Want to see Chiefs vs Dolphins playoff game (and maybe Taylor Swift)? You'll have to pay

When all else fails, blame Taylor Swift.

At your peril, I might add. But it seems to be a popular tactic for NFL fans angry that the Kansas City Chiefs-Miami Dolphins playoff game on Saturday, Jan. 13 streams exclusively on Peacock. Yes, exclusively on Peacock. No NBC. Don’t even bother looking, unless you live in Miami or Kansas City, because it’s not going to be on “regular” TV anywhere else.

Oh, it’ll look regular, just like any other football game, one with NBC announcers. Well, sort of. Mike Tirico, the network’s lead play-by-play announcer, will call the game. But instead of his usual “Sunday Night Football” partner Cris Collinsworth, Tirico will be joined by Jason Garrett, the former Dallas Cowboys coach. (Tirico and Collinsworth are calling the LA Rams-Detroit Lions game Sunday, on traditional ol’ NBC.)

How can I watch the Dolphins-Chiefs playoff game?

The Chiefs and Dolphins play at 6 p.m. Arizona time on Saturday, Jan. 13 on Peacock. The game is also available on the NFL+ app. You can subscribe to Peacock on its website for $5.99 a month. And yes, you can subscribe, watch the game and then cancel. It’s cheaper than a ticket to the game, at least. (And there is some pretty good stuff on Peacock.)

It’s the first live-stream of an NFL playoff game. And it has fans going nuts. Social media is entertaining a theory that the NFL and NBCUniversal, which owns NBC and Peacock, conspired to choose this game for streaming because Taylor Swift is dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (you may have heard about this; it was in some of the papers), and she often shows up to his games. She also boosts the NFL’s profile on social media and doesn’t hurt ratings.

Social media entertains a lot of crazy theories. X, formerly Twitter, increasingly exists just to entertain them. But even if it’s true, are you surprised? Putting the game on Peacock is pretty genius from a business standpoint, which of course makes football fans even angrier.

Which on some level I understand, but to which I can only say: Welcome to the 21st century, folks.

Streaming sports is here to stay

Streaming live sports isn’t the wave of the future. It’s the present. It’s actually the past; Peacock streamed the Buffalo Bills-LA Chargers game on Dec. 23, and “Thursday Night Football” has been streaming on Prime Video for a couple of seasons now. When that deal was announced, or more accurately when the games started, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth by football fans, who eventually either shelled out for Amazon Prime or realized the Thursday night game is usually a dog.

"But this is the playoffs," you say. "So what?" I reply.

How much did Peacock play for the NFL playoff game?

If you think this is going to go away, it’s not. Peacock paid the NFL $110 million to show this game. Why on earth would they do that? Well, for one thing, football fans will crawl across broken glass on their bare bellies to watch a game. Of the 100 most-watched shows on TV in 2023, 93 were NFL games. That’s ridiculous — and it keeps going up.

If this game draws an audience, and despite the complaints, it will, then you can expect at least one more NFL playoff game streaming exclusively next season. And probably more.

I mean, people stream movies and TV shows all the time. Most people under the age of 30 don’t even know what a TV network is. They just stream what they want, when they want. (People over the age of 30, too. Way over the age of 30, thank you very much.)

It reminds me of the early 1990s, when people grew enraged anytime a big game was shown on ESPN. What fool is going to shell out money for cable to watch sports? A lot of fools, it turned out. (And then decades later they started cutting the cord. But that’s another story.)

You can kick and you can scream but the game — there’s a chance it will be one of the coldest on record, with a forecast of -6 degrees, high winds and maybe some snow — will go on, with or without you. You might as well sign up for Peacock, watch the game and binge the entire first season of “Poker Face” when it’s over.

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. And in this case, you can’t beat ’em.

How to watch Miami Dolphins-Kansas City Chiefs

6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13 streaming on Peacock.

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Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. X, formerly known as Twitter: @goodyk.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How to stream Chiefs-Dolphins game on Peacock. And why you'll have to