Rumor: Los Angeles Chargers to Open the Season on Monday Night Football in Denver

The complete and official schedule for the 2017 NFL season supposedly isn’t being released until tonight, but that doesn’t mean little tidbits aren’t working their way out of the league offices.

If you’re not aware, Mike Klis is a beat reporter for the Denver Broncos. He reported this morning that he has sources telling him when the Broncos are opening the season. What does this have to do with the Chargers, you ask? Well..

... and there we have our answer. According to his source, the Denver Broncos will open their 2017 season by hosting the Los Angeles Chargers.

This will mark the 5th time since 2010 (and 7th since 2006) that the Chargers have opened the season on Monday Night Football. Opening the season on Monday Night hasn’t been that kind to the Chargers of late: they’ve lost 3 of the 4 Monday Night openers since 2010.

Philip Rivers loves playing in Denver. Being the opening game, the team could be playing with a lot of intensity and energy and very well could carry them past the Denver Broncos. Both teams feature new coaching staffs (including an old friend joining the Broncos this offseason), so this will give us our first real look at how both teams have changed.

Personally, I very much dislike opening the season on Monday Night. Being two west teams, this game will likely be the second game of the Monday Night double-header they like to do on opening weekend. That means kickoff will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 7:30PM Pacific (8:30PM Mountain).

That’s a long time to wait to watch your favorite team play on opening weekend.