It’s Not Over Till The Fat Walrus Burps
If the first half of the season had everyone ignoring the Vikings, the second half of the season seems to have everyone ignoring the Chiefs. I can’t say I blame people for it. They looked good week 1, then faltered hard, losing 5 straight. In the 4th loss, star RB Jamaal Charles went down with an ACL tear. With the Chiefs at 1-5 and without their best weapon, it was pretty damn easy to write them off.
And now they’ve won 7 straight. Yes, really. Nobody is talking about it again, even though it seems pretty clear the Chiefs have a wild card slot in hand. It’s not like they’ve beaten a bunch of chumps, either. They did take down the Lions and San Diego twice, sure, but the other wins? Buffalo, Oakland, Pittsburgh, & Denver. The Chiefs are playing remarkably well. Alex Smith has found Jeremy Maclin finally, and is taking superb care of the football. They are still rushing the ball effectively. The defense is stuffing people. This is a team playing great football when they absolutely need to be, and everyone else is still getting more attention.
The Chiefs currently hold the 5th seed at 8-5. They share that record with 2 other teams, Pittsburgh and the Jets. That victory over Pittsburgh is vital right now and is keeping the Steelers out of the playoffs. The Steelers still have a chance to win the division, but they have a much better chance at the wildcard. But looking at the remaining schedules for each team, I think the Chiefs have the easiest path.
Chiefs: @Ravens, Browns, Oakland
Steelers: Broncos, @Ravens, @Browns
Jets: @Cowboys, Patriots, @Bills
Looking at that I’m guessing the wildcards are going to be Kansas City and Pittsburgh (On current track, who knows what the other playoff teams might do). Both get easy games against the Ravens and Browns. The Steelers might have a harder time with the Broncos than the Chiefs will with the Raiders, who they’ve already beat in Oakland. The Steelers pretty much have to match the Chiefs and hope the Jets drop one extra game, something very possible. The point is, things look very positive for Kansas City here and they control their own destiny into a soft back end schedule. Who knows, if the Broncos melt down they could even take the west.
If I had my personal preference, I’d want the Bengals to play the Chiefs in the wildcard round, simply so that one of those two franchises finally gets to experience playoff happiness after all these years.
Is Alex Smith elite?
I love Alex Smith, but no I don’t think he is. However, he is actually getting a little better every year under Andy Reid. I just don’t know if there’s enough time for him to ever be considered one of the best guys playing. He’ll age out before that ever happens.
It’s really been a result of the scheduling. The first 5 games of the season were the Texans, Broncos, Bengals, Packers, and Vikings. Then the Bears game, but they ARE the Chiefs, so it’s not a legit football season without them losing a game to a terrible team in the most excruciating manner.
At first, when Oakland came back and beat Denver this past weekend, I started to really think about the suddenly real possibility of winning the AFC West. But now that I look closer, why would we want to? We’d be the 3-seed, meaning our first round game would be at home against either the Steelers or Broncos. If we stay in the Wild Card, we play the Colts, Texans, Bengals, or Broncos on the road. I’d LOVE to be able to go to a playoff game again (that Ravens game sure was demoralizing), but if it means not having to play the Steelers to kick things off, I’ll be perfectly fine without it.
The Chiefs won a BigBen`less Steelers. Thats like winning Bradyless Patriots…
That same roster beat the Cards
Just a note – if the Chiefs, Jets, and Steelers all win out, the Chiefs & Steelers will be the 5th & 6th seeds, since the Steelers win the tiebreaker with the Jets on record against common opponents.
That common opponent being Oakland
Actually, it’s the Jets who need to hope the Steelers drop one in order to get to the playoffs. Since the Jets and Steelers haven’t played each other, head-to-head won’t count in a three-way tie. What matters is conference record, where it’s currently Chiefs 7-2, Jets 6-4, Steelers 5-4 – putting the Jets ahead of the Steelers.
However, if all three teams win out their conference record would be Chiefs 10-2, Jets 8-4, and Steelers 8-4. The Chiefs would get the 5th seed and there’d be a reseeding between the Jets and Steelers. The Steelers would then get the 6th seed on their better record in common games with the Jets.
When I think of the Chiefs, all I see is three things
-that big bulky non-WR named Kelce who caught a shit ton of touchdowns last year
-The tomahawk chant they bit from FSU
-how they had a 4th quarter melt down against my Chicago Bears
I also remember 2013 when they had an amazing undefeated start and then sort of pooped it out in the 4th quarter of the season. It seems like they’re doing that same thing, but backwards.
When I think Chiefs I think:
-“i” before “e” except after “c” is bullsh!t
-classic football stadium for football fans who like football, (polar opposite of the A.D.D. nightmare that is the Jerry World monstrosity in Arlington)
-eating hot bratwursts in the snow
-great football loving city filled with friendly hard-working fans that know how to make some damn good BBQ
english has a number of compound letters that are actually treated as a single letter, most of them involving ‘h’ “ch” “sh” and “th” are all examples. they make one sound together, so “chiefs” doesn’t have a ‘C’ in it, it has a ‘Ch’ in it, which is an entirely different letter
…but you digress.
Calling it now, the Jaguars beat KC in the wild card round and beat Brock Lobster/Peyton’s decaying forehead in the divisional round only to get killed by Darth Brady
I haven’t watched much Chiefs football recently but based on the WR stats from the last couple seasons I assume that they constantly play in I-formation.
Yeah, I form, Strong I, etc…
Actually, Pittsburgh controls its own destiny; if the Steelers win out, they make the playoffs regardless of what the Jets do. They’re behind New York right now because they’ve played less conference games (Pittsburgh’s played all of their NFC opponents, while the Jets still play Dallas). A Jets loss is only necessary if Pittsburgh loses any one of their remaining games.
Anything on tonight’s Condiment Bowl coming up?
YES MY SQUEELERS ARE HEADED TO THE PLAYING OFFS BUT I HONESTLY DONT WANT TO GO AGAINST ANY FOOTBALL TEAM SINCE THEY DONT HAVE PRETTY GIRL TO WANT BUT I HOPE WE CAN EDGE THE KNEW YOURKE GHETS
Holy shit Dave, ur in the Chicago Tribune