Kansas City Chiefs vs Denver Broncos: Three keys to victory

3. The Chiefs need to continue to win on special teams.

The Chiefs have one of the best all around special teams units in the NFL. I don’t think anyone who regularly watches the Chiefs would argue this fact. They have outstanding coverage units on both kick offs and punts. They have the best return man in the NFL in Tyreek Hill. They have an outstanding young kicker in Harrison Butker who has made almost 91% of his field goal attempts in his career and has yet to miss an extra point. Then there is Dustin Colquitt, who at 36 years old and in his 14th season is currently number one in the NFL in net punt average.

If you don’t want to take my word for it, you can take a look at Football Outsiders Special Teams Ratings where the Chiefs were heads and tails above every other team after week three of the NFL season. Without going into a detailed explanation of how Football Outsiders figures their DVOA ratings, let me just put it into these simple numbers: 17 NFL teams currently have a negative special teams DVOA score. Only three teams have a score over 5.4%. The Chiefs lead the pack with a 18.1%.

That’s not just being the best all around special teams unit; that’s being flat out dominant. While Mahomes and the offense have gotten all the praise and national attention (and deservedly so), the Chiefs special teams has also been a huge part of their success. When you are winning on special teams you typically have the clear advantage in field position. To have to go against the highest scoring team in the NFL while also getting the worst field position is daunting for any team, but especially for a team that isn’t especially high scoring like the Broncos.

If the Chiefs were to have another huge return against the Broncos, it just puts that much more pressure on an offense that is already undermanned compared to the high powered Chiefs. It’s hard enough to slow the Chiefs offense down, when the Chiefs get huge yardage (or even a score) on a return its just that much more daunting for the opposing defense. Then you add in Butker almost never missing on field goals and extra points, and you have a team that is really hard to keep pace with.

If the Chiefs can do these three things tonight I really like their odds of walking away with their fourth win of the season.

So what do you think Chiefs fans? Do you agree with these three keys to winning this game? Are there other things you think are an even bigger factor that I overlooked? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. As always, thanks for reading and GO CHIEFS!