Former NFL cornerback says Chiefs still have a great chance of winning the AFC West
Fans weren’t exactly exuding confidence after watching the Chiefs beat the Giants 20-17 on Monday night.
Nearly two-thirds of fans who voted in a poll about confidence in the Chiefs said they felt worse about the team’s chances of making the playoffs after seeing Kansas City on “Monday Night Football.”
But former Washington and Atlanta cornerback DeAngelo Hall, speaking Tuesday on “Good Morning Football” on the NFL Network, said fans shouldn’t be down on the team’s playoff chances.
“As a Chiefs fan,” Hall said, “can you not sit back and look at your division and say, ‘Hey, guys, we still have a chance?’”
Hall said the turnovers, especially ones off a player’s hands or helmet, are freaky plays that even out over a season
“Typically, we haven’t seen this type of performance from the Chiefs,” Hall said. “It definitely usually goes their way. But I think it’ll make them better, the adversity that they will face through the course of this season, all the doubters. I think it’ll bring those guys together.”
Football Outsiders’ NFL playoff odds back up what Hall was saying.
The Chiefs, 4-4, have a 24.4% of being a wild-card team, according to Football Outsiders. Their chances of winning the AFC West are 26.9%, slightly behind the Raiders (32.5%) and Chargers (29.6%).
Here is what other NFL models are saying about the Chiefs’ chances of returning to the postseason.
The Chiefs’ playoff chances got a slight boost in the calculations from FiveThirtyEight.com. That website gives the Chiefs a 48%chance of making the postseason, up 5 percentage points from a week ago. There are six conference teams ahead of the Chiefs in postseason chances. They have a 20% chance of winning the AFC West.
The New York Times’ playoff computations give the Chiefs a 42% shot of making the playoffs (up from 34% last week) and a 17% chance of winning the division. Eight AFC teams have a better chance of qualifying for the postseason.
PlayoffStatus.com gives the Chiefs a 29% chance of making the playoffs an increase of 4 percentage points from last week. It had eight AFC teams are ahead of KC. They have an 9% shot at winning the West.
While the Chiefs seem to have caught a break with Aaron Rodgers being ruled out of Sunday’s game, there schedule is still the toughest in the NFL by a wide margin.
