Five reasons why the KC Chiefs are still Super Bowl favorites
The Defense
Let’s start by stating the obvious, nobody is going to put the Chiefs defense in the same league with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid when it comes to team strengths and reasons to consider them as Super Bowl favorites. However, it doesn’t mean they are a weakness either. With an offense like K.C.’s the team just needs a solid defense to be a huge problem for opponents.
Through the first nine games of the season, the Chiefs defense has definitely been solid. They entered Week 10 of the NFL season ranked 13th in yards per game allowed with 354.1 and 6th in points per game allowed with 20.3. We can talk more specifics, but the bottom line is that when you have one of the most dynamic offenses in the NFL and a defense that is allowing the 6th fewest points in the league, that’s a problem for opposing teams.
If you dig into the numbers a little more, you’ll see that the reason for the Chiefs good defensive performance is how strong they have been against the pass. They are allowing just 215.7 yards passing per game (6th lowest in the league) and have allowed just 11 passing touchdowns with 9 interceptions. They are allowing the 5th lowest completion percentage and 3rd lowest yards per attempt allowed.
The formula here is pretty simple. If the Chiefs score enough points they force the opposing team to pass the football to keep up and that plays into the strengths of the Chiefs defense. With pass rushers like Chris Jones and Frank Clark and an underrated secondary led by Tyrann Mathieu the Chiefs make it difficult to keep pace with Mahomes in the passing game. Plus, there is reason to believe that the Chiefs could get even stronger against the pass as the season goes on and L’Jarius Sneed gets healthy and Willie Gay Jr. gets more playing time.
While their rush defense still leaves a little to be desired, the Chiefs aren’t built to have that matter much. If the Chiefs can continue to be strong against the pass and good at keeping the opposing team out of the end zone they will be very hard to beat and that is certainly a reason to consider them a Super Bowl favorite.
Now let’s look at some reasons to believe that the Chiefs are the favorites that have to do with the teams they will be facing.