NFL writers, broadcasters from around the country weigh in on Chiefs’ playoff outlook
In October, some thought the Chiefs were toast following a 27-3 loss to the Titans, but Kansas City is not only back in the playoffs, but they’re the toast of the AFC.
As Michael Scott once said in “The Office:” “My, my, my, how the turntables.”
But the Chiefs didn’t get the No. 1 seed in the AFC, and will open the playoffs Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Arrowhead Stadium.
Can the Chiefs return to the Super Bowl? Here is what NFL media members are saying.
CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin ranked each team in the postseason. The Chiefs are the top team in the AFC and No. 3 overall.
Here is what he wrote about the Chiefs: “It was an uneven season for the defending AFC champs, and downright ugly at times. Yet they still outscored everyone except for the Bills in the conference. Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes will score at will when they need to.”
ESPN’s Rob Ninkovich said this week on “Get Up” that he believes the Chiefs are the favorite in the AFC.
Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post wrote a story with the headline, “The most likely teams to reach Super Bowl LVI.” The Bills were favored ahead of the Chiefs.
Greenberg wrote: “Coach Andy Reid was searching for answers after a 3-4 start but then saw the Chiefs settle down and win eight in a row, vanquishing five playoff teams along the way. The defense had a massive turnaround, saving seven points per game after allowing nine more points per game than expected during the first seven weeks.”
The Ringer’s Danny Kelly also ranked the 14 NFL playoff teams, and he has the Chiefs second overall behind the Packers.
This is a snippet from the story: “It’s been a topsy-turvy season for the Chiefs, who’ve alternated between issues on offense and on defense … and at times, both. But despite the team’s worrisome slow start, Kansas City has still managed to get right back to where everyone figured they’d be before the season: atop the AFC West. And they still have Patrick Mahomes under center … which is really the primary reason I’ve got them at no. 2 on this list. Kansas City’s going to need its defense to start tackling again after struggling mightily in that area over the past two weeks, sure, and if that unit can get back to the dominant style of football we’d seen from them during most of the second half of the season it’ll make the Chiefs hard to beat.
Jeffri Chadiha of NFL Media took a look at the strengths and weaknesses of all 12 teams in the Wild Card round.
This was his bottom line about the Chiefs’ game against Pittsburgh: “The Chiefs have never played in on Wild Card Weekend since Mahomes became the full-time starter, but it shouldn’t matter. They throttled Pittsburgh a few weeks ago. They’ll do it again on Sunday.”
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert gave his reasons for hope and concern for each team.
Here is part of the hope he sees in the Chiefs: “Anyone with playoff experience will tell you that among the most important signals of success is the way a team plays at the end of the regular season. Using that criteria, has anyone in the AFC played better than the Chiefs over the final 10 weeks of the season? They turned their 3-4 start into an eight-game winning streak, broken only by a loss to the AFC North champion Bengals on the final play of the game in Week 17.”
In the Athletic’s NFL power rankings, the Chiefs were second behind Green Bay.
This is an excerpt of the story by Lindsay Jones and Zach Berman: “The Chiefs set an extremely high bar for what we should consider as success for them. But after a rough first half of the season, they reminded us they still have one of the top three quarterbacks in the NFL, a deep roster of offensive talent and opportunistic defensive players. It should terrify the rest of the AFC that Mahomes still doesn’t believe Kansas City has played a complete game yet.”
This story was originally published January 13, 2022 at 8:03 AM.
