It’s way too early in the season to begin making blanket statements about any given team, or at least most teams, but one thing is undeniable when talking about the Kansas City Chiefs. They look very, very good.
After dispatching the Philadelphia Eagles’ high-octane offense, the Kansas City Chiefs, a team that has been marred by poor management in recent years, are now a league leading 3-0. With games against the Giants, Titans and Raiders coming up, it’s easy to imagine a scenario in which the Chiefs push their record to 6-0.
The Chiefs were actually somewhat talented a season ago. Despite a terrible record, they weren’t actually missing that many pieces of the puzzle. They lacked a great coach, and their quarterback situation was laughable. The injury bug has hit the Chiefs hard over the past two seasons as well, leading to records that haven’t been indicative of the Chiefs’ actual ability.
Those missing pieces are now present and accounted for in Kansas City. Andy Reid has his team playing at a high level, and quarterback Alex Smith is still the same efficient quarterback that turned the 49ers franchise around when Jim Harbaugh took over as the team’s head coach.
Still, every team in the league has room to grow, and when you play the Denver Broncos twice per year, there’s a need to do just that.
To this point, we haven’t seen what the Chiefs can do when they’re faced with a significant deficit early in a game. I have to wonder if that offense has enough potential to make big plays to keep up with some of the best teams in the league. If not, the regular season may result in a great record, but postseason play could become a major problem.
At the end of the day, the Chiefs are, at least right now, a playoff team. Their schedule is opening into a relatively soft run, and with a few more wins, they could put themselves in fantastic position to make a simple postseason run in November and December. Nothing in the NFL is guaranteed, but the Chiefs look to be as safe a bet as there currently is, and it’s largely thanks to the right people showing up at the right time.
