The Kansas City Chiefs have dominated the AFC West for the past decade, winning the division title in each of the last nine seasons.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes is a ridiculous 35-5 against AFC West opponents in his career. As impressive as that is, the Chiefs have not been as dominant lately, winning each of their five divisional games in 2024 by a single score.
Kansas City has won an NFL-record 17 consecutive games decided by one score, including 11 from last season. It was still enough to reach a fifth Super Bowl in six years, where the Chiefs were denied a historic three-peat, 40-22, by the Philadelphia Eagles.
The inability to put most teams away, combined with improvements made by other teams in the division, has the Chiefs as vulnerable as they have been in a while. ESPN analyst and former wide receiver Harry Douglas believes their reign atop the AFC West will end this season.
“For the very first time since Patrick Mahomes has become the starter for the Kansas City Chiefs, they will not win the AFC West,” Douglas said during an appearance on Friday’s edition of ESPN’s “Get Up.” “I am going with the Denver Broncos because of how fantastic they were on defense a season ago, but how they’ve upgraded this season as well.
“Adding a linebacker in Dre Greenlaw, adding (Talanoa) Hufanga at the safety position. That first-round pick was Jahdae Barron from Texas,” Douglas said. “But then when you look at the offensive side of the ball, I look at a guy in Bo Nix, who had the ability to grasp a Sean Payton offense and run it to perfection in his rookie season.”
