Chargers drop another creative schedule release video, with a dig at Harrison Butker's commencement address

No one out-tries the Los Angeles Chargers on NFL schedule release day, and the team lived up to its reputation on Wednesday.

After two years of the most disrespectful anime trailers you will ever see, the Chargers went in a different direction for 2024. They used a Sims-style animation to hurl jokes and references at their future opponents, and it is a delightful few minutes.

In case you are not as well-versed in football internet as the Chargers social media staff, here's the best (but by no means complete) answer key we could assemble for what every week in that video is referencing:

• Week 1, Las Vegas Raiders: Clowns

• Week 2, Carolina Panthers: Cam Newton's viral fight at a youth football tournament

• Week 3, Pittsburgh Steelers: Russell Wilson's unceremonious exit from the Denver Broncos and Justin Fields' unceremonious exit from the Chicago Bears

• Week 4, Kansas City Chiefs: Travis Kelce's past tweets, podcast with his brother Jason and relationship with Taylor Swift

2024 NFL regular-season schedule release

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• Week 6, Denver Broncos: The team's Wal-Mart ownership and the exits of Wilson, Justin Simmons and Jerry Jeudy

• Week 7, Arizona Cardinals: The team's past failure with Josh Rosen and potential future failure with Kyler Murray

• Week 8, New Orleans Saints: Zion Williamson's weight issues and a quartet of the franchise's darkest days, including Kevin James playing Sean Payton in the movie "Home Team"

• Week 9, Cleveland Browns: The team's struggles to find a franchise QB

• Week 10, Tennessee Titans: The exit of Derrick Henry and a nod to the funny schedule release video that matched the Chargers last year

• Week 11, Cincinnati Bengals: Ja'Marr Chase's proclamation that he's always open like a 7/11 and the city's proximity to Kentucky

• Week 12, Baltimore Ravens: Jim Harbaugh's sibling rivalry with John Harbaugh

• Week 13, Atlanta Falcons: The bizarre decision to draft Michael Penix Jr. after giving Kirk Cousins an $180 million contract

• Week 14, Kansas City Chiefs: The Chiefsaholic bank robberies

• Week 15, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Baker Mayfield's general aura

• Week 16, Denver Broncos: The team's general hopelessness

• Week 17, New England Patriots: The end of the team's dynasty

• Week 18, Las Vegas Raiders: 63-7 and the team's considerable legal troubles (former Chargers GM Tom Telesco, now the Raiders GM, also makes an appearance)

The hardest hit might have come in the credits, though, by placing Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker in a kitchen after his now-infamous commencement address about how, among other things, women should be homemakers. (The NFL released a statement a few hours before the Chargers' video went live,

The NFL released a statement about Butker's commencement speech a few hours before the Chargers' video went live.

“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, told People magazine in a written statement. “His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”

This is the third year in a row the Chargers have impressed with their schedule announcement. They broke the internet in 2022 with their ultra-creative anime schedule release video, which took everyone by surprise with its cleverness and authenticity. (The Jacksonville Jaguar dressed up as Urban Meyer sitting at a bar was a nice touch.)

The Chargers created another brilliant schedule release video in 2023. It was also crammed full of references to recent NFL storylines, like Derrick Henry's injury and the likely end of the Bill Belichick era in New England.

The Chargers have one of the most creative, talented, and daring social media departments in the entire NFL, and they do incredible work. For three years in a row they've put together a schedule release video that manages to be thoughtful, funny, and visually stunning, when accomplishing even one of those can be difficult to do. Hopefully they get a bit of a break before starting to storyboard next year's opus.