Going into this season, fans could not think of many positives for the Kansas City Chiefs. The 2013-14 season brought another playoff trip that ended in defeat. The Chiefs surprisingly ended with an 11-5 record, partially thanks to a cupcake of a schedule. The 2014-15 season would be a very different story. With the NFC West and AFC East on the schedule, as well as two regularly scheduled meetings with the Denver Broncos, the Chiefs looked doomed. But in the words of ESPN’s Lee Corso, not so fast.

At this point in the season, the Chiefs are sitting at 6-3. An amazing win against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday propelled the Chiefs to two games over .500. The Chiefs swept the AFC East with wins against the New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets and Buffalo Bills. Not many expected this and Sunday was an important milestone for this team. With a pivotal game against the Seattle Seahawks, the defending champs, the Chiefs can truly begin a playoff push. 

The Chiefs might be in the same division as the Broncos and the Chargers, but Kansas City has proven that they can hang with anyone. Honestly, the Chiefs could be undefeated right now, if Kansas City had taken care of business. A loss in week one to the Tennessee Titans in Arrowhead really makes no sense at all, especially with the Titans boasting a 2-7 record. The other two losses that the Chiefs have came in week two to the Broncos and week 5 to the San Francisco 49ers. Both of these losses were close and the Chiefs were in a position to win late in the 4th quarter of both games. The point is that the Chiefs can hang with anyone and are not afraid of a challenge. This year has been difficult with injuries on both sides of the ball, but the resilience of this team continues to amaze and astound me. 

As the season progresses and the schedule gets increasingly more difficult, the Chiefs are going to have to continually improve. The weakness at the wide receiver position will eventually harm the Chiefs. No touchdown passes to a wide receiver through nine games is probably not a good sign. Jamaal Charles also having a down year could disrupt the flow of the offense, although Knile Davis is doing a pretty good job in the backfield as well. Injuries on defense have not proven fatal yet, but linebackers Justin Houston and Tamba Hali will have to anchor this defense, along with defensive backs like Ron Parker continuing to make plays. The Chiefs have created a winning formula somehow with key players missing and hopefully things continue on an upward trend.

The Chiefs can make the playoffs. There are still plenty of games for them to screw things up, but so far this team isn’t doing what was expected. This was supposed to be a down year, but the Chiefs have exceeded expectations and are continually proving why last season was not a fluke. Kansas City has a football team to be proud of and the best days are yet to come.