Predicting the rest of the KC Chiefs 2022 schedule
The KC Chiefs are 5-2 through seven weeks. How will the Chiefs finish the regular season and what will their record be to end the 2022 season?
The Kansas City Chiefs have completed the first seven games of their 2022 regular season schedule and are 5-2. They earned victories over the Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Chargers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Las Vegas Raiders, and San Francisco 49ers while suffering defeats at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts and Buffalo Bills.
As of the conclusion of Week 7, the Chiefs have a remaining strength of schedule of 0.432, which is the 4th easiest in the NFL, only trailing the Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, and Baltimore Ravens, and only three of their remaining ten opponents are currently in a playoff spot. They also have a perfect split of five home games and five road games left in their 2022 regular season calendar.
What does the remaining schedule look like for the Kansas City Chiefs and what will their final record be? Let’s take a look at both and predict each of the remaining ten games on the 2022 schedule for the Chiefs:
Week 9: vs Tennessee Titans (7:20, NBC)
If this game wasn’t immediately after a bye week I would be extremely nervous. Instead, I’m only a standard amount of nervous for a team with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback. I’m not sure what it is but the Chiefs always seem to struggle with the Titans, especially in the regular season. Yes, the Chiefs won the most important matchup (the 2019-20 AFC Championship Game), but they are 2-5 overall versus Tennessee since Andy Reid was hired, including 1-4 in the regular season. The Chiefs haven’t beaten the Titans in the regular season since October of 2013, when Patrick Mahomes was in high school! How much does all of that influence this game? Very little, if at all, but it is interesting.
Looking at this matchup, the Chiefs have been relatively strong after a regular season bye in the Andy Reid era, sporting a 6-2 record in such games (2013 and 2017 were the only years with regular season losses after byes). Ryan Tannehill is having a perfectly average season, their pass blocking has been horrendous since Taylor Lewan went down for the season, but they can potentially exploit the Chiefs’ less-than-lackluster run defense with Derrick Henry. On the other side of the ball, the Titans’ defense has been pretty good this year, despite their mediocre yards and points-allowed metrics, which is partially why I don’t blindly trust raw statistics when it comes to analyzing teams. I can 100% promise Chiefs fans that their defense is better than some numbers may indicate. Led by Jeffery Simmons, they have an elite pass rush and run defense, while their secondary is pretty good. They have an elite safety duo in Kevin Byard and Amani Hooker, although their corners can be beaten.
In the end, primarily because they are coming off of the bye, I will pick the Chiefs to win. The Titans should struggle to protect Tannehill, and the Chiefs could add another defensive lineman to the mix before the trade deadline, and Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo should have a plan to effectively attack a red-hot Titans team.
Result: Chiefs WIN 34-17 and improve to 6-2.