Chiefs need to handle business the next 4 weeks

Since the start of last season, the Kansas City Chiefs have played 22 regular season games.

Exactly half of those games have been against teams ranking lower than 20th in PPG allowed. In those 11 games, the Chiefs have lost none. Zero. Zilch. Nada. They’re 11-0. That’s really important if they want to go farther in the playoffs this year.

In the next four weeks, the Chiefs opponents rank as follows in PPG allowed: 28th, 26th, 29th, 25th – ladies and gentlemen, the AFC and NFC South. This spate of defensive turnstiles represents an opportunity for the Chiefs to put a stranglehold on the AFC West, and the entire AFC playoffs race for that matter. If they can maintain the same level of success against terrible defenses, they could find themselves at 8-2 through 10 games.

Obviously, that’s far from a given, especially considering that one of those games is on the road against last year’s NFC champion. But the next four games could enable the Chiefs to position themselves as the best non-Patriots team in the AFC – at least as far as record is concerned.

As much fun as it was to see the Chiefs go farther than they had in two decades last year, I’m dreaming a little bigger this year. I’m picturing the home of the Chiefs being the home of the AFC Championship Game – and it’s not that crazy to think about. If the Chiefs take care of business over the next four weeks, they’ll likely be playing their Week 16 game – on national TV, at Arrowhead, against the Broncos, on Christmas night – for a shot at a bye week in the playoffs. Merry Christmas to us all.

From there, all it would take is a team like the Broncos or Steelers knocking off the Patriots (the likely No. 1 seed) in the divisional round. If that happens, the Chiefs just need to win two home games to make it to the Super Bowl. And yes, assuming that all of this will happen is premature – but planning for it most certainly isn’t.

If the Chiefs had been healthy in last year’s divisional round game against the Patriots (if Jamaal Charles had played and Justin Houston wasn’t hurt, for starters) and the game had been at home, is there really anybody who doesn’t think the Chiefs would have at least had a shot at winning?

Is there anybody in the AFC (except for the Patriots) that the Chiefs wouldn’t be favorites against in a January game at Arrowhead? The Steelers, maybe – but that’s it. And this is why the next four games are so important. If the Chiefs take care of business, they’ll be 8-2 – if they don’t, they could be 6-4, or worse.

After this stretch, their final six games are as follows: home and away against the Broncos, at the Chargers, home against the Raiders, at the Falcons, and home against the Titans. Going 4-2 over that period of time would be really good, considering they’d have to at least split against the AFC West with half the games on the road.

If they can achieve that 4-2 record, the difference between dominating and just surviving the next four games is the chance of 12-4 record, rather than a 10-6 record. Last year, that was the difference between having a bye week in the first round of the playoffs followed by a home game, and missing the playoffs entirely. Even a slight misstep (putting them potentially at 11-5) would possibly mean playing any playoff games on the road, just like they did last year.

We’ve been hearing it from the players and coaches since training camp – this team is different than those of the recent past, and has a chance to do some pretty special things this year. Now’s the time to prove it. If this team really wants to do what all those other teams couldn’t, it’s time to put up or shut up.