Chiefs Benefit From Bye Week As AFC West Gets Sorted Out

You know you’re having a good bye week when you get to rest some starters, recover from injuries and you get some help in the  standings. That was the case for the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs as they watched the Las Vegas Raiders take a big step back, while the Denver Broncos managed to win despite playing some very bad football. 

That left the Chiefs sitting at 4-0 with a pair of 3-2 teams behind them. The lead feels bigger, though, especially since Kansas City plays the woeful Los Angeles Chargers at home on Sunday. 

It’s hard to get accurate impressions this early in the season, but this week was an exception as a couple of things came through loud and clear. The Denver Broncos are still the Chiefs’ primary competition, but it’s hard to take them seriously at this point given how flat-out bad their offense looks right now. 

As for the Raiders, it just got a lot harder to take them seriously as well. They were outplayed and outclassed by the New England Patriots on Sunday, and Las Vegas now looks like a team that might win seven or eight games if everything breaks right for them. 

The Chiefs now have bigger goals in mind. They’re looking at a pair of 4-1 teams, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens, as their current competition, and they’ll be watching closely when the 3-1 Buffalo Bills visit the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night.

Meanwhile, the Chargers contest is yet another trap game for the Chiefs. It’s all too easy to assume a win on Sunday, especially with road tests against the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos coming up after that. 

The big news this week will be about the offensive line. Coach Andy Reid has been hinting at the return of left tackle Josh Simmons for weeks now, but it’s hard to tell if that’s actually going to happen given that Simmons is recovering from what we can now assume is a serious back injury. 

The rest of this week will be about doing more of the same. The Chiefs have their winning formula in place, and the big challenge for Reid and the rest of the coaching staff will be about overconfidence. It’s hard not to love where the Chiefs are right now, but this is one of those situations where too much love can be a bad thing.