KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Chiefs will be one of four NFL teams embarking Sunday on a stretch of schedule that will have them playing three games in 11 days. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his Kansas City teammates aren't looking forward to it.
"All you can do is focus on the game and the practice that you had that day," Mahomes said. "I try to prepare my body all year long for this stretch by tailoring my workouts, tailoring how you practice and you prepare. The coaches do a great job of taking care of us on the practice field. We practice hard as anybody, but they know how to kind of dial it back when we need it.
"It is not a good feeling. I'm excited to play on Christmas to hopefully get back from what we did last year [when the Chiefs lost on the holiday to the Las Vegas Raiders], but you never want to play this many games in this short of time. It's just not great for your body. But at the end of the day, it's your job, your profession. You have to come to work and do it."
The Chiefs will play the Browns in Cleveland on Sunday, followed by a Saturday game against the Houston Texans and then a Wednesday game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That third game will be played on Christmas Day.
The Texans, Steelers and Baltimore Ravens are the other teams with the three-games-in-11-days stretch.
"That's a unique situation," coach Andy Reid said. "You just have to manage it. It is what it is. You make the best of it. One thing is you've got to get guys ready for a game, give them the chance to do whatever you present to them. So, I help them out now. We've got a normal week right here. So, we've got to take care of business."
Defensive tackle Chris Jones recently complained that the Chiefs will go into the stretch after having an early-season bye, in Week 6. That's a longer stretch without a break than any of the other teams involved.
The Steelers had their bye in Week 9. The Texans and Ravens had theirs last week, in Week 14.
"This is one thing I'm doing this offseason is I'm going to the NFLPA, especially with us having three games in [an 11-day] span, that we're mandatory to have a late bye week," Jones said. "With our schedule, it's kind of awkward, to say the least. ... That's a conversation to have this offseason. If a team has somewhat of a schedule like that, they should get a late-season bye. We don't need a Week [6] bye ... Give it to us in Week 8, Week 10, something like that."