As we approach the Playoffs, a cursory look at what the Kansas City Chiefs have been doing this season would certainly have casual fans shrugging their shoulders and thinking the fabled “three-peat” is very much on. The reigning Super Bowl champions have done what everyone expected them to do this season – win. They’ve mostly had the best record in the NFL all season, and they will go into the final few games of the season, almost certain of getting the No.1 seed in the AFC. Job done.
And yet, despite starting the season as the Super Bowl favorite, pundits have cooled on the Chiefs. They tumbled down the power rankings from several broadcasters, and they even saw their Super Bowl odds slip. Now, nobody is saying the Chiefs aren’t a good team – far from it – and they remain ‘among’ the favorites for the Super Bowl, but it is essentially a consensus that they haven’t played well despite their supremacy in terms of wins.
Pundits still trying to work out the Chiefs
If you read sports previews and predictions before each round of NFL games, you’ll see that most pundits are in agreement that the Chiefs have not looked like a well-oiled machine. The consensus has largely been backed by statistics: Back when the Chiefs were 12-1 (and leading the NFL in wins), they had the worst scoring differential of any team that went 12-1 in NFL history. In short, the Chiefs were winning games by a narrow margin, often within reach of other teams by a single touchdown. As such, the Chiefs have been dominant in wins but not in performances.
Yet, as we reach the Playoffs, the pertinent question becomes: Are the Chiefs underperforming or overperforming? By that, we mean is this a great team simply playing (relatively) poorly but will come alive when the Playoffs come around? Or is it a team relying on the experience and nous of players like Patrick Mahomes to see them through by the skin of their teeth, and that will be ‘found out’ once meeting quality opposition in the Playoffs?
Chiefs’ record speaks for itself
The first answer has largely been an opinion voiced by many pundits, suggesting that the Chiefs are merely playing in second gear and will raise their game if and when they need it. They point to the team’s – and Andy Reid’s – ability to do what is needed in any game. And there is that valuable experience of a team that has been in four of the last five Super Bowls. They might win ugly, but they win all the same. You might say the Chiefs have underperformed this season, but going 14-1 over the first 15 games simply cannot be fluked.
The second school of thought looks at how the Chiefs have struggled against bad teams. Look at how they scraped by in a 19-17 victory over the Raiders at home in Week 13. A week before, it was a similarly close thing with a win over the Panthers. And the week before that came the game that caused many to truly start doubting the Chiefs: a 21-30 loss to the Bills. It was, critics say, the Chiefs’ first true test of the season against a team with bona fide Super Bowl ambitions, and they were second best. The Chiefs and Bills could collide again in the Playoffs, and that performance will be a huge confidence-builder for Josh Allen and his teammates.
All of this, of course, will only become apparent in hindsight. Most pundits have been quick to crown the Detroit Lions as the best team in the NFL this season – and with good reason. There’s also plenty of support for a team that is not necessarily getting the limelight but that has been quietly excellent – the Philadelphia Eagles. And not forgetting the Bills, being led by MVP-favorite Josh Allen. We simply do not know what will happen if – and when – these teams clash with the Chiefs in the Playoffs. Will they raise their game? Or see that three-peat quest come to a skidding halt? There’s not long to wait until we find out.
