The Kansas City Chiefs are rolling as of late, winning 8 straight games and that is setting up an interesting finish for the AFC Wild Card teams. Their last loss was on October 18th against the Vikings. That’s 63 days, a stat only rivaled by the 14-0 Panthers, who lost their last regular season game November 30th, 2015, also at Minnesota.
The Chiefs defense has been stellar this season, they are first in defensive touchdowns and have the 3rd best efficiency rating according to Football Insiders. The team as a whole has outscored their opponents in 4th quarter 50-0 in the last 5 games.
So why would people ignore the Chiefs?
Unfortunately when Jamaal Charles went down, the team’s ceiling went down. Charcandrick West is a good player, but Charles is the add water and stir part of the offense that the team will miss trying to keep up with the Patriots and Bengals of the AFC. It’s also looking more and more like Justin Houston will not make it back on the field for the highly ranked defense.
Alex Smith has only played in 3 career playoff games. The franchise as a whole hasn’t won a playoff game in 22 years. That combined with Andy Reid’s history with managing the clock under pressure would make me nervous about the stability of this team when the rubber meets the road in January.
They are at home for their last 2 games of the regular season against the Browns and the Raiders.