Matt Miller on AFC West: “I think the Chiefs come out on top”

Many are doubting the Chiefs in the AFC West despite consecutive division titles. But Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller has it the other way around.

After winning the AFC West in back-to-back seasons for the first time in franchise history, many experts are picking another team besides the Kansas City Chiefs to win the division.

ESPN.com’s staff has the Los Angeles Chargers edging the Chiefs for the division crown. Jared Dubin of CBS Sports showed the full list of over/under totals from the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, which has the Chargers winning the division. USA Today’s Steven Ruiz agrees with the majority that the Chargers will capture the division.””

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Wherever you look, most of the national media is predicting that the Chargers will win the AFC West as very few, almost none, are picking Kansas City. But there is one NFL expert who believes the Chiefs will win the AFC West for the third straight year.

I had a chance to speak to Bleacher Report’s NFL lead writer and scout Matt Miller on The Chiefs Zone podcast, who has the Chiefs taking the division in 2018.

“I still think the Chiefs come out on top,” he said.

Here is his quick and early outlook for all four teams in the AFC West.

Denver Broncos:

I think the Broncos are going to be down, unless Vance Joseph proves he can coach a heck of a lot better than he did last year.

Oakland Raiders:

I look at Oakland, and I’m not sure that I trust Jon Gruden as a head coach. Especially after a lot of the moves they made in the offseason, I’m left scratching my head.

Los Angeles Chargers:

I look at the Chargers as probably the best contender for the title in the AFC West. But that’s still a team that I think is figuring things out. Especially parts of the offensive line. They’ve got to stay healthy. That’s always one of the more hurt teams in the NFL.

There is a lot of talent there. They added a heck of a player in Derwin James in the draft. They’ve got the speed on offense. They’ve got two young offensive linemen coming up.

I look at the Chargers as a maybe. A team that can figure it out and make a run at it. But it seems like they do that every year where they have a stretch of really good games and then someone gets hurt and they fall off in the middle of the road.

Kansas City Chiefs:

I think the Chiefs are still in a good position if Patrick Mahomes plays like we all think he can and lives up to where he was drafted and lives up to a lot of the hype that we have heard coming out of Kansas City. Then I think they should be the favorite.

Going into Week 14, the Oakland Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers caught up with the Chiefs in a three-way tie for first place in the AFC West. But the Chiefs managed to win out the final four games of the regular season, which included wins over the Raiders and Chargers to build a gap and helped secure the division title before Week 17.

Although Raiders quarterback Derek Carr’s injury played a big role in opening up the division for the Chiefs to win in Week 17 of the 2016 season, Kansas City’s 6-0 record against divisional opponents was also key in helping the Chiefs win the division for the first time since 2010.

In the past three seasons combined, the Chiefs have gone 16-2 in the AFC West, which includes a 12-game winning streak in divisional games from mid-2015 through mid-2017. The Chiefs have not finished with a divisional record below 5-1 in each of the last three years. In fact, the two divisional losses they suffered were narrow defeats. One was due to a Jamaal Charles fumble late in the game. The other was Oakland’s multiple opportunities to win the game with no time left on the clock due to penalties on the Chiefs’ defense.

Next: Spencer Ware looks good in recovery

With two narrow mistakes, the Chiefs were close to being undefeated in the AFC West for three consecutive seasons.

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