Lions returning to London in 2015 to play Chiefs

The NFL's 2015 international games were announced on Thursday morning. There will again be three games in London next season, and the Detroit Lions are once again headed overseas for Week 8. This year, they rallied in dramatic fashion to beat the Atlanta Falcons on a last-second field goal, and they will get to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in London next season.

Here's the full 2015 schedule of London games:

Week 4 (Oct. 4): New York Jets at Miami Dolphins
Week 7 (Oct. 25): Buffalo Bills at Jacksonville Jaguars
Week 8 (Nov. 1): Detroit Lions at Kansas City Chiefs

There are a couple of interesting things to note here. For starters, the Dolphins gave up a home divisional game to play the Jets in London, which seems pretty odd. Also, the Lions' game against the Chiefs will come exactly a week after the Jaguars play the Bills at Wembley Stadium. Given how bad the field was this year, having games in back-to-back weeks could make for a very, well, interesting playing surface.

Start times have not been announced just yet, but it looks like the Lions might once again be featured in the Sunday morning time slot. This would make for an afternoon game in London and a 9:30 a.m. start time in Detroit. That's unconfirmed, but after the success the NFL had with the Lions/Falcons game this year, it certainly wouldn't be surprising to see Lions/Chiefs kick off early in the morning.

As for the on-the-field implications of this, I'm sure the Lions are thrilled to play the Chiefs in London instead of having to go to Arrowhead Stadium, which is one of the tougher environments in the NFL. Plus, with the Lions going to London this year, they will have a lot more experience with handling a trip of this magnitude in the middle of the season, so that also seems like an advantage for them.