The Kansas City Chiefs survived an ugly performance on Sunday and managed a 26-25 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. It was the second time in as many games that the result came down to the final play of the game. Last week it was tight end Isaiah Likely missing a potential game-tying touchdown for the Baltimore Ravens by a toe; this week it was a Harrison Butker game-winning field goal as time expired.
While the first two performances of the year may have been flawed, the results are as good as it gets for the Chiefs.
After both games, fans and players focused a lot of attention on officiating calls, but that isn't what matters in the big picture. What matters is that Kansas City now finds themselves as one of just five teams in the AFC to start 2-0. The other four teams are the Houston Texans, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Los Angeles Chargers.
Meanwhile, the two teams that K.C. found a way to defeat, the Ravens and Bengals, now find themselves sitting at 0-2. Both teams entered the season with Super Bowl aspirations and were viewed among the likeliest candidates to make the playoffs. They can still achieve those goals, but unlike the Chiefs, they haven't been able to overcome their flawed early performances.
The AFC may regret letting the Chiefs off the hook while they work out their issues
The Ravens and Bengals aren't the only potential AFC playoff teams that have hit some early snags. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts were both viewed as potential playoff contenders and they find themselves at 0-2 as well. The New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, and Cleveland Browns were also popular playoff picks, but they've all had some issues early on in the season as well and find themselves even at 1-1 to start the year.
Even the other 2-0 teams in the AFC haven't been perfect. In fact, in the entire NFL, the only team that has really been lights out through two full games is the New Orleans Saints who won their first two games by a combined score of 91-29. Other than that, every team is looking to improve on the results of their first two games regardless of the results, and that is certainly the case for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Frankly, the Chiefs had so many issues on Sunday that they didn't deserve to win the game. They turned the ball over three times, including two interceptions from Patrick Mahomes (one of which was as bad as you will see him throw). Andy Reid made some very questionable decisions around the goal line and refused to help out his rookie left tackle who was struggling against outstanding Cincinnati edge defender Trey Hendrickson.
On defense, the Chiefs struggled to cover opposing tight ends for the second straight week. Their bend-but-don't-break approach was just enough to hold on for the second week in a row, but you certainly would like to see them try to make some adjustments to fix those issues. I don't want to turn this into a Nick Bolton discussion, but it does seem like K.C. may not always have their best coverage options on opposing tight ends and running backs.
The bottom line is that the Chiefs have plenty of work to do if they want to achieve their goal of completing the NFL's first "three-peat". That they have found ways to win close games over teams that have made deep playoff runs in recent years while trying to work out their issues is a promising sign, however. There are a lot of teams that would love to be in the Chiefs' shoes at this point.
If you go outside the AFC, the San Francisco 49ers lost to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. The Detroit Lions lost at home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Most of the teams people were predicting to be Super Bowl contenders this year have had some struggles early on. It's hard to win in the NFL and teams (and their fans) should appreciate every win, even if it means sweating out the results right up to the very last play.
So Chiefs fans can both acknowledge that this team has some work to do and appreciate the fact that it has gutted out two tough wins against the Ravens and Bengals to start the year. Sit back and enjoy all the Bengals fans crying about a pass interference call that was blatantly obvious. Go back and watch Ja'Marr Chase throw a temper tantrum on the field after Trent McDuffie smothered him. Take a second to appreciate that Isaiah Likely said Week 1 was the worst the Ravens were going to play all season only to turn around and lose the home opener to the Raiders.
If you missed Charles Robinson's excellent piece on how the Chiefs' extended dominance is starting to suffocate the rest of the NFL, I highly recommend it. While it was written before this last weekend's games, it somehow feels even more relevant now. It truly is an amazing time to be a fan of the Chiefs, even if I may need to talk to my doctor about getting some blood pressure medicine I can take while I watch the games.
The Chiefs may not have everything figured out just yet, but they are 2-0 and that should have the rest of the AFC nervous. The Chiefs proved last season that they could lose the ugly games in the regular season and still turn it on in the playoffs and win the Super Bowl. This season they are already winning those ugly games, so what kind of upside do they have if they get their issues resolved? For the sake of all of our nerves, let's just hope they don't make us wait until the playoffs again to find out the answer to that question.