The Kansas City Chiefs started the 2015 NFL season 1-4 before losing four-time Pro Bowl running back Jamaal Charles to a torn ACL. And then they lost again.
At 1-5, their season was widely considered to be over.
But somehow, someway, the Chiefs haven’t lost since. Friday will mark the two-month anniversary of their last loss, and with three final games against opponents with a combined 13 wins all season (two are at home), there’s a very good chance Kansas City finishes the year on a 10-game winning streak.
Winning streaks of that length are never coincidental. And even if the Chiefs do drop a game between now and the end of the regular season, this can’t simply be viewed as a lucky stretch or an anomaly.
During that seven-game stretch, the Chiefs have outscored their opponents 204-84 (the plus-120 points differential is the best in football), with five of their victories coming by double-digit margins and none coming by fewer than seven points.
They aren’t just winning, they’re dominating.
Their three road wins against division rivals Denver, San Diego and Oakland have come by an average of 20 points. And they also have wins over playoff contenders Pittsburgh and Buffalo in addition to victories over the talented Lions and Chargers (again).
At this point, it’s hard not to look at that and wonder if the Chiefs might have enough momentum to get their first playoff win since 1993, especially if they draw a less-than-hot team like Indianapolis, Houston or Cincinnati on wild-card weekend.
How are they doing this? A few points to consider:
1. Head coach Andy Reid deserves a ton of credit. They haven’t missed a beat without Charles and actually rank seventh in football in scoring. Nobody in the AFC has turned the ball over fewer times than them, and quarterback Alex Smith is quietly having the best complete season of his career.
2. It helps that Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware have stepped up in place of Charles. Ware is averaging a ridiculous 6.1 yards per carry, which leads all NFL backs who have carried the ball at least 50 times.
3. They do the little things right. Football Outsiders ranks that offensive line fifth in terms of run-blocking and the defense fifth in terms of DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average). They’ve surrendered 13 or fewer points four times (and three points twice) during this seven-game winning streak, and they rank fourth in football with 39 sacks.
Can this be sustained in January? It’s not typical for a team to go on a Super Bowl run without a star quarterback, but right now the Chiefs believe they can beat anyone. And that’s dangerous.
