Five very good reasons to remain bullish on the Kansas City Chiefs

The best part of fandom is the excitement of the unknown. If we spend all our time pessimistically, it is tough to truly soak in the good times when they roll around. That is not to say there is no place for some friendly banter and calling a spade a spade when you see one, but when you have Patrick Mahomes, I have found it best to enjoy the ride. 

I will get to why I think the Kansas City Chiefs will win out and finish 12-5 in a moment, but first I want to point out that Kansas City has been here before. They finished 12-5 in 2021, and no, that team did not win the Super Bowl. What they did do, however, was make it all the way to the AFC Championship game and it took an all-time collapse to keep them out of the Super Bowl. 

The Chiefs have an identified weakness, possibly even a fatal flaw: The overarching umbrella of that is the wide receivers. The Chris Jones situation handicapped the Chiefs from making moves such as acquiring DeAndre Hopkins or Odell Beckham Jr., amongst others. Beckham Jr. has 505 yards on the year, by the way, and Hopkins has 898. Meanwhile, the second wide receiver on the Chiefs is veteran Justin Watson, with a total of 350. 

With guys like former first-round pick Kadarius Toney, second-round pick Skyy Moore, and 30-million-dollar veteran Marquez Valdez-Scantling, it is not like Brett Veach has put a lack of resources into the position. Underneath this umbrella are costly mistakes, not necessarily an extreme lack of talent. The sloppiness ranges from still not being on the same page as Mahomes, to procedural penalties, drops, turnovers, wrong routes, and more. 

It is Week 15 and at some point, you become what you are. There are two positives to take away from this though. Kansas City is a clean stretch of football away from getting back to where they want to go. A lot of the flaws are correctable, to varying degrees. The next key takeaway is every single one of their top contenders is dealing with underperforming, injuries, or flaws as well. That leads me to my first reason—of five—why Chiefs Kingdom should be optimistic. 

1. The AFC is way down 

The AFC is deep, boasting 11 teams that are above .500. That is true. What they lack though is the dominant forces that they have featured in recent years with the likes of the Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills. 

If there is one team that is emerging from this group, it is the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens are riding high, posting a 10-3 record thus far. With that being said, they are coming off an overtime win against the 6-7 Los Angeles Rams. Had they lost that game, they would only be one game ahead of the Chiefs in the standings. Their best pass catcher, tight end Mark Andrews is also likely out for the year. This is all not to mention the fact that Lamar Jackson is 1-4 in his playoff career. 

Then there is the Miami Dolphins. Kansas City hung on by a thread to defeat the Dolphins in Germany, but they have yet to beat a good team and Tua Tagovailoa has yet to play a playoff game. They are coming off a bad loss to the then 4-8 Tennessee Titans. 

The Bills, who just defeated the Chiefs do not look like they are the power team they used to be, although they do boast a unanimous top-five quarterback. The Jacksonville Jaguars are not scaring anybody and have a bottom-10 defense. 

The Bengals are without Joe Burrow for the year. The Browns are 8-5, but Joe Flacco is at the helm. The Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Texans are all in contention as well, but I am just not sure I see a single team in the AFC that the Chiefs would not be favored against. Sure, the Chiefs can lose to any of these teams, but they have a good shot at defeating all of them on any given Sunday.