It's official. The Kansas City Chiefs have made it.
Because Kansas City finds itself at a new tier of fame and greatness: major pundits are predicting their downfall. FOX Sports' Colin Cowherd kicked off a segment of his show by boldly claiming that the Chiefs are going to be in the running for a wild card spot in the 2026 playoffs.
Among the work he showed was evidence of recent glow-ups from the LA Chargers: running back guru and sycophant Jim Harbaugh has not one, but three down-capable ball carriers after the draft, and the Bolts got a big upgrade at receiver when they drafted Tre Harris. Their near-league-pacing defense (5th in points allowed per game) is only going to get better, and both Justin Herbert and his receiving corps will have had another year of chemistry-building under their belts. Throw in KC's offensive line struggles, their incredibly narrow margin of victory throughout 2024, and post-Super Bowl-loss hangovers, and it's easy to see why the two might be swapping places in the AFC West.
Except, that's not how that works with Patrick Mahomes. As I said before, he and the Kansas City Chiefs have made it. Rare is a team, an individual, that has achieved enough for pundits to almost wishfully predict their downfall. Many forget that they picked against LeBron James winning the East throughout the 2010's, even after he earned his first ring. Until the 28-3 incident, you could probably hear the same thing about Tom Brady and his Patriots, to bring the analogy closer to home.
There is an air of inevitability to certain athletes in the world, and even after a Super Bowl blowout, you can't admit you don't feel that aura, that fear of what fireworks he might unleash against your team. We're talking about a team that is still mostly intact long after scoring a touchdown on the Bills in under a minute.
The Chiefs don't need to prove themselves
They did that by earning a shot at a three-peat in 2024. No other team in the AFC, nor West, can boast that, especially not the LA Chargers. The burden of proof, of greatness enough to topple Mahomes and Andy Reid, falls to the rest of the conference. The one that overpaid for Geno Smith. The one who still runs a ground-based attack while misusing one of the most complete quarterbacks to ever throw a football. The one that still doesn't know what the Denver Broncos and Bo Nix are going to look like in 2025.
And meanwhile, in Kansas City, fans already know what the Chiefs bring. Because as long as you have the best quarterback in football, you will have a shot at every game, even the ones you might have given up. That brings consistency, and useful context, to a team that let their margins of victory slip drastically in 2024. And yet, you know what you get with the Chiefs, who have been on top of the mountain with fewer weapons than they do now. Cowherd's take isn't just hot, it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of who and what the Kansas City Chiefs are.