AFC West report: COVID rears its ugly head again

Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs’ weekend could not have gone better. They came from behind to beat the Chargers in overtime in a game in which we saw Travis Kelce take over a game and Patrick Mahomes went “god-mode.” I wanted to see the offense shine and boy did it. The defense wasn’t as good as it had been in past weeks, but they were without significant players in Chris Jones, L’Jarius Sneed, and Willie Gay, Jr.

Let’s rewatch that game winning touchdown…

Stunning. When this offense is on, can anyone stop it? In addition, the dominos began to fall in place for the Chiefs. The Patriots, Titans, and Baltimore all lost over the weekend providing the Chiefs with the number one seed for the time being.

https://twitter.com/RantingRon716/status/1473098930208526336

But the joy may have been premature. On Monday, the Chiefs placed Travis Kelce, Harrison Butker, and Charvarius Ward on the COVID list. On Tuesday, that list grew even longer.

That has some important names on it as the Chiefs look ahead to Sunday’s battle with the Steelers. With a healthy roster, I have very few qualms about this game. The Steelers defense hasn’t been great this year (outside of T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward). Ben Roethlisberger should have retired three years ago and his weapons are not as productive as they need to be. It’s a year that tells you they need to clean house—not Mike Tomlin, the players.

However, with the questions surrounding who will even be available, this might be one of those games where we see what the depth chart offers. I also wouldn’t rule out a flex at this point. We wait with fingers crossed for a little Christmas magic (and some negative tests). As a reminder, most on that list only need one negative test to be able to play on Sunday!

Merry Christmas, all! Until next week, go Chiefs!