National NFL writers, broadcasters offer predictions for the Chiefs this season
The Chiefs will attempt to do something Thursday for the first time in franchise history night: Win their season opener as the defending Super Bowl champions.
In 1970, the Chiefs lost in a rematch against the Minnesota Vikings.
Expectations among Chiefs fans are sky-high for the 2020 season. Does that align with national football writers and broadcasters?
Here is what they are saying.
Sixteen of the NFL Network’s analysts picked the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl. Kurt Warner sees another Chiefs-49ers meeting at the end. He wrote: I still think these are the two most complete rosters in football. This time, though, it’s a higher-scoring affair, with Patrick Mahomes leading the Chiefs on a late touchdown drive for the win in a close game.”
All but two of those 35 experts had the Chiefs winning another AFC West title. Adam Rank and David Carr had the Chiefs being a wild-card team.
John Clayton’s outlook for the Washington Post shows the Chiefs winning another AFC West title and beating the Ravens in the AFC Championship Game. In the Super Bowl, Clayton has the Chiefs knocking off the Saints. He wrote: “Mahomes is becoming the next Brady and Reid the next Belichick as Kansas City wins two in a row.”
The New York Times looked ahead to the 2020 season with a story headlined, “It’s Patrick Mahomes’ NFL, but let’s preview all 32 teams anyway.” Here is an excerpt: “The team’s defense has taken its lumps, but it showed up when it counted most in the Super Bowl, and with Chris Jones back to anchor the defensive line, and safety Tyrann Mathieu roaming in the secondary, there should be little fear of a drop-off.”
Peter King of NBC Sports doesn’t see the Chiefs returning to the AFC Championship Game. Here is a bit of what he wrote: “I don’t have a logical reason to tell you that Kansas City won’t win again. I just have history. It’s happened twice in 25 years. Even the teams that looked peerless—the 2010 champion Packers went 15-1 the next year and got creamed by the Giants in the divisional game—turned out to be flawed. So we’ll see. We also don’t know how COVID-19 will factor into the season, if at all, or whether quieter stadia will matter. And KC’s road schedule (Baltimore; Buffalo on a short-week Thursday; Tampa Bay; New Orleans) is one of the toughest in the league.”
The Good Morning Football crew on the NFL Network discussed who could dethrone the Chiefs in the AFC:
USA Today’s Steven Ruiz wrote this while discussing the offense: “We’re probably at the point where we can just pencil the Chiefs in as division champs. Even last year with Mahomes missing games and being hobbled for others, they won 12 games. There’s no reason to suspect any of their success on either side of the ball was flukey and they retained basically everyone.”
Sports Illustrated’s Connor Orr predicted the Chiefs would win the AFC West with a 10-6 record. He wrote: “I have the Chiefs losing to the Chargers (twice!), Ravens, Raiders and Buccaneers. While it’s entirely possible they are more dominant than they were a year ago because of the condensed offseason and the health of Patrick Mahomes, teams in their vicinity have now had two years to draft ancillary talent that should help slow them down.”
In its 2020 Chiefs preview, ESPN’s Adam Teicher wrote a bit about Clyde Edwards-Helaire. This is a snippet of what he wrote: “ The Chiefs didn’t get a lot of help from their backs last year until Damien Williams emerged late in the season. So the rookie out of LSU is a logical place for the Chiefs to grow their offensive production.”
In his NFL power rankings, Dan Hanzus of NFL.com had the Chiefs at No. 1. This is an excerpt of what he wrote: “The Chiefs now return 10 of their 11 defensive starters from their Super Bowl team with a full season of familiarity in Steve Spagnuolo’s scheme. TL;DR: Sorry, AFC, the Chiefs have the potential to be great on both sides of the ball.”
Mark Maske of the Washington Post had the Chiefs atop his preseason power rankings. Here is part of what he wrote about the Chiefs: “The offense must compensate for the opt-outs of RB Damien Williams and G Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. But rookie RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire has star potential. The rest of the team’s nucleus remains, and QB Patrick Mahomes is the league MVP favorite for every season in which he is healthy and in the lineup.”
Bleacher Report had the Chiefs atop its preseason power rankings. This is part of what it wrote: “Mahomes isn’t the only reason that the Kansas City Chiefs are atop these power rankings. Nor is he the only reason Kansas City is the favorite to rep AFC in the Super Bowl again. But so long as he keeps playing the way he has the past two seasons, the Chiefs aren’t going anywhere.”
