The Kansas City Chiefs still have everything to play for

The Kansas City Chiefs have had a rough start to the season. Sitting at 3-4 and having already endured multiple disastrous losses, it is fair to say that things have not gone to plan.

The Chiefs were meant to be dominating the league once again on their way to their third-straight Super Bowl. But instead, they find themselves tied for last place in the AFC West, facing an uphill struggle to even make the playoffs.

But still, I am optimistic.

Despite their deficiencies, despite the setbacks, and despite the horrendous losses, we are less than halfway through the season and the Chiefs still have everything to play for. I still believe this team can achieve greatness this season.

The Chiefs can still accomplish everything they originally set out to do.

My optimism might be creeping closer to foolishness, but I still think that the Chiefs can make the Super Bowl.

It won’t be easy. The Chiefs have put themselves behind the eight ball – their four losses mean the AFC’s number one seed is almost certainly out of their reach, and they face a tough test to even win the division. But even so, I still think they can turn things around.

Yes, Kansas City is below .500, but their four losses have each come against the AFC’s other top teams. The Bills and Titans are both on top of their division, the Ravens are tied for first place in the AFC North and the Chargers are 4-2.

Of course, these are teams that the Chiefs will need to beat going forward, and it is the nature of the defeats that have been more alarming than the results themselves. But to me, it still seems like this Chiefs team has been drastically underperforming.

The defense has been nothing short of woeful, and at this rate, they could be historically bad come to the end of the season. The offense has looked dysfunctional at times, making errors and mistakes that we just didn’t see in the previous two seasons.

Several key players have struggled so far this season too. Frank Clark, Jarran Reed, Orlando Brown Jr, and Clyde Edwards-Helaire have all failed to perform as expected. Even Patrick Mahomes has been below his incredible record standards, guilty at times of poor decisions and costly turnovers.

Things seem to have all gone wrong all at once for the Chiefs and they have struggled across the board, but I still don’t think that it will last. They have drastically underperformed so far, but they still have the talent on their roster to be able to turn things around. The Chiefs can still succeed this season.

The Chiefs will not be the AFC’s number one seed and they may not even win the AFC West, but that doesn’t mean the playoffs are a lost cause.

They will be in unfamiliar territory. Kansas City has hosted three-straight AFC championship games and hasn’t played a road playoff game since 2015 – but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were a wildcard team last season and won three road playoff games before beating the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Of course, any team would rather have a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the playoffs, but they aren’t essential.

The Chiefs are used to dominating the rest of the league in the regular season, and this year it simply hasn’t happened. But with more than half of the campaign still to go, Kansas City still has time to fix their problems, get things in order and be dangerous at the right time of the year: the postseason.

Are they going to be the clear best team in the AFC? Probably not. Will they win their division? Maybe not. Can they still succeed? Absolutely.