Heading into Week 7, the Kansas City Chiefs were one of only three remaining unbeaten teams in the NFL, with the others being the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers. But by the time they took the field on Sunday night to face the Seattle Seahawks, that list had dwindled to two.
Behind yet another stellar performance from the best defense in the league, the Vikes took care of their business by beating the Indianapolis Colts, but the Niners couldn't do the same, as they squandered an early double-digit lead en route to taking a nine-point loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
And as the world watched in prime time, the list is now down to only one, as the Chiefs put forth their poorest performance of the year thus far against the reigning Super Bowl champs, with the offense gaining a season-low 213 total yards and the defense surrendering 410 total yards to Sam Darnold & Co. in a 20-3 defeat, with those three points matching the lowest total of Patrick Mahomes' career. This game also marked the first time in 153 career starts between the regular season and postseason that he never even reached the red zone.
So, there obviously wasn't a lot for Kansas City fans to get excited about. Thankfully, we're here to save the day for you. Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch, but we're looking for any sort of silver lining here. And to that end, while nobody likes a loss, what we can tell you is that the last time the Chiefs started a season at 6-0, they failed to win the Super Bowl. But the last time they started 5-1, they did.
That's something, right? Fine, it's probably not, as we naturally have no way of knowing how the remainder of this season will play out, but let's go ahead and have a look anyway.
The Kansas City Chiefs' last 5-1 start ultimately led to a Super Bowl victory
As most of you likely already know, we don't have to go back far at all for this exercise, as the last time Kansas City started a season with a 5-1 record was just three years ago, only that 5-1 start wasn't exactly the same.
Coming off a victory in Super Bowl 57, the Chiefs, if you recall, kicked off the 2023 campaign with a 21-20 defeat to the Detroit Lions but got themselves to 5-1 in the weeks that followed with wins over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago Bears, New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings, and Denver Broncos. They then got to 6-1 with a victory over the Los Angeles Chargers before falling to 6-2 with a Week 8 loss to the Broncos.
Kansas City actually only went 5-4 the rest of the way to finish the regular season at 11-6, giving the team the No. 3 seed in the AFC, but then obviously went on a successful run in the postseason, taking victories over the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, and Baltimore Ravens to reach Super Bowl 58 before squeaking past San Francisco in an overtime thriller in the title game to hoist the Lombardi Trophy for the second straight season.
The Kansas City Chiefs' last 6-0 start led to a Super Bowl loss
As you may remember as well, we also don't have to go too far back to find Kansas City's last 6-0 start, as that occurred only two years ago.
Attempting to become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls, the Chiefs kicked off the 2024 season with wins over the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Chargers, New Orleans Saints, and San Francisco 49ers to get to 6-0.
And they then took their next three as well with victories over the Las Vegas Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Denver Broncos to get to 9-0 before finally dropping their first game in Week 11 to the Buffalo Bills.
Kansas City only lost once more, a 38-0 defeat to Denver in Week 18, but with the No. 1 seed already locked up, Andy Reid sat the vast majority of his starters. With wins over the Houston Texans and the Bills, the Chiefs won the AFC for the third straight year, but a third consecutive Lombardi wasn't in the cards, as they took a 38-35 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 59.
So, as you can see, 5-1 turned out better than 6-0.
Again, this is obviously all in good fun, as we were legit just looking for anything positive for fans to cling to after such an abysmal outing. The Chiefs will look to bounce back on Sunday, as they head to Denver for their second bout with the Broncos.
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