Kansas City Chiefs Clinch AFC West, Prove They Can Win Ugly in Super Bowl Quest

It additionally reaffirmed why I nonetheless consider the Chiefs are well-positioned to turn into the primary workforce to win three straight Tremendous Bowls: 

This workforce is aware of the right way to win ugly.

Sunday’s last-second victory marked Kansas Metropolis’s fifth win this season by three factors or fewer. Heck, every of its final 4 wins have come that means. All however two of the Chiefs’ victories have been determined by a single possession, and none have come by greater than 13 factors.

I gained’t argue that Kansas Metropolis’s luck this season has been disproportionately favorable, although.

It began in Week 1, when the Chiefs held on for a 27-20 win after Baltimore’s Isaiah Doubtless landed with a toe out of bounds on what would have been a landing on the ultimate play of regulation. 

Two weeks later, Kansas Metropolis escaped Atlanta with a 22-17 victory following a controversial no-call on what appeared like defensive cross interference ultimately zone with the Falcons driving late within the fourth quarter.

After which got here maybe the wackiest of all of them in Week 13, when Las Vegas was inside vary of a possible game-winning discipline objective earlier than a botched shotgun snap helped the Chiefs prevail 19-17.

Certain, Kansas Metropolis ought to most likely have at the very least three or 4 losses at this level. However a handful of its wins have additionally come from a pristine poise that few, if any, different groups have. 

Take Week 10 towards Denver, when the Chiefs exploited a tender spot within the Broncos’ field-goal unit and blocked what would have been the game-winning 35-yard kick as time expired for an unbelievable 16-14 victory.

Or at Carolina in Week 12, when Patrick Mahomes calmly directed Kansas Metropolis 57 yards in slightly below two minutes to arrange Spencer Shrader’s 31-yard discipline objective on the gun, giving the Chiefs a 30-27 win.

Then there was Sunday night time, with Mahomes changing two crucial third downs on Kansas Metropolis’s ultimate drive to arrange Wright’s nerve-racking winner.

The Chiefs aren’t blowing groups out like they used to, however that maybe makes them even scarier. It’s arduous to think about a workforce flat-out dominating Kansas Metropolis, and the Chiefs have repeatedly confirmed that they gained’t burst when the stress peaks. 

On prime of that, have a look at their final two playoff runs. Except for that 19-point residence win in final 12 months’s wild-card sport towards the Dolphins (who had no enterprise competing in these frigid situations), Kansas Metropolis has gained six of its final seven postseason video games by one possession.

The Chiefs nonetheless have 4 regular-season video games remaining to search out one other gear, however even when they don’t, they’re nonetheless assured at the very least one residence playoff contest.

Kansas Metropolis has carried out simply sufficient to carry the AFC’s finest document getting into the ultimate 4 weeks, and everyone knows Mahomes is able to shredding a protection to assist ignite a Chiefs rout that appears lengthy overdue.

Groups like Buffalo and Pittsburgh have emerged as Kansas Metropolis’s possible prime challengers within the convention, however the playoffs are a distinct beast.

Each snap is magnified, and errors can show deadly. 

It’s simple to panic and abandon your identification when the sport isn’t going as deliberate. However the Chiefs are adept at staying the course, irrespective of how bumpy it could get.

It is probably not the sexiest method to win, however Kansas Metropolis’s knack for remaining calm may quickly ship one other Tremendous Bowl ring bearing the glint that has been principally lacking from the Chiefs’ success this season.