Can the Kansas City Chiefs salvage their season?
Moving forward
So can K.C. build off this win and turn their season around? They had a 5-0 stretch to start the season and a 1-6 stretch in the middle of it. Is a 4-0 finish to the season impossible? No, it’s not impossible, but given how much awful football we’ve seen in that middle of the season they have a lot still to prove before most Chiefs fans will have any kind of excitement about the playoffs, even if the Chiefs hold on to the AFC West.
The biggest game of their season is Saturday night showdown with the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers are one of the hottest teams in football and have played themselves out of an 0-4 start to the season. Now they are just a win on Saturday away from taking complete control of the division. If the Chiefs want to send a message to their fans and the rest of the NFL (maybe even to themselves), they MUST beat the Chargers on Saturday. Period.
I don’t care what kind of tie breakers and possible scenarios are out there for how the Chiefs can still win the AFC West if they lose to the Chargers. As far as I’m concerned if they lose Saturday, it’s over. The Chargers would be on a 8-2 streak with a game lead over the Chiefs with games against the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders left on their schedule. On the other hand, if the Chiefs win then they have a one game lead with two games to play and will have swept the Chargers head to head. The Chiefs would be looking at a home game against the Miami Dolphins and a game at the quarterback deficient Denver Broncos as the lone obstacles to a respectable 10-6 record and a home playoff game.
The Chiefs are such a mystery this season that who knows what to expect. Would I be shocked if they won out and got some of their mojo from the beginning of the season back? No, I wouldn’t. Would I be shocked if the Chargers came into Arrowhead and won by a couple of scores and then the Chiefs drop another to the Dolphins and by week 17 we’re looking at Patrick Mahomes starting his first game? Nope, wouldn’t be shocked by that either.
Next: Lessons learned from Week 14
The problem is that the Chiefs are an incredibly talented and incredibly inconsistent team. They can beat anyone. They can lose to anyone. On Sunday they did enough on both sides of the ball to beat a division rival that was playing for their playoff lives. Hopefully they do the same thing again on Saturday. If they do they may just have salvaged what was starting to look like a completely lost season.
As always, thanks for reading and GO CHIEFS!!!