Believe it or not, the AFC West is still wide open for the Kansas City Chiefs. Despite three losses, K.C. sits at 2-3 in a division with plenty of runway left.
While treading water for much of the early season, the Chiefs have managed to stay afloat and keep themselves in the mix in a less-than-competitive division and conference as a whole. While the rest of the division is jockeying for position against Kansas City’s quest for a 10th straight division title, things look much different for the Chiefs within the AFC West compared to even a week ago.
Let's start with the ugly. The Raiders continue to inch closer and closer to the No. 1 overall pick next season, and things have gone from bad to worse over five weeks in Las Vegas. Aside from a Week 1 win over the Patriots, the Raiders are in the midst of a four-game skid, and aside from a game against the Browns in Week 11, it doesn't look like there’s any light at the end of the tunnel. There is hope in the form of rookie Ashton Jeanty and star Brock Bowers, but much is needed on this team before they can be mentioned in the same sentence as “contention.”
With the middling, we have the Chargers absolutely “Charger-ing” in a way we’ve come to expect—like we have a subscription service for it. Los Angeles lost a head-scratcher to a determined Commanders team, much to the surprise of nearly everyone watching. Leading 10-0 after the first quarter, the Chargers were outscored 27-0 over the remainder of the game and held Justin Herbert to his lowest passing yards of the season (166).
The AFC West is doing the Chiefs all kinds of favors early in the season.
And for good measure, Herbert has yet to post a QBR similar to his showing in Week 1. Of course, L.A. remains a contender and a team Kansas City must beat in their next matchup in December if they want to control their quest for a division title. But the Chargers have come all the way back down to Earth after the “Super Bowl” they won in Brazil in Week 1.
Moving to the good, the Broncos took care of business a week ago against a new Bengals team in a new era. A loss there would have been the surprise of all surprises, but Bo Nix and company looked every bit the part of a division winner. Then something interesting happened: the Broncos beat the Eagles in a close one this week, knocking off one of the last undefeated teams through four weeks. However, that game proved as much for Kansas City as it did for the Broncos. Sure, Denver proved itself and added a signature win on its quest for relevancy, but it should make Chiefs fans feel good as well.
Now that the Chiefs’ close loss to the Eagles resides in the same company as a close Broncos win, the loss becomes more manageable in an odd, roundabout way. Much like the Eagles aren’t the same team the Chiefs played in Week 2, neither are the Broncos, who lost to the Titans in Week 1. If we can believe the Broncos have “arrived,” given how they started, we can believe the Chiefs haven’t slipped off the radar in any meaningful way compared to how they began the year.
As we exit Week 5 with a tough Kansas City loss to the Jaguars, the Chiefs are still only one game back in the AFC West due to their Week 1 loss at the hands of the Chargers. If you’re in Kansas City, you have to feel that the current situation is the best of a bad situation. The silver lining of Week 5 is that it included the Bills losing to the Patriots on Sunday Night Football, a game that will undoubtedly have playoff and seeding implications in the weeks to come. Add in the welcome return of Rashee Rice in two weeks, and Kansas City is receiving some help at the right time to take control of the AFC West.