The eerie similarities between 2017 Chiefs and 2011 Super Bowl champion Giants

The fast start to the season had vanished after a fourth straight loss dropped the team’s record to 6-6. Fans ripped the defense, the coach, the quarterback and, well, just about everyone during the slide.

Sounds like the Chiefs, right?

But this actually happened to the 2011 New York Giants. As a Reddit user noted, the parallels between the Chiefs and the 2011 Giants are eerie. And Chiefs fans hope their team can duplicate the 2011 Giants and win the Super Bowl.

Let’s take a closer look at the comparisons.

Record after eight games

2017 Chiefs: 6-2

2011 Giants: 6-2

Quarterback stats in first eight games

Alex Smith: 69.1 completion percentage, 16 touchdowns, 115.4 quarterback rating

Eli Manning: 62.9 completion percentage, 15 touchdowns, 98.8 quarterback rating

Record after 12 games

2017 Chiefs: 6-6

2011 Giants: 6-6

Quarterback stats in four-game losing streak

Smith: 7 touchdowns, 4 interceptions

Manning: 8 touchdowns, 5 interceptions

Points allowed in last game of four-game losing streak

2017 Chiefs: 38

2011 Giants: 38

During the four-game skid, Giants fans vented at NJ.com, including these comments, which should sound familiar to Chiefs fans who are calling for defensive coordinator Bob Sutton’s head:

▪ “Like (Jon) Gruden said, come on now — this is not a playoff team, with a defense that cannot compete. They do not hit, force turnovers, rush the passer, or cover — with 10 yards separating the usual 3 defenders ‘in the area’ from the receiver.”

▪ “I’ve always been neutral on (defensive coordinator) Perry Fewell because he was an improvement on Bill Sheridan. Well that’s not saying much at all. Mark me down now as saying that he too has to go, along with the other incompetent coordinators that Coughlin is so loyal to for no good reason.”

The Giants lost 38-35 to the Packers on Dec. 4, 2011 and Green Bay remained unbeaten on the season.*

*It’s only regular-season loss came against the Chiefs

New York faced division opponents in three of its final four games. The Giants won a 37-34 shootout at Dallas, then lost at home to Washington. But the Giants beat the Jets and Dallas again and won the NFC East with a 9-7 record.

Coincidentally, the Chiefs face division foes in three of their final four games — Sunday against the Raiders, Dec. 16 against the Chargers and Dec. 31 at Denver. The other game is against the Dolphins on Christmas Eve.

The 2011 Giants got hot in the playoffs. They crushed the Falcons 24-2 in the wild-card round, won 37-20 at Green Bay in the divisional round, beat the 49ers 20-17 in overtime in the NFC Championship Game and then knocked off the Patriots 21-17 in Super Bowl XLVI.

Can the Chiefs follow suit? Only time will tell.

This story was originally published December 5, 2017 at 11:31 AM.