Do you believe in the Kansas City Chiefs defense yet?

Defense wins championships, right? But what about when you have the greatest quarterback of all time, Patrick Mahomes? Surely then, defense is secondary to a championship offense.

Well, it used to be. But this season? It's been all defense keeping the season alive while a discombobulated offense figured it out. Any doubt that this is one of the elite defenses of the league should have been erased from the national psyche on Sunday during the AFC Championship game.

Going into the game, the Kansas City Chiefs were praised for their strong defense. But compared to the Baltimore Ravens? No chance. The Ravens had the best defense in the NFL. Plus they had presumed MVP Lamar Jackson. The math seemed to check out.

In the AFC Championship, the entire nation finally saw why the Chiefense is the best.

Baltimore's elite defense containing a less-than-impressive Chiefs offense plus Lamar Jackson and the Ravens running wild over a strong but suspect Chiefs defense was supposed to equal a possible blowout and a definite trip to the Super Bowl by the Ravens.

Guess what happened? The complete opposite. The Chiefs' offense came out hot in the first half and gave the team a two-score lead by halftime. But it was the Kansas City defense that stifled the vaunted Baltimore offense. And here's the kicker: they did it for the entire game.

Led by the likes of Chris Jones, L'Jarius Sneed, Nick Bolton, and more, this defense was unrelenting.

What is a little bit overlooked is the fact that the Ravens' defense actually did stop the Chiefs' offense after halftime. The Chiefs seemed to have fewer and fewer plays before punting each drive. This meant that they had to rely heavily on their defense. And the defense was up for the challenge.

They were all over Lamar Jackson on Sunday, bringing pressure, preventing (mostly) big passes, and keeping him contained. Besides that weird pass to himself that brought back PTSD flashbacks, Jackson didn't do a whole lot of damage with his legs.

And as for the rest of the Ravens running game? From the very get-go, the Chiefense was prepared. They weren't about to get run over like they were by Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills last week.

The real highlight of this defense was their red zone defense. The Ravens had more offensive yards than the Chiefs by the end of the game. Anyone who watched the first half might be shocked by that (I certainly was), but it was the result of a bend-but-don't-break Spagnuolo special that let the Ravens quite literally knock on the end zone door and still not score.

All these things have led the Chiefs to their fourth Super Bowl in five years. This time, it's shockingly not because of the arm of Patrick Mahomes (but he certainly helped). This time it's the Chiefense that is leading the way.

If I am the San Francisco 49ers, I'd be very very scared. Good luck, Brock Purdy.