In some respects, the Chiefs’ regular-season finale at Denver will have a college feel to it.
For starters, the game will be played on a Saturday, which during the fall is reserved for college football games. And the ESPN broadcast team will be one that usually works college football games.
ESPN announced Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will be in the booth for the Chiefs-Broncos game. Laura Rutledge will work as the sideline reporter.
Fowler and Herbstreit last called Georgia’s blowout victory over Michigan in the Orange Bowl, which was one of the College Football Playoff semifinal games. ESPN noted the duo has called a CFP semifinal in all eight years of the system.
Rutledge was a reporter at the Cotton Bowl, which Alabama won against Cincinnati in the other CFP semifinal.
John Parry will serve as ESPN’s rules analyst for the game, along with the Eagles-Cowboys contest, which is the second part of the network’s doubleheader on Saturday.
The Chiefs’ game against the Broncos kicks off at 3:30 p.m. Central time Saturday and will air on ESPN and KMBC (Ch. 9) in Kansas City.
On Sunday, the Steelers-Ravens game is currently scheduled to be shown at noon on KCTV (Ch. 5) in Kansas City. Ian Eagle and Charles Davis will be on the call with Evan Washburn working as sideline reporter.
From the perspective of Chiefs’ fans, the Titans-Texans game would be of more interest. If the Chiefs beat Denver, they would need Houston to defeat Tennessee to allow Kansas City to get the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoff field.