2020 Kansas City Chiefs season

The 2020 season was the Kansas City Chiefs' 51st in the National Football League (NFL), their 61st season overall and their eighth under head coach Andy Reid. The Chiefs, who entered the season as defending Super Bowl LIV champions, qualified for the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season, tying a franchise record set from 1990 to 1995 and won the division for the fifth consecutive year. They finished with a league-leading 14–2 record, the best record in Chiefs history until the 2024 season. The Chiefs appeared in Super Bowl LV, their second consecutive Super Bowl appearance and fourth in franchise history, but lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31–9. With the loss, the Chiefs became the sixth defending Super Bowl champion to lose the next year's game, after the 1978 Dallas Cowboys, the 1983 Washington Redskins, the 1997 Green Bay Packers, the 2014 Seattle Seahawks, and the 2017 New England Patriots. Their 2024 counterpart would later join this list.

In the offseason, the Chiefs released the longest tenured player in franchise history, punter Dustin Colquitt, who had been with the team since 2005. Colquitt was later signed to the Chiefs practice squad shortly before the playoffs.

The biggest move of the offseason, however, was signing quarterback Patrick Mahomes to a ten-year, $503-million-dollar extension, the largest contract in American sports history.

On August 17, the Chiefs announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their stadium will be filled at about 22% capacity, or about 16,000 fans. Additionally, fans in attendance will be required to wear a face covering when they are not actively eating or drinking. Season tickets were not sold, however, season ticket holders from 2019 that did not cancelled season tickets, still had the option to buy season tickets in 2021.

After a 34–20 Week 3 win over the Baltimore Ravens, the Chiefs set a franchise record for consecutive wins including the playoffs with 12. The streak was snapped two weeks later at 13 with a Week 5 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. Following a Week 4 victory over the New England Patriots, the Chiefs became the first team in NFL history to open their season 4–0 in four consecutive seasons. The Chiefs clinched their fifth consecutive AFC West title after defeating the Miami Dolphins in Week 14. The victory also gave the Chiefs their first 12–1 record in franchise history. A Week 16 victory over the Atlanta Falcons gave the Chiefs their franchise record 14th win. It also clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Chiefs finished the season undefeated on the road for the first time in franchise history and with a 14–2 overall record, the best in the NFL during the season. In doing so, the Chiefs became the first team since the 2016 New England Patriots to achieve an 8–0 road record in the regular season.

Following their win in the divisional round of the playoffs against the Browns, Kansas City became the first AFC team ever to host three consecutive conference championship games, and the second team in NFL history to host three consecutive conference championships. The other team was the Philadelphia Eagles from 2002 to 2004, who were also coached by Andy Reid. The win also gave the Chiefs their 3rd consecutive season winning at least one playoff game, after losing 11 of their previous 12 playoff games. In the AFC Championship, the Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills 38–24 and advanced to Super Bowl LV, their second consecutive Super Bowl appearance and fourth all-time Super Bowl appearance. They went on to lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl, becoming the first team since the 2017 New England Patriots to win a Super Bowl but lose the following one the next season.

The Chiefs had six players named to the Top 100. Tight end Travis Kelce is the only player who was ranked higher than the previous season. Defending Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes was the highest rated Chiefs player on the list at fourth. Mahomes selection of fourth (behind fellow quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson, as well as defensive tackle Aaron Donald) drew criticism from multiple NFL analysts and fans. SB Nation’s Chiefs site Arrowhead Pride said they will no longer report on the Top 100 following Mahomes being selected fourth.

*Mike Kafka will continue serving in his role as quarterbacks coach, but will have additional duties as passing game coordinator

Below are players signed following the conclusion of the 2019 season, some of the players signed spent a portion of the 2019 NFL season on the practice squad and/or active roster.

*Indicates player finished the previous season on the Chiefs' practice squad

Below are players who were on the roster at the end of the 2019 season, but were either released or did not re-sign after their contract expired.

Trades

• The Chiefs traded linebacker Dee Ford to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for their 2nd round draft pick (63rd overall).
• The Chiefs traded their 2nd round selection (64th overall), in addition to 2019 draft picks, to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for defensive end Frank Clark and a 2019 draft pick.
• The Chiefs traded their 6th round selection (211th overall) to the New York Jets in exchange for linebacker Darron Lee
• The Chiefs traded their 7th round selection (246th overall) to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for safety Jordan Lucas.
• The Chiefs traded their 6th-round pick in 2021 NFL draft to the Tennessee Titans in exchange for their 237th pick in the 2020 draft.

Below are players who were signed and released in the offseason before playing a game for the Chiefs in the 2020 season. These players were not a part of the final roster cut downs prior to the start of the regular season.

On July 24, 2020, NFL owners and the NFL Players Association approved giving players the option to opt out of playing during the entire 2020 season as precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The players listed below opted-out before the August 6 deadline and did not play.

The following players were released to bring the roster to the league mandated 53 players before week 1. In addition to the following 24 players being released, the Chiefs also placed two players on the reserve/suspended list and placed one player on the PUP list.

All transactions listed in this section occurred after the Chiefs released their initial 53 player roster.

The players listed below served a suspension at some point during the season. The length, reason, and weeks served are all listed below.

*Roster status as of Super Bowl LV

*Signed to practice squad after release

The following players spent a portion of the season on injured reserve and were eventually activated off of it.

Chairman/CEO – Clark Hunt President – Mark Donovan General manager – Brett Veach Football operations counsel and personnel executive – Chris Shea Director of football operations – Mike Borgonzi Assistant directors of player personnel – Mike Bradway and Ryan Poles Director of pro personnel – Tim Terry Director of college scouting – Ryne Nutt Director of football administration – Brandt Tilis College scouting coordinator – Greg Castillo Head coaches

Head coach – Andy Reid Assistant head coach/special teams coordinator – Dave Toub Offensive coaches

Offensive coordinator – Eric Bieniemy Quarterbacks/passing game coordinator – Mike Kafka Running backs – Deland McCullough Wide receivers – Greg Lewis Tight ends – Tom Melvin Offensive line – Andy Heck Assistant offensive line – Corey Matthaei Pass game analyst/assistant quarterbacks – Joe Bleymaier Offensive quality control – David Girardi Offensive quality control – Porter Ellett | | | Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Steve Spagnuolo Run game coordinator/defensive line – Brendan Daly Linebackers/outside linebackers – Britt Reid Linebackers – Matt House Defensive backs – Dave Merritt Defensive backs/cornerbacks – Sam Madison Defensive assistant – Connor Embree Defensive quality control – Terry Bradden Defensive quality control – Alex Whittingham Special teams coaches

Assistant special teams – Andy Hill Strength and conditioning

Strength and conditioning – Barry Rubin Assistant strength and conditioning – Travis Crittenden Assistant strength and conditioning – Devin Woodhouse Sports science/conditioning – Ryan Reynolds |

26 Le'Veon Bell 25 Clyde Edwards-Helaire 42 Anthony Sherman FB 34 Darwin Thompson 31 Darrel Williams Wide receivers (WR)

17 Mecole Hardman 10 Tyreek Hill 85 Marcus Kemp 13 Byron Pringle 11 Demarcus Robinson 14 Sammy Watkins Tight ends (TE)

48 Nick Keizer 87 Travis Kelce 83 Ricky Seals-Jones 82 Deon Yelder | | Offensive linemen (OL) 73 Nick Allegretti G 79 Yasir Durant T 67 Daniel Kilgore C 74 Martinas Rankin T 62 Austin Reiter C 75 Mike Remmers T 61 Stefen Wisniewski G 77 Andrew Wylie G Defensive linemen (DL)

55 Frank Clark DE 51 Mike Danna DE 95 Chris Jones DT 92 Tanoh Kpassagnon DE 91 Derrick Nnadi DT 57 Alex Okafor DE 64 Mike Pennel DT 99 Khalen Saunders DT 90 Tim Ward DE 98 Tershawn Wharton DT | | Linebackers (LB) 47 Darius Harris OLB 53 Anthony Hitchens MLB 56 Ben Niemann MLB 44 Dorian O'Daniel OLB 54 Damien Wilson OLB Defensive backs (DB)

21 Bashaud Breeland CB 27 Rashad Fenton CB 20 Antonio Hamilton CB 29 BoPete Keyes CB 45 Chris Lammons CB 32 Tyrann Mathieu SS 38 L'Jarius Sneed CB 49 Daniel Sorensen FS 22 Juan Thornhill FS 35 Charvarius Ward CB 23 Armani Watts SS Special teams (ST)

 7 Harrison Butker K  5 Tommy Townsend P 41 James Winchester LS | | Practice squad 30 Deandre Baker CB (PS/I) 80 Evan Baylis TE 59 Omari Cobb OLB  2 Dustin Colquitt P 12 Gehrig Dieter WR 97 Austin Edwards DE 89 Maurice Ffrench WR 88 Jody Fortson WR 52 Demone Harris DE 24 Elijah McGuire RB 60 Patrick Omameh G 19 Tajae Sharpe WR 43 Emmanuel Smith LB (PS/I) -- Darryl Williams C 68 Bryan Witzmann G Reserve

30 Alex Brown CB (IR) 94 Taco Charlton DE (IR) 76 Laurent Duvernay-Tardif G (Opt-out) 72 Eric Fisher T (IR) 50 Willie Gay MLB (IR) -- Lucas Niang T (Opt-out) 70 Kelechi Osemele G (IR) 71 Mitchell Schwartz T (IR) -- Damien Williams RB (Opt-out) Rookies in italics 53 active, 18 reserve, 15 practice squad (2 exempt) |

The Chiefs' preseason schedule was announced on May 7, but was later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the defending Super Bowl champions, the Chiefs earned the right to host the NFL Kickoff Game, which occurred on September 10. The Chiefs' 2020 schedule was announced on May 7.

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

NFL Kickoff Game

• Official website