Week 10 AFC West Roundup
By Justin Smith
Kansas City Chiefs
1st Place in AFC West
Record: 7-2
Last Game: defeated Panthers 20-17 in Carolina
Next Game: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-6)
The Chiefs are the Donald Trump of the NFL. They keep winning even when nobody expects it, even when the opposite is a foregone conclusion. No team is better at salvaging ugly wins than the Chiefs, and like Trump, don’t expect the Walrus, the players, or their fans to apologize for it anytime soon.
Winning is winning, and they’ve done it 18 of their last 20 regular season games.
The rest of the NFL universe is routinely left asking “How?” when they see an improbable Chiefs victory flash across the ticker as the clock reaches :00. But it’s time we all stop asking “Why?” as well.
The Chiefs, for all their bland Alex Smith-ness on offense, are extremely well coached and have a deep and talented defense, as well as a solid special teams. They rarely make mistakes, and routinely force other teams into mistakes at the most inopportune times.
That was on display again in Carolina, as the Panthers controlled the game for most of three quarters, but melted down in the fourth due to constant pressure from the Chiefs defense.
Marcus Peters ripping the ball right out of Kelvin Benjamin’s hands is a good metaphor for this game — the Chiefs usually win with toughness and Carolina’s has been questioned. So Peters said I’m tougher than you, gimme that ball, and the game turned decisively.
The Raiders and Broncos are also tough teams, and the Chiefs won’t find the same Raiders team they bullied in October when the two light up TNF in Kansas City on December 8th. The Chiefs have a very tough schedule down the stretch, with no gimme wins on the docket, save perhaps the Tampa game in Kansas City this weekend.
After that, they’re on the road against the Broncos and Falcons back-to-back, then come home for a three-game home stand against the Raiders, Titans, and Broncos before finishing out the season in San Diego against a Chargers team that likely will have nothing to lose and a ton of revenge on their minds.
That’s a brutal last seven games that could easily help decide the division. The Chiefs seem to have some kind of regular-season magic in that old silk hat they found, and they’ll need it all down the stretch.