Kansas City Chiefs Schedule: Full Listing of Dates, Times and TV Info

The Kansas City Chiefs are a difficult team to pin heading into the 2015 NFL season.

Their AFC West division has been among the league's best in recent years. However, Denver has an aging quarterback in Peyton Manning, while San Diego can never seem to put it all together.     

This could be the chance for coach Andy Reid to take home his first division crown in what will be his third year at the helm in Kansas City. With the draft yet to play out, there's still room for the Chiefs to improve.

Below is an overview of Kansas City's 2015 schedule, along with analysis of the team and a breakdown of the Chiefs' most pivotal matchups.

Week	Date	Opponent	Time (ET)	TV
1	Sept. 13	at Houston Texans	1 p.m.	CBS
2	Sept. 17	vs. Denver Broncos	8:25 p.m.	CBS/NFLN
3	Sept. 28	at Green Bay Packers	8:30 p.m.	ESPN
4	Oct. 4	at Cincinnati Bengals	1 p.m.	CBS
5	Oct. 11	vs. Chicago Bears	1 p.m.	Fox
6	Oct. 18	at Minnesota Vikings	1 p.m.	CBS
7	Oct. 25	vs. Pittsburgh Steelers	1 p.m.	CBS
8	Nov. 1	vs. Detroit Lions (in London)	9:30 a.m.	Fox
9		Bye
10	Nov. 15	at Denver Broncos	4:25 p.m.	CBS
11	Nov. 22	at San Diego Chargers	8:30 p.m.	NBC
12	Nov. 29	vs. Buffalo Bills	1 p.m.	CBS
13	Dec. 6	at Oakland Raiders	4:05 p.m.	CBS
14	Dec. 13	vs. San Diego Chargers	1 p.m.	CBS
15	Dec. 20	at Baltimore Ravens	1 p.m.	CBS
16	Dec. 27	vs. Cleveland Browns	1 p.m.	CBS
17	Jan. 3	vs. Oakland Raiders	1 p.m.	CBS

Analysis

The big new addition to the fold in K.C. is Jeremy Maclin, who changes teams for the first time fresh off a career year with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Reid used to coach Maclin in Philly, so he'll know exactly how to use him in the Chiefs offense. This should be immensely helpful to quarterback Alex Smith, who needs all of the help he can get.

As is widely known by even casual NFL fans, Kansas City's receiving corps caught zero touchdowns in 2014. Maclin had 10 TD receptions among his 85 catches last year, so he figures to find paydirt far more frequently.

At the very least, Maclin is a do-it-all receiver who can keep secondaries at bay and make running back Jamaal Charles' job a bit easier. Charles is the foundation of the Chiefs offense, but he'll be 29 in December, so he needs Knile Davis to continue taking some of the workload.

Defense should be the priority in the 2015 draft, because Kansas City has a declining edge-rusher in Tamba Hali and still doesn't have Justin Houston locked down for a long-term deal after franchise tagging him. The secondary could use some depth, along with the front line.

Something must be done personnel-wise for Kansas City to improve its run defense, which rated 26th in Football Outsiders' rankings.

Pivotal Matchups

Peter Aiken/Getty Images

Of the Chiefs' 16 games in 2015, seven of them come against opponents who made the playoffs last year, as KCChiefs.com's BJ Kissel pointed out when the list was initially released in December. 

Projecting how difficult a schedule will ultimately be is always tough because of the NFL's perpetual parity factor. In what should continue to be a difficult AFC West, though, Kansas City has its work cut out to post another winning record.

A huge game looms in Week 8 when the Chiefs travel to Wembley Stadium in London to take on the Detroit Lions. This midseason test will be indicative of where both teams stand, and it will be interesting to see if Charles can get going against a Lions front that no longer features Ndamukong Suh.

Other away games outside of the division that figure to be challenging are trips to Baltimore, Cincinnati and Green Bay. Since 2009, those three teams have combined to miss the playoffs just twice.

One could blame Smith's limited arm talent for Kansas City's lack of passing-game production, but he hasn't had a weapon like Maclin at his disposal as of yet—and the Chiefs could still add someone in the draft.

Charles' health is probably the most vital element as to how far K.C. goes in 2015. Although a division title seems possible depending on how Manning fares in Denver, a rough road schedule that includes a trip across the pond puts the Chiefs projected at around the 9-7 record range they achieved last year.