Predicting the Chiefs’ 2016 season

I know that we still have a game to play in the current season. I know that we don’t even have the Kansas City Chiefs’ schedule, free agents, or draft yet. However, the Chiefs’ season is over and the fans now have eight months before football graces their television screens again. I have some ideas on how the product will look after those 8 months. These predictions will be 100 percent based on the previous season and I’ll be making quite a few assumptions based on who should be retained and signed by Kansas City rather than who really will be.

Let’s look at what we do know. We know who and where Kansas City will be playing next season. We also know that the offense of the Chiefs will have much of the same look. With that we can make some semi-educated predictions on how the season will go and who will be the Chiefs’ top performers and I’ll make some bold predictions to stir the pot a little bit.

2016 Record

Starting with the Chiefs’ schedule there are a few things that we know from 2015: First the Chiefs played better on the road than at home. Point differential, total offense and scoring defense all performed better when away from Arrowhead Stadium. Second, the Chiefs finished second in the division which proves to be a major benefit for 2016. Third, the Chiefs progressed as a team with each game that they played to finish the season strong. This has not always been the case for previous teams from Kansas City.

The Chiefs opponents away from home have a few difficult games but also allow for the team to have a winning record on the road for 2016. Of course we know about Denver, Oakland, and San Diego. They will also travel to Pittsburgh for their AFC North match up, Indianapolis and Houston for the AFC South, and Atlanta and Carolina for the NFC South.

Next: Continuing our look at 2016