The Kansas City Chiefs spent the better part of seven straight seasons finding ways to overcome their mistakes and pull out a win regardless of whether they were firing on all cylinders. It's a big reason why they went to seven straight AFC Championship Games, made five Super Bowls, and won three of them. Championship teams are ones that can find a way to win even when everything doesn't go exactly as planned.
Then the 2025 season hit, and the Chiefs completely lost that ability. Not only did they miss the playoffs and go 6-11, but they suddenly found ways to lose almost every close game instead of finding ways to win them. In 2025, they went just 1-9 in games that were determined by one score or less. So, in 2025, they went 5-2 when the winning margin was over seven points, but couldn't pull out an ugly, close win to save their lives.
The Chiefs are winning ugly again in 2026
So far in 2026, the Chiefs are back to their winning ways, but they haven't always been pretty. That was the case again on Sunday when they pulled out a sloppy win over the Chargers. While it would be great if all five of K.C.'s wins had been perfectly executed blowouts that made the Chiefs look like a team with no weaknesses, that hasn't been the case. The Chiefs have questions at wide receiver in the passing game and have had to game plan around questionable offensive tackle pass protection. The defense has had long stretches where they haven't been able to get pressure on the quarterback, and the special teams have been a hot mess (aside from Matt Araiza).
Aside from K.C.'s season-opening thrashing of the Denver Broncos, the Chiefs haven't had a single win that was easy and/or pretty. They barely eked out wins over the Indianapolis Colts and Las Vegas Raiders, winning each game by just three points (and needing overtime vs. Indy). While they beat the winless Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Chargers by a combined score of 46-16, in both games, the Chiefs played down to their opponent for much of the game and couldn't really put things away until late. Those are first-world NFL problems, but it doesn't change the fact that four of KC's five games have been relatively ugly/frustrating wins.
Kansas City has rediscovered its ability to close out games
The good news is that it appears that the Chiefs have rediscovered their ability to find a way to win even when everything doesn't go as they hoped. That ability had as much to do with their dynasty as anything. They've outscored their opponents 46-24 in the fourth quarter and overtime. In other words, the Chiefs are closing out games. Sometimes they do it with their defense, and other times it's been the offense, but they've found a way to get things done one way or the other.
The Chiefs will definitely need to clean things up if they want to keep winning, but finding a way to win while they work out their issues buys them some time. KC's opponents over their first five games are a combined 9-20. That's a 31% win percentage. Meanwhile, the combined record of the teams remaining on their schedule is 36-35. That's a win percentage of 50.7 percent.
So, the Chiefs started the season with an easier schedule, and the remaining stretch is currently around .500. Then, if they make the playoffs, they'll obviously be facing winning teams on their path to another Super Bowl win. That plays out perfectly for a team trying to work through its deficiencies and chase another Lombardi Trophy. The Chiefs have successfully taken care of the weaker teams to start the season despite their flaws, but now they need to take another step to keep it going as the schedule gets harder.
Patrick Mahomes and Kenneth Walker (who has been MVP-worthy) are helping give the Chiefs some wiggle room to overcome their flaws, but they'll need to eventually provide more stability around them. Hopefully, this team does continue to improve, but in the meantime, at least they seem to have rediscovered their resiliency in pulling out the games where they struggle at times. We'll see if that's enough to continue their winning streak against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks this coming Sunday.
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