Chiefs’ dominance of AFC West has been foundation for best era in franchise history
After the Chiefs put an exclamation point on the American Football League era by winning the franchise’s third AFL title since 1962 and swamping Minnesota in Super Bowl IV, they were aligned in the AFC West as of the 1970 merger with the NFL.
Natural as it might have been to remain entwined with familiar adversaries in the Broncos, Chargers and Raiders, the revised format coincided with and engaged a spiral from the pinnacle.
In the first 22 years on the new frontier, the once-perennial contenders claimed just one division title — one that reverberated with more pain than gain after the piercing 1971 double-overtime playoff loss to Miami — and one postseason victory.
In the first 45 years of the format, the Chiefs mustered six division titles and had just three postseason wins to show for a span laden with hideous playoff twists. Underscoring the issue and making it all the more exasperating for Chiefs fans, those divisional rivals played in 13 Super Bowls as Kansas City was spending a half-century wondering if it would ever get back.
Much as we love history, though, this isn’t about trivia over a franchise that has played in three of the last four Super Bowls and striving to become the first NFL team to repeat in nearly two decades.
It’s about the foundation of the turnabout that suddenly seems easy to assume but is more remarkable and fundamental than meets the eye.
Entering their home game Sunday against the Chargers, the Chiefs have won a staggering 45 of their last 51 games against division opponents and seven straight AFC West titles.
The preposterous divisional title streak matches the 1973-1979 Rams and is second in NFL annals only to the 11 straight New England won from 2009-2019. That made for a Patriots’ launchpad to playing in five Super Bowls and winning three in that window.
If that sounds familiar, the Chiefs have enjoyed a similar propulsion point toward winning more postseason games (11) the last five seasons than in the entire previous history of the franchise (nine).
At this point, you could call the West a chew toy for the Chiefs. Or a piñata. Or the Andy Reid Invitational.
But if the AFC West race is a foregone conclusion or afterthought to you by now, it’s just the opposite to Reid and the Chiefs — upon whom it’s not lost that many of those games come down to a possession or two despite the lopsided record.
The Chargers are a case in point: Seven of the last 10 meetings have been decided by seven or fewer points, and two went to overtime.
Sure, you can make the playoffs without winning the division. But this pursuit is a proving ground in itself.
Securing the division title is such a pillar of the operation that the Chiefs dedicate a full day apiece to the study of each of the three foes during their offseason training program.
“I think taking the time for the coaches and players when it’s not quite so chaotic as it is during the season — to spend some time on it I think helps,” Reid said.
In part it’s about strategy and staying up to date. But it’s surely also in part to make a broader point that seems to resonate: Noting that the offseason days reiterate an emphasis on winning the division first, quarterback Patrick Mahomes said, “We believe that we have a tough division, (that) every game in our division is a one-score game (and) is going down to the wire.
“We understand it’s the little things that are going to get us that win.”
While it’s true that the division largely has been in flux as the Chiefs have taken over, they’ve also been instrumental in keeping it churning by beating the Broncos in 16 straight, winning 15 of the last 18 against the Chargers and taking 15 of 17 against the Raiders.
No wonder the Raiders took that victory lap in their bus when they won here in 2020 — a point aptly addressed with five straight Kansas City wins since and nicely summarized by then-Chiefs safety Armani Watts in 2021: After a 41-14 victory over the Raiders in Las Vegas, Watts took to social media to declare “We don’t need no victory lap on to the next” and punctuated it with a muscle-flexing emoji.
Just the same, the Chiefs have prospered by seeing these games as essential, too.
Some might question that because so many have been close. But the inverse of that is a more compelling point:
Part of the reason the Chiefs tend to emerge victorious out of the late-game cauldrons is because they know it just means more going in … and they know that goes both ways.
“Where some teams would lose some of those games,” Mahomes said, the Chiefs stress taking nothing for granted.
Still, no doubt perpetuating this has become a certain point of pride.
Reid tends to hold his emotions in, but he provided a glimpse of his competitive fire one day in his Missouri Western dorm room near the end of the 2022 training camp in St. Joseph.
Fielding questions about the supposed offseason ramp-ups of the Broncos, Chargers and Raiders, Reid flashed some edge — relative as it might be.
“You can take it as a badge of honor (or) crawl under the desk and be afraid,” he said then. “My thing is, listen, let’s go. … We’re not chopped liver out there. We have some pretty good players. So let’s play.”
At this stage in Chiefs history, amid the neon lights of all the Super Bowls and playing host to five straight AFC Championship games and all, maybe the regular-season groundwork feels mundane.
Maybe it’s like those T-shirts that Chiefs players were given after winning the division in 2019: “THE WEST IS NOT ENOUGH.”
All the more true now.
But that doesn’t make it any less crucial in the formula that’s gotten them here.
That’s something they know to say but has to drive them within if it’s going to keep on keepin’ on.
“We have to continue to really focus on our division opponents and especially the Chargers (this week),” Mahomes said. “We take that time in the offseason; we take some more time in training camp, so when we get to this week, we’re prepared and ready to go out there and be our best.
“Our best is what it’s going to take in order to get the win.”