PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK: Team reportedly may not host NFL opener in 2019

Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune has reported that the league may usher in its 100th anniversary season on Sept. 5 with the oldest rivalry in the game, the Green Bay Packers playing the Chicago Bears.

FOXBORO -- As the defending Super Bowl champions, the Patriots will open the 2019 NFL regular season by hosting the league’s Thursday night “Kickoff Game” at Gillette Stadium, correct?

Maybe not.

Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reported earlier this week that the league may usher in its 100th anniversary season on Sept. 5 with the oldest rivalry in the game, the Green Bay Packers playing the Chicago Bears.

Where would that leave the Patriots?

This much is known: The team’s 2019 schedule consists of home and away games with its AFC East rivals from Buffalo, Miami and New York, plus games at home with Cleveland, Dallas, Kansas City, the New York Giants and Pittsburgh, and road games at Baltimore, Cincinnati, Houston, Philadelphia and Washington.

Given that, a Sept. 8 rematch of the just-concluded season’s Patriots-Chiefs AFC Championship game in the first Sunday night telecast of the regular season might make the most sense of all.

The NFL's regular-season schedule will be announced in the spring.

In select company: With his sixth championship, the Patriots’ Bill Belichick now stands side by side with coaching legends George Halas and Curly Lambeau as the only coaches in NFL history to win six titles.

Halas won his titles with Chicago in 1921, 1933, 1940, 1941, 1946 and 1963. Lambeau won his with Green Bay in 1929, 1930, 1931, 1936, 1939 and 1944.

Vince Lombardi, the man for whom the Super Bowl championship trophy is named, won five (1961, 1962, 1965, 1966 and 1967) with the Packers, including Super Bowls I and II.

Belichick's championships, of course, came with the Patriots' 2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016 and 2018 teams.

The Patriots’ 11 Super Bowl appearances are the most in league history (Dallas, Denver and Pittsburgh are all tied for second with eight), while their six Super Bowl wins are tied for first with the Steelers.

Combine's coming: The NFL's Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis is scheduled from Feb. 26-March 4.