The Kansas City Chiefs are ready to head out for a long string of road games that will test them away from Arrowhead.
As the old saying goes, “There is no place like home.” That saying rings all the more true in sports.
There is nothing quite like playing in your home stadium, in front of a crowd of raucous fans, especially because they are your raucous fans. While I have never played in the NFL myself, I’m quite certain there is something to be said for the lack of travel and the ability to sleep in your own bed the night before a big game.
The Kansas City Chiefs will be tested during the next four out of five of their upcoming games. Not only will they be facing very good teams, but the Chiefs will also be doing so as the visiting team, with only one of the upcoming five games taking place in the friendly confines of Arrowhead Stadium.
Let us take a look at the Chiefs’ road warrior status up to this point in the season, and look at the teams they will have to go traversing across enemy lines to do battle with.
The season so far
The Chiefs began their 2022 campaign as the road team in Arizona when they tuned up on the Cardinals with a final score of 44-21. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, their next road test would be a loss to the Colts during Week 3, with an abysmal final score of 20-17 in favor of Indianapolis.
Exactly one week later (on Sunday Night Football) the Chiefs would have a much more prosperous game against Tom Brady and his band of Buccaneers, as they beat the Bucs by a final score of 41-31. Their next road test would be a Super Bowl LIV rematch, which would turn out to be a molly-whopping of the San Francisco 49ers with a final score of 44-23.
The Chiefs have proved they have what it takes to be road warriors, for they went 3-1 in their early road tests this season. Now let’s take a look at the upcoming road games, and predict whether or not the Chiefs can continue their road success.
The road ahead
The Chiefs’ next road test comes this Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles to take on the Chargers. Originally the game was slated for the afternoon, but the powers that be flexed the game into a primetime slot, making it the Chiefs’ second road game under the bright lights of Sunday Night Football.
The flex to the primetime slot makes plenty of sense for this is a divisional match-up between two young hot shot quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert that will help decide matters in the wild AFC West. The last time these two divisional rivals faced off was also under the lights of primetime on Thursday night and the Chiefs barely scraped by with a 27-24 win—and that was in front of a sea of red and gold fans in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Chiefs will now need a repeat performance (it would be nice if I have fingernails left at the end of this one) and for some reason, L.A. has proved a tough place to play for the Chiefs over the last couple of seasons.
The Chiefs briefly return to Arrowhead Stadium during Week 12, for what Chiefs and Chiefs fans alike hope will be a nice reprieve with an easy victory over Matt Stafford and the 3-6 Rams, but that was also what we all thought about the Colts game. After what will hopefully be a victory at home, to quote the great Willie Nelson, the Chiefs are on the road again thereafter for the next three games
The first of these three road games will be an AFC Championship game rematch against Joe Burrow and the Bengals, which will be played in Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati Ohio. The last time the Chiefs faced the Bengals, it was in Arrowhead Stadium for last year’s AFC Championship game. The Bengals kept the Chiefs from going to their third consecutive Super Bowl, and the Chiefs will be out for vengeance.
The Bengals do seem to be suffering a slight bit of Super Bowl fatigue, for they are sitting on a 5-4 record, but they will be playing in front of their fans so the Chiefs need to be on their guard for an upset.
After hopefully securing a victory in Cincinnati, the Chiefs will be traveling straight to Denver for a divisional match-up against Russell Wilson and the Broncos who are 3-6 at present. While the record is dismal, I always say that when it comes to these divisional matchups, it is prudent to just throw records and betting lines out the window. When divisional foes meet they play each other hard, and this will be the first time this season that the Chiefs and Broncos have faced off.
While the Broncos themselves are not looking great this season, it’s worth mentioning that Wilson is one of few quarterbacks in the league,that Patrick Mahomes has yet to defeat. Regardless of record, look for a hard-fought game between these two divisional foes.
The Chiefs’ last road test before returning to Arrowhead Stadium to face the Seahawks on Christmas Eve is a road test that on paper would appear to be an easy win. The Chiefs will travel to Houston to face the 1-7 Texans, who are currently in utter disarray after a rather tumultuous offseason concerning former quarterback Deshaun Watson.
One would hope that the Chiefs could stroll down to Houston, mop up the hapless Texans, and return to KC to prepare to play host to Geno Smith and the Seahawks. However, to accomplish that, the Chiefs must not play to the level of their opponent. The Chiefs are the far superior team to the Texans, and they need to act like it. It would be a serious mistake to come off of what will no doubt be an emotional game with the Broncos (regardless of the final score) and then walk into Houston with no sense of urgency, just to get beat by one of the worst teams in the league, right before returning home to face one of the better teams in the NFC.
The Chiefs’ mettle as road warriors is about to be tested in these upcoming weeks, but all of these are very beatable teams. The Chiefs’ greatest tests among these four games I believe will be the Chargers and the Bengals, but having said that, it is entirely possible that the Chiefs return from their long road trip completely unscathed.