The Kansas City Chiefs are 7-0. I still can’t believe it. It almost doesn’t seem real. Last season was SO terrible. Every time I thought there was no way things could possibly get worse, it did. Now, it’s just the opposite. The Chiefs just keep winning. It isn’t always pretty. The Chiefs have many areas that they need to improve on, but they have found a way to win every game. Their winning percentage is 1.000.
You know what that is?
Perfection.
You know how many other teams in the NFL can say that?
Zero.
Some will say the Chiefs are “lucky”. Others will say their schedule has been weak. None of that matters. The Chiefs are 7-0 in a league where no game can be taken for granted. There is a reason the NFL has the “Any Given Sunday” mantra.
The defending Super Bowl Champions lost to a one win Steelers team Sunday.
The Patriots lost to the Jets.
The Bengals lost to the Browns earlier this season.
The Colts may have wins against the 49ers, Seahawks, and Broncos, bus also have losses to the Chargers and Dolphins.
The Broncos are really the only AFC playoff favorite to not have a loss to a team people thought that they should win against (and most picked them to beat the Colts). Taking care of business against teams that you are favored to win against is something that just can’t be taken for granted. Usually when you have an off day in the NFL, you lose. The fact that the Chiefs haven’t lost despite their flaws is a sign of their mental toughness and determination.
That is why I’m so excited about this team.
Once a team has the stink of losing on them, it’s really hard to get it off.
When a team is as bad as the Chiefs were last season, that usually sticks with them for a while. When things start to go bad, these teams tend to think “Here we go again!” They crumble when the pressure is on. They revert back to their losing ways. It usually takes a team a few seasons of winning games to shake that losing culture. The Chiefs appear to have done it in one offseason.
Yes, they have a new head coach and a new starting quarterback, and of course that is a HUGE part of the reason that they have been able to turn this around. That having been said, think about the constant turnover of coaches and QBs in the NFL these days. Teams have new coaches and QBs all the time and it almost never works out this well.
It shows that KC not only has a new coach and QB, but they made the right decision at both of those positions (despite Alex Smith’s flaws).
It also says a LOT about the mental fortitude of the players that are on this roster that suffered through the losing seasons. That is something that probably hasn’t been talked about enough.
There is no quit in Tamba Hali.
There is no “losing culture” in the play of Jamaal Charles.
There is no fear in Derrick Johnson when the game is on the line.
I could keep going, but you get the idea. These players are the ones that would have every right to start flashing back to last season when things aren’t going well.
Instead of cracking under the pressure, Tamba Hali is abusing opposing QBs in crunch time.
Instead of cracking under the pressure, Jamaal Charles has topped 100 total yards and scored a TD in every single game this season.
The Chiefs may have brought in all new leadership, but they managed to build the foundation of this 7-0 team upon players that were conditioned to losing. That’s impressive.
What’s also impressive is how the different phases of the team have lifted the team up at different times. Some games, the defense has dominated early and then the offense has put the game away late with time draining TD drives. Sometimes it has been the special teams that have come through with game changing plays. On Sunday, the defense was struggling early in the game and the offense came through with some big drives to give them a halftime lead. Then in the second half the offense faltered, but the defense came together late and completely shut down the Texans when the game was on the line.
The offense can execute better as they grow more comfortable with each other and the system.
The play calling can be improved.
The offensive line play took a step forward on Sunday, and can continue to do so.
While those improvements can’t be taken for granted, they are still easier to accomplish than what KC has already managed to do, which is to turn a losing culture into a winning one. To take a team that managed to find new ways to lose games every week last season and turn them into a team that finds ways to win games every week this season is the biggest win of the season.
That’s why KC is a team to get excited about.
That’s why KC is a team to believe in.
That’s why the Chiefs play, though flawed, has still been perfection thus far.
They are the only team in the NFL that can make that claim, and that feels GREAT for KC fans all over the world.
Stats To Make KC Fans Even More Excited:
In the past 10 seasons there have been only 10 teams that had defenses that averaged less than 15 points allowed per game (the Chiefs are currently allowing 11.6).
Those 10 teams all made the playoffs and had a combined playoff record of 13-8 with 6 conference championship appearances, 3 Super Bowl appearances, and 2 Super Bowl wins.
That means that 60% of the teams that allowed under 15 PPG made their conference championship game.
What’s more, the average offensive PPG for those 6 teams that made the conference championship was only 22.8 PPG. The two Super Bowl winning teams only averaged 21.7 and 21.8 PPG.
The Chiefs are currently averaging 24.1 PPG.
What more is there to say?
As always, thanks for reading and GO CHIEFS!!!!!!!!!!!
Follow me on Twitter: @LyleGraversen