The Pittsburgh Steelers will host the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day in a game that will be exclusively aired on Netflix. The Week 17 game was reported by Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz.
Netflix announced that it is the exclusive broadcaster of two Christmas Day games in a press release, which also added that it would be streaming one holiday game each year in 2025 and 2026. Netflix has tried to make a push into live content lately, and getting the two NFL Christmas Day games is certainly a big push that should produce a spike in subscriptions for the streaming service.
As streaming becomes more and more prevalent, it does become harder for the average fan to watch the game. With games last season airing on Peacock and Amazon Prime having the Thursday Night package, fans are being forced into paying for streaming services if they want to watch their teams play. Obviously, the streamers have huge wallets to pay the rights fees for exclusivity to games to help drive their numbers and get into the live content game, but it does make things harder to just watch a football game.
For the Steelers, hosting Kansas City is a tough Week 17 matchup against the two-time reigning Super Bowl champions. It might be a game that has an impact on Pittsburgh’s playoff standings, and it would make for a blue Christmas if Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes came into Pittsburgh and got a victory.
Pittsburgh last played on Christmas Day in 2017, beating the Houston Texans 34-6. They also played in 2016, a thriller against the Baltimore Ravens that Pittsburgh won 31-27 to clinch the AFC North. Antonio Brown extended the ball over the goal line in the waning seconds to give the Steelers the win, and that’s the sort of game that Steelers fans and the NFL are going to want eyes on for a day they’re trying to make one of their biggest.
The Steelers’ last matchup against Kansas City came in the 2022 AFC Wild Card Round, with Kansas City winning 42-21 at Arrowhead Stadium. The Steelers will look to avenge that playoff loss with a win on Christmas Day.
Pittsburgh and Kansas City are two historic franchises with huge fan bases, so it’s little surprise that their game was picked for a primetime slot. This also means that in Week 16, the Steelers will have a Saturday game with Christmas falling on a Wednesday. Per 93.7 The Fan’s Chris Mueller, that game will come against the Ravens in Baltimore, so the Steelers will face the reigning MVP in Lamar Jackson and the reigning Super Bowl champ in Patrick Mahomes in a five-day span.
