How much longer can Chiefs keep getting away with it after Divisional win vs. Texans?

The Kansas City chiefs advanced to their seventh straight AFC Championship game on Saturday, courtesy of a 23-14 win over the Houston Texans that felt all too familiar to NFL fans around the country.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Kansas City looks offensively uninspired all game long, but rides a dominant defense and juuuust enough magic from quarterback Patrick Mahomes to squeak out a win.

If that sounds familiar, it's because it's been what's happened pretty much every week this season. Kansas City has had a truly charmed existence during this NFL season; the offense has sputtered frequently, or they've let teams hang around in games, and have been frequently outplayed by opponents. But when the dust settles, 16 out of the 18 times they've taken the field (and 16 of the 17 times the starters have played), Andy Reid and company have gone home with a win.

But this is the playoffs, right? The time when pretenders get exposed, when weaknesses are exploited, when teams are supposed to stop getting away with it, and start looking like real contenders. Yet, here we are again, and the Chiefs seem to have once again gotten away with it.

Which begs the question: how much longer can they keep getting away with it? How much longer can the offense continue to sputter and stall and largely leave fans unimpressed before it all falls apart?

Unfortunately for Chiefs fans, the answer might be next week. Kansas City split their games against the Ravens and Bills, beating Baltimore in the season opener and falling to Buffalo in Week 9. But both teams have looked vastly improved since those games, while Kansas City remains largely uninspiring. If the Chiefs are going to get sent home, that's when it'll happen, against superior opponents.

But even in the AFC title game, there's no guarantee of success. The Chiefs lost by just nine to the Bills despite putting up just 259 total yards of offense in a road game, and that balance could very easily tip Kansas City's way in a game at Arrowhead.

Not to mention, a lot of the Chiefs' close games are by design. They trust Mahomes to get this broken jalopy of an offense across the finish line when it matters, and by and large he's done just that. The defense keeps them in every game, and Mahomes knows this offense and his teammates well enough to get it done. This team is BUILT to get away with it, week in and week out, and it's worked beautifully so far.

In other words, strap in Chiefs haters; you could very well be in for two more weeks of watching this team bumble its way to a third straight title.

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