When Are We Allowed to Be Concerned About the Kansas City Chiefs?

Let's say something nice about the Kansas City Chiefs. They have a very engaged fanbase that will search for any signs of outside doubt regarding the team and fight back against anyone who has the audacity to doubt the almighty Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. And more often than not they have been proven correct recently with five straight trips to the AFC Championship game and two Super Bowl wins. Because of these two factors you rarely hear anyone too fired up about preaching gloom and doom for an organization seemingly smack dab in the middle of a dynasty unless they want to get in Nick Wright's powerful crosshairs and get a shoutout at yet another championship parade in KC.

To paraphrase Tobias Funke, it's never worked out for such those with such takes. They somehow delude themselves into thinking it might, but .. it might just work this time. Here are some facts to consider, laid out in the most non-hyperbolic way possible.

After losing to Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers last night, the Chiefs are 8-4 on the season. They are currently two games free of the Denver Broncos with the tiebreaker so winning the AFC West yet again shouldn't be a problem. It's just that, if things ended today, they'd likely have to win two road games to make the Super Bowl. Mahomes has never played a road playoff game. That's a remarkable indicator of his regular-season dominance. It also forecasts some uncharted territory. A favorable schedule leads open the possibility of finishing 13-4 and solving some of these issues yet any stumble going forward will likely mean kissing a homefield advantage goodbye.

Kansas City is 11th in scoring offense. They've only managed to score at least 24 points in a third of their games. Random people on the street would look you in the eye and say their wide receiving corps has an acute case of the dropsies. Mahomes threw 41 touchdowns and 12 interceptions last season whereas he has 22 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2023. If their defense hadn't taken a significant step forward, they might be flirting with .500 or even worse.

So look, a reasonable mind could conclude that we're not allowed to start being concerned about the Chiefs until they lose in the playoffs short of achieving their ultimate goal. That honestly might be fair. But it might also conclude that there are more teams than every in the AFC capable of knocking them out early — especially if KC is in their white uniforms and sleeping at a local Hyatt Regency.

This is a team with noticeable deficiencies, like every other contender. They straight-up don't look like the clear best team in the NFL. It doesn't feel mean or unfair to point that out while acknowledging they have both the quarterback and coach most trusted when it matters.