Chiefs and Panthers will play at regularly scheduled time on Sunday

The Kansas City Chiefs announced that Sunday's 1 p.m. ET game against the Carolina Panthers will be played as scheduled.

"After discussions between the league office, Head Coach Romeo Crennel and Chiefs team captains, the Chiefs advised the NFL that it will play tomorrow's game vs. the Carolina Panthers at its originally scheduled time", the Chiefs announced in a statement released by their public relations department.

Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, 25, shot and killed his 22-year-old girlfriend Kasandra Perkins on Saturday morning before taking his own life at the team's headquarters at Arrowhead Stadium. Crennel and GM Scott Pioli witnessed Belcher's suicide. Kansas City Mayor Sly James told Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports that Pioli was "very emotional" on Saturday morning.

"Scott is extremely concerned about making sure the fans of this team are not disappointed or left out in the cold by any decision they make. He's trying to do what's right," James said.

In the wake of the tragedy there had been speculation that Sunday's game would be postponed until Monday, or possibly not played at all. The NFL had instructed the Panthers to fly to Kansas City as scheduled and reports surfaced on Saturday afternoon that the Chiefs were looking to move ahead with the game as scheduled.