Wildcard Weekend is officially all wrapped up, leaving eight teams left in the NFL’s 2024 postseason. Of those teams, six have already participated in a playoff bout while two lie in wait for their first contest of this year’s postseason. One of those two clubs are the Kansas City Chiefs, who not only finished first in the AFC West division, but first in the AFC as a whole.
The reigning back-to-back Super Bowl champions are in prime position to lift the Lombardi Trophy for the third time in just as many years.
Well, that depends on who you ask. Although Kansas City finished their ’24 campaign with a 15-1 record when playing their starters, many fans believe this year is different; Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are beatable, is the wide-spreading belief.
It isn’t for no reason. Through the team’s first 13 contests of their ’24 campaign, Andy Reid and company walked away victorious in one-score fashion through 10 of their 12 outings. This includes games that ended rather miraculously, such as the blocked field goal against Denver, overtime win against Tampa Bay in which Kansas City won the coin toss, and, well, whatever happened at the end of their second contest against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Of course, fans have been preaching that the Chiefs are quite beatable since their ’22 season, singing the same tune in 2023 while the team finished with 11 wins and six losses. In the meantime, Kansas City proceeded to win the Super Bowl during both years despite being dubbed as “beatable.”
Perhaps it’s time to accept the Chiefs, who finished their ’24 campaign winning three consecutive games by at least eight points – a streak that included two playoff teams – with Patrick Mahomes at the helm, are, in fact, a great football team.
Kansas City Chiefs: The last AFC West team still alive
All of this leads up to Saturday’s contest, where the Chiefs go head-to-head with the Houston Texans to kick off the postseason’s divisional round.
Houston has hopes of defeating an AFC West club for the second time in two weeks. Their first playoff win came against the Los Angeles Chargers during Wildcard Weekend, walking away with a 32-12 victory.
Kansas City, however, is an entirely different animal.
The Texans know that as well as anyone, having battled Mahomes and his squad in Week 16 of the regular season. Here, Kansas City’s defense showed C.J. Stroud exactly how good they are, picking off the second-year quarterback twice. On the other side of the ball, Mahomes scored two total touchdowns without committing any amount of turnovers.
Will the Chiefs be able to win their second-of-two contests against Houston this year?
Defensively, the Texans allowed the third-lowest third-down conversion percentage (35.5%) in the National Football League during the 2024 regular season. Their 49 sacks tied for fourth-most league-wide, paving the way to allow the fifth-fewest yards per contest (315.0).
On the other side of the ball, it’s been a struggle for Stroud and his comrades. Their 37.55% third-down percentage ranks 12th-worst in the NFL, contributing to why they were one-of-seven teams to score a touchdown on less than 50% of their red zone trips.
And although Houston is fresh off of a 32-12 win against the Chargers, the offense could’ve looked much better than it did. The unit turned the ball over three times while running the football seemed to be an impossible task. Joe Mixon had one run over three yards in the first half, logging a seven-yard carry in the second quarter.
Currently, the Chiefs stand as 8.5-point favorites via most major sportsbooks.
*Top Photo: Sarah Stier/Getty Images
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