The Buffalo Bills have had plenty to be thankful for against the Kansas City Chiefs in the regular season. The playoffs have been a different story.
One of the NFL’s biggest recent rivalries is reportedly heading to Orchard Park for the Bills’ first-ever Thanksgiving home game.
Buffalo will host Kansas City on Thanksgiving night on NBC to cap the league’s 2026 holiday tripleheader, according to multiple reports. Kickoff is at 8:20 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 26. NFL reporter Jordan Schultz first reported the news.
They have played each other in the regular season the previous six years with Buffalo winning five, and have met four times in the playoffs since the start of 2020, Buffalo losing them all, and the games have been ratings monsters, usually for CBS which is the network that hosts the majority of AFC games.
But this year, the league is apparently putting the game in the late Thanksgiving window on Nov. 26 which falls in Week 12, and NBC will be the lucky network.
The matchup is another national showcase for new Highmark Stadium as Buffalo is scheduled to host the Detroit Lions in Week 2 in the first regular-season game at the new venue, a game that will be carried on Amazon Prime.
This would become the first Thanksgiving home game ever played in Orchard Park. The Bills are 6-4-1 all-time in 11 on Thanksgiving but every one of those games was on the road, the last being at Detroit in 2022. That was their third Thanksgiving appearance in a span of four years.
Throughout the schedule-making process, it was always believed the league would pit these teams later in the season to make sure Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was back and sufficiently healed from his ACL surgery which forced him to miss the end of the 2025 season.
The rest of the reported Thanksgiving games are Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys.
What Bills games are already announced?
The Bills have have already confirmed a primetime game against the Detroit Lions in new Highmark Stadium’s regular-season debut.
Buffalo will host the Detroit Lions at 8:15 p.m. ET on Thursday, Sept. 17 in Week 2 in the first regular-season game played at the new Highmark Stadium.
There are multiple reports that Buffalo will play the Kansas City Chiefs at home on Thanksgiving night.
Buffalo Bills 2026 opponents
The Bills will host eight regular season games and possibly two preseason games, if new Highmark Stadium is ready in time, with nine road regular season games and one away preseason games.
Since the Bills finished in second place in the AFC East, they’ll play each of last year’s second-place finishers in the AFC and an additional second-place team from the NFC. Buffalo also will play the entire AFC West and NFC North.
Bills home opponents
Bills away opponents
When is the Bills 2026 schedule released?
Buffalo’s 17-game 2026 schedule will be announced during the NFL schedule release at 8-10 p.m. on Thursday, May 14.
What TV channel is the Bills schedule release on?
NFL Network and ESPN2 will carry the league’s two-hour schedule release show.
How to stream the Bills schedule release
The NFL schedule release show will stream on NFL+ and the ESPN App.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills reportedly to host Chiefs in historic Thanksgiving night game
Reporting by Sal Maiorana and Ryan Miller, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
