Predicting the rest of the Kansas City Chiefs schedule
Wild Card Round
Based on current projections, the fourth-seeded Chiefs would be hosting the fifth-seeded Bills in the Wild Card round. We are highly skeptical of how good the Bills actually are, but there is no ambiguity surrounding their remaining schedule (which features games against four likely playoff teams). As a result, the now-exposed Bills will fall out of contention over the last six weeks of the season.
Inversely, the surging Steelers don’t play another team with a winning record until a Week 17 matchup with a Ravens squad that could very well have their seeding locked up. We do not think the Steelers run the table, but if they win six of seven and finish 11-5, they’ll be the five seed and Mike Tomlin will be Coach of the Year.
Welcome Pittsburgh to Arrowhead, much to the chagrin of many lifelong Chiefs fans who feel the wounds of playoff losses past all too real. But this is a different Steelers team, and while their defense is playing good football right now, they’re young and are unlikely to be battle-tested the rest of the season. Inversely, the Steelers cannot score 30 points in a game (and haven’t all season).
That sets up a showdown of Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid against a defense who has not proven anything, and the Chiefs exercise some demons with a return of The Arrowhead Mystique: Chiefs 42, Steelers 23.
AFC Divisional Round
As the four seed, Kansas City might expect a trip to New England and Foxboro in the second round of this year’s playoffs. Except, football is funny and I think that the inevitability talks of Mahomes-Brady, Reid-Belichick might have inadvertently upset the football gods. We avoid the match here when the Ravens run the table and secure the number one seed.
So a rematch with the Ravens from the 2018 playoffs, and early in 2019, is on deck. The difference this time is that Baltimore has has perfected their Lamar Jackson, and it’s in Baltimore.
But it does not matter, the results are the same. Kansas City comes out with a spirited defensive effort focused on stopping Lamar Jackson; and Patrick Mahomes has one of the best games of his career picking on, ironically, Marcus Peters and Earl Thomas. Kansas City wins: Chiefs 38, Ravens 27.
AFC Championship Round
The other half of the Divisional round pits the Texans against the Patriots. And again, the football gods are not interested in our pandering for the inevitability of Mahomes versus Brady. The Deshaun Watson Show outpaces the now-exposed Patriot defense, and Tom Brady just cannot keep up anymore. We’re not ready to say it is the end, but they do not get it done this time.
In a rare three versus four matchup, the Chiefs travel to Houston to take on the Texans. The last time around (Week Six) the Chiefs did not have Patrick Mahomes, and they were also missing six other starters. This time around, the Texans are missing Laremy Tunsil, the Chiefs have gotten substantially better at rushing the passer, and Patrick Mahomes has the championship game experience that Watson is missing.
It all adds up to a Chiefs’ victory, and a trip to the Super Bowl: Chiefs 33, Texans 29. The Hunt Trophy comes home.
The Holy Grail
It is that time. It is finally time for Kansas City to put it all together and hoist the Lombardi. We have no idea who is coming out of the NFC, but it will not matter. This is destiny for Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs will score a lot of points, and they’ll win (though the defense will not show up (again) and subsequently will be a shootout: Chiefs 44, NFC Champion 38.