Crazy stats and important observations about the Chiefs heading into Week 12

Sometimes the Kansas City Chiefs' dominance over the NFL for the past two seasons gets minimized due to the team's lack of blowout victories or offensive slumps.

It's clear that many football fans, especially on social media, don't always watch Chiefs games closely and yet decide to blast the team based solely on the box score and what random pundits have to say the following day.

However, there are quite a few statistics that prove this Chiefs team can still be the NFL's best despite their 30-21 loss in Buffalo in Week 11 and the lack of offensive fireworks so far this season.

Here are a few crazy stats that prove just how ridiculous the Chiefs have been this season—and for the past 12 calendar months.

Trent McDuffie is still on pace to be the NFL's best cornerback

Steve Spagnuolo's defense did not look like it's old self on Sunday against Josh Allen and the Bills, especially the secondary that is still reeling from losing Jaylen Watson against San Francisco back in Week 7.

Luckily, Kansas City's All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie continued to have significant success against wide receivers who sit at the top of other teams' depth charts. Amari Cooper recorded zero catches against the third-year stud in Week 11,and overall, McDuffie only allowed one catch (RB James Cook) on three targets in his general direction—for a total of a single yard or production.

Not only that, McDuffie ranked first in lockdown percentage at 75% against the Bills, showing that he is capable of keeping receivers from getting open no matter how good, how fast, how strong they are—or how good the opponent's offensive scheme might be.

This was a huge upswing from his worst game of the season last week against Denver, and it showed that he is still very much the Chiefs' version of former Jets superstar Darrelle Revis, who was notably the best cornerback in the league for years against the NFL's WR1's.

So far, McDuffie has allowed WR1s to catch just 7 receptions for 59 yards (8.4 ypc) all season long with Zay Flowers doing the most damage in week one with 2 catches for 22 yards.

This doesn't help the fact that the rest of the Chiefs' secondary was abysmal against Buffalo, especially third-year DB Nazeeh Johnson, who allowed nine catches for 103 yards on 12 targets. Over half of that yardage (55) went to Cooper, who could not do anything against McDuffie.

While there is plenty to be fearful about in the secondary, especially after two back-to-back trainwrecks, the solid piece that should bring a sigh of relief will continue to be McDuffie against any and all elite wideouts.

The productivity of Kareem Hunt

Everyone wondered whether or not Kareem Hunt had anything left in the tank when the Chiefs brought him back after Isiah Pacheco was put on IR with a leg injury. As it turns out, he had more than anybody could have predicted.

So far in 2024, Hunt has 509 yards on the ground on just 139 rush attempts (3.7 yards/attempt) which is more yards than starting backs like Rico Dowdle (402), Travis Etienne (325), and Rachaad White (306)—even after missing the first couple of games of the season.

Not only that, Hunt has proved he still has some of the best hands in the league at running back with 14 catches and zero drops. He also ranks 4th on PFF in protecting the football thanks to his zero fumbles.

Now he's got Pacheco returning to the backfield to help give the 29-year-old some much-needed rest between snaps and series. And although Hunt played five seasons with Nick Chubb in Cleveland, he's never played a single down with Pacheco in the wings waiting. Hopefully, the pair provides the one-two punch that Kansas City has not had since the days of Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson sharing the backfield.

Speed, speed, speed...

It's apparent that Coach Reid and GM Brett Veach value speed over pretty much every other factor when it comes to wide receiver. They proved that once again by drafting Texas speedster Xavier Worthy just a few weeks after he broke the NFL Combine record in the 40-yard dash (4.21 sec), but they did so again this past week with another pickup.

Kansas City added yet another speedy receiver to the practice squad on Monday, adding former Patriots second-round draft pick Tyquan Thornton. The former Baylor Bear receiver ran a 4.28 second 40-yard dash back in the 2022 NFL Combine,

That time marked the fifth-fastest time in NFL Combine history for a wide receiver, trailing only Worthy (4.21), John Ross III (4.22), Marquise Goodwin (4.27), and Henry Ruggs III (4.27). Add in Tyreek Hill's speedy time of 4.29, although he once had an unofficial time of 4.21 seconds, and the Chiefs have had three of the fastest receivers in NFL history grace their red-and-yellow jerseys.

Who knows what Thornton will bring to the table? But with the injuries that have plagued the Chiefs' receiver room there is plenty of room for him to show why he was such a highly-touted pick at #50 in 2022.

Joe Thuney, the best guard in the country...

While there is much to be worried about when it comes to the Chiefs' left tackle situation, their left guard Joe Thuney has proven he's been worth every penny that Kansas City paid him after he left New England.

Currently, Thuney ranks first out of all guards in the NFL no matter which side, with a 100% block rate on 687 snaps. What's even better is that right guard Trey Smith is right there alongside Thuney with a 100% block rate. Only Thuney has not allowed Mahomes to be hit or even touched in the pocket while Smith has let three players through (which is still very good).

Thuney's efficiency rating of 99.2 is the highest amongst all guards who have played at least 350 snaps. Needless to say, Thuney's impact on the left side of the line makes up for some of the mistakes that both of Kansas City's left tackles seem to bring to the table every single week.

Looking back, 15 wins in a row is insane...

Finally, the Chiefs' 15-game win streak that went all the way back to Christmas Day against Las Vegas was not only the longest in franchise history but it was one of the longest in NFL history. Only five teams in NFL history have had longer win streaks that include both regular season and postseason victories with the most recent coming all the way back in 2010-11 when Green Bay won 19 straight including Aaron Rodgers' lone Super Bowl victory.

Funny story about that streak: it ended on December 18, 2011 in a 19-14 loss to... the Kansas City Chiefs. Other than Green Bay, only the New England Patriots (18, 21), the San Francisco 49ers (18), the Miami Dolphins (18), and the Chicago Bears (18, 18) have had longer streaks with all of them winning at least one championship during the streak.

Those are some pretty great teams to be associated with. And even though the Chiefs' streak is over, they can get back to focusing on more than just an undefeated season or a year-long win streak. Because, as many Chiefs said in the post-game presser after Sunday's loss, the goal was never an undefeated season but rather a three-peat which is still very much on the table.

There are plenty of other stats to list, but they all lead to one mantra that all Chiefs fans should recite daily: "Calm down".

Kansas City dropping a game to their rivals in Buffalo, a game that they have historically almost always lost in the regular season, is nothing to freak out about. Not when players like McDuffie, Thuney and Hunt are all playing at the peak of their abilities and topping the charts across every major statistic that they can throughout 11 weeks.