NFL is testing the Kansas City Chiefs early and often in their quest for a three-peat in 2024

No team has claimed an NFL three-peat in the Super Bowl era, and the league is testing the Kansas City Chiefs early and often as they look to achieve that historic feat.

After revealing the Chiefs will open the season against the Baltimore Ravens, whom they beat in the AFC Championship Game last season, the NFL announced on Tuesday that Kansas City will then host the Cincinnati Bengals at Arrowhead.

It's a start to the season that sees two incredible quarterback matchups as Patrick Mahomes duels with reigning MVP Lamar Jackson and the league's highest-paid signal-caller Joe Burrow, who is 3-1 in his career against Mahomes and the Chiefs (including postseason).

The Chiefs claimed victories over both teams last season en route to defeating the San Francisco 49ers in overtime in Super Bowl 58, though Kansas City's triumph against Cincinnati came in a game that saw the Bengals start Jake Browning at quarterback. Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury in a loss to the Ravens in Week 11.

Given the caliber of the quarterbacks and the teams they are facing across the first two weeks, the Chiefs open the season in potential jeopardy of starting their latest Super Bowl defense 0-2, a record few teams come back from.

Since 1990, only 32 teams have made the postseason having started 0-2, the Houston Texans doing so last season, while just four teams have gone on to win the Super Bowl after opening a campaign with successive defeats.

The Chiefs, though, will likely be favored in both games and, with the vociferous Arrowhead crowd behind them, a red-hot 2-0 start is also a distinct possibility. Kansas City opening in that fashion against two of their main contenders in the AFC would be a huge statement to teams looking to topple them in the conference and the rest of the league as a whole.

Of course, the Chiefs will be acutely aware that no season is ever entirely straightforward, and a mixed start to the campaign akin to that of 2023 is entirely possible. The Chiefs lost their opener to the Detroit Lions last season before bouncing back with an unconvincing win on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Though the Jaguars did not make the postseason, a conference win over a 2022 AFC playoff team carried more significance for the Chiefs than a victory over the Lions would have.

This year, it is more difficult to say which team the Chiefs would prefer to beat if they had to split their first two games with opponents most expect will be in the playoff picture come the business end of the season.

Given the Ravens only lost to the Chiefs by a touchdown in the conference title game and boast a quarterback who, unlike Burrow, is not coming off an injury, Baltimore could be viewed as a greater threat, with the season opener therefore potentially pinpointed as the more significant game for Kansas City's Super Bowl aspirations.

The Chiefs, though, will place equal importance on two huge contests and they certainly won't fear 0-2. Even if the worst did happen, a team that seems to find a way to overcome every challenge would embrace the chance to make the achievement of a three-peat even more spectacular by upping the difficulty level.