The Kansas City Chiefs are coming off a bye week and will face the entire division in the next three weeks. It will start off with Denver in Arrowhead on SNF, then the Raiders at arrowhead as well, and then they will travel to LA to face off against the Chargers. The next three weeks could determine if KC runs away with the division.
Everyone knows Andy Reid coming off the bye has one of the most impressive records in league history. As the Chiefs prepare to battle with division rivals Denver Broncos Sunday night, they will have a tough matchup two straight weeks in a row facing divisional opponents with the LA Chargers and the Las Vegas Raiders.
With the Chiefs entering the bye week on a four-game winning streak and being one of the best teams after the bye, it puts them in the driver seat to run away with the division, especially after the Chargers loss to the Denver Broncos Sunday and gave us sole ownership of first place in the AFC West. Division games are always tougher, even if the team throughout the season has not been as good, but the Kansas City Chiefs got hot at the right time and has an opportunity to continue that hot streak against three AFC West opponents and put everyone out of reach to win the division. How can they do it?
Although Denver is coming off a dominating victory against the Chargers, they have been inconsistent throughout the season. They started off the season 3-0 and end up losing 3 in a row after that. In this upcoming matchup between Denver and KC, the Chiefs will need to be efficient offensively and defensively to continue bringing the pressure.
Even though the offense of the Broncos does not put fear into opposing defenses’ hearts, they have a veteran QB who knows how to manage the game and a young receiving core who is pretty good. Also, they have a defense that is one of the best in the league and likes to bring pressure 33% of the time. How does this play well for KC? Well, Mahomes is one of the best in the league when it comes to being blitzed and this game is the perfect opportunity for Pat to overcome the struggles he had at the beginning of the season and light it up like he did against the Raiders. I expect KC to come out and fire off on all cylinders and beat the Broncos on Sunday Night in Arrowhead.
Following the Sunday night matchup against the Broncos, KC will host another divisional rival in the Las Vegas Raiders in Arrowhead Stadium the following week. After destroying the raiders a couple of weeks ago KC expect to have the same result to keep pushing away with the number one spot in the AFC West. Having dominated them on Sunday night weeks ago, KC wants to come into the game humble and continue the disruption they have caused defensively and the offense trying to put up historic numbers similar to the previous matchup. With KC being fully healthy and beginning to gel as a unit, there is no surprise Arrowhead will be rocking and trying to silence the Vegas Raiders once again.
Lastly, in this three-game divisional rival lineup, KC will be traveling to LA to face off against the Chargers, in a matchup that can determine who will run away with the division. After losing to the Chargers at the beginning of the season, the Chiefs will want to come out with a full head of steam to cause intense havoc on this young and talented Herbert offense. After having key losses the past weeks that kept the Chiefs ahead of the Chargers, this young LA team will be looking to close out the series by sweeping the chiefs in divisional matchups this year and be in the driver seat going forward into the playoffs.
In this matchup, I expect the Chiefs to be more aggressive defensively because this defense is way different than what we saw in Week 3, and also I expect the offense to run more and throw short to intermediate passes due to the Chargers having one of the worse run defenses in the league and liking to bring pressure on occasions. If KC can stick to the game plan and not play desperate they can have this Chargers team on their heels throughout the whole game.
The AFC west is in the palm of the Kansas City Chiefs’ hands. After the Tennessee loss, this team has woken up and got back to what the entire league was expecting coming into the season. Being number one in the AFC West and coming off the bye playing three divisional opponents in a row puts this KC team in the best position to close out this division in the next few weeks. With everyone being healthy and picking up key additions before the trade deadline, this unit will take the division and can possibly take the entire AFC conference before season’s end.
