Two straight losses push Kansas City into the league's middle tier. Can they reverse their season's shocking slide?
There’s officially a losing streak going on in Kansas City, as the Chiefs have now lost their last two games, falling to a 5-5 record on the season. As a result, they have slid in the power rankings ahead of Week 12.
After Sunday’s 22-19 loss to the division rival Denver Broncos, the Chiefs sit firm in third place in the AFC West standings, two wins behind the Los Angeles Chargers and four behind the Broncos. Though there are still seven games to play in the year, the Chiefs are certainly not in a desirable position to make the playoffs.
In Bleacher Report’s newest power rankings by Brent Sobleski, Kansas City has slid all the way to the 14th team in the league after Week 11’s loss.
“Andy Reid is now in his 13th season as the Chiefs' head coach. Kansas City hasn't held a 5-5 record, as they do now, since 2015,” Sobleski wrote in the article. “That team won 10 straight to close out that campaign. However, a similar turnaround may not be forthcoming this fall.”
It’s obvious that the Chiefs of this season simply haven’t looked like the Chiefs that football fans have come to expect in recent years. After seven straight AFC Championship appearances, the possibility that Kansas City may not even make it to the Wild Card round comes as a big surprise.
The Chiefs haven’t looked like the dominant team that put fear in opposing teams week after week. They also haven’t looked anywhere near as clutch as in the past, especially after last season, in which they continuously found ridiculous ways to win games that seemed impossible.
Now, the Chiefs have a 0-5 record in one-possession games this season. Of their five wins this season, just one has come against a team with a winning record, their Week 6 win against the Detroit Lions. The numbers are daunting, and they indicate a team that is anything but a contender.
Matters only get worse when looking at Kansas City’s schedule ahead. In the next three weeks, they will face the 8-2 Indianapolis Colts, then a Dallas Cowboys offense that ranks among the top of the league, before battling the top defense in the league in the Houston Texans.
Already looking from the outside in after Week 11, the Chiefs have just a 51% chance to even make the postseason. The regression of this Kansas City team from the last few seasons is striking, but there are still games left to be played. Considering their decade-plus run of playoff football, it’s hard to fully count the Chiefs out.