There’s a long and storied tradition of teams losing the Super Bowl coming out flat the next season. It’s the exact situation the Kansas City Chiefs were trying to avoid, but all of those long, grueling seasons appear to be taking a toll – even on one of the NFL’s most successful franchises over the last few years.
Opening the season in Brazil, the Chiefs would suffer a 27-21 loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Chargers. The following week pitted KC up against the Philadelphia Eagles, the team they lost to in the previous season’s Super Bowl, and it would mark their second consecutive loss to open the season.
At 0-2, the Chiefs embarked on a solid run, winning five of the next six games. And some of these were quality wins, defeating the desperate Baltimore Ravens and even the Detroit Lions during that span.
However, two straight losses to the Buffalo Bills and, most recently, the Denver Broncos, have the Chiefs staring at a 5-5 record heading into Week 12. What is particularly concerning is that KC lost a game after its bye week, a mark in which Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has historically thrived. That loss to the Broncos was expected to catapult the Chiefs’ comeback to the top of the AFC West division. Instead, KC now finds itself fighting for a Wild Card spot in the AFC Playoff picture.
With all of that being said, there are still seven weeks of football left to play. The Chiefs could make the playoffs, but the reality of missing the postseason altogether is becoming a more likely reality. Let’s see what the Chiefs are facing going forward.
How The Kansas City Chiefs Could Shockingly Miss the NFL Playoffs
One of the biggest issues for the Chiefs making the playoffs has nothing to do with them anymore. That’s because the teams currently sitting in the #5 seed (Buffalo Bills), #6 seed (Los Angeles Chargers), and #7 seed (Jacksonville Jaguars) have all beaten Kansas City so far in the regular season.
Going forward, the Chiefs have some monumental matchups coming down the pike. On Sunday, the current #3-seed Indianapolis Colts come to Arrowhead; the Chiefs are listed as 3.5-point favorites, as of Tuesday. Following that game, it’ll be the big Thanksgiving showdown at JerryWorld against the Dallas Cowboys, who just got a jolt of energy with the dominating victory on Monday Night Football.
The final five-game stretch has a variety of easy wins and tough sledding. For the Week 14 matchup (which could get flexed out of Sunday Night Football), the Chiefs host the Texans in a winnable game, and then follow that up with an AFC West rivalry game at home against the Chargers in Week 15.
Finally, the three-game stretch that could really help out the Chiefs’ chances: Week 16 at the Tennessee Titans, a Week 17-Christmas Day game at home against the Broncos, and then the regular season finale on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders.
If I had to ballpark where the Chiefs wind up at the end of this grueling stretch, I believe that 10-7, or even 11-6, is certainly not outside the realm of possibility. Will that be enough to finish inside the rank of the Top-7 teams in the AFC Playoff picture? Only time will tell, but I do not expect the smart money to be betting against Patrick Mahomes.
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