While the Kansas City Chiefs have natural enemies within the AFC West in the Denver Broncos, the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Los Angeles Chargers, it's safe to say at this point that the Buffalo Bills have been their biggest rival during the dynasty, and CBS has been there for pretty much all of it.
Of the 10 times the Chiefs and Bills have met since Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen squared off for the first time in 2020, CBS has aired that matchup on nine of those occasions, including all four times the two teams met in the playoffs. It's worth noting, of course, that while Allen and the Bills have dominated the recent rivalry in the regular season, winning five of the six games, Mahomes and the Chiefs won all four of those playoff games. But that's not why we're here.
Kansas City and Buffalo are once again set to battle in 2026, with this year's matchup scheduled for Week 12 in the Bills' all-new Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. But CBS will not be on the call for this one, as the NFL opted to put this matchup in prime time on Thanksgiving night, which, in turn, gives the rights to NBC.
Legendary CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz was recently asked by our good friend Jimmy Traina at Sports Illustrated how he reacted when he heard NBC was getting the game, and while he sounded disappointed, he says he understands the decision.
"That’s the rivalry of its time," Nantz said. "But, you know, you’re not gonna get it every year. So, I’m O.K. with it. I have faith we’re going to get a very good schedule. I kind of had a sinking feeling that one of these years, somebody else was gonna get the chance to have that great matchup. It’s O.K."
Nantz, who once compared the Mahomes-Allen rivalry to that of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, and partner Tony Romo will ultimately call the early Thanksgiving Day game between the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears. That's a solid NFC battle, of course, but given the viewership the Chiefs and Bills bring, you know CBS wanted KC and Buffalo.
Chiefs vs. Bills matchups have set several viewership records over the last few years
The Chiefs and Bills have done some ridiculous and record-setting numbers since this Mahomes-Allen rivalry kicked off. We won't go over all 10 contests, but just looking at the last four will tell you everything you need to know.
In January 2024, the Chiefs and Bills entertained the largest viewing audience ever for a Divisional Round postseason game, as CBS averaged 50.393 million viewers for Kansas City's 27-24 win, with the peak audience coming in at 56.25 million.
Later that year, when the teams met in Week 11 of the '24 regular season, CBS averaged 31.2 million viewers, making it the most-watched game of the year up to that point and the largest audience for any regular-season game outside of Thanksgiving or Christmas since Brady's New England Patriots and Manning's Indianapolis Colts averaged 33.8 million viewers in Week 9 of the 2007 campaign.
In January 2025, the two teams set a new AFC Championship Game record, with CBS averaging 57.4 million viewers, thus breaking the mark of 55.5 million set the year before by the Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens.
And just this past November, the Chiefs and Bills' Week 9 matchup got CBS an average of 30.8 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched game of the year up to that point, trailing only the Week 2 matchup that saw Kansas City take on the Philadelphia Eagles in a rematch of Super Bowl 59.
So, as you can see, NBC is in for some monster numbers this year. CBS will be just fine, of course, with their Lions-Bears matchup, as Thanksgiving football always draws. But the Chiefs and Bills in prime time could very well end up setting more records.
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