Chiefs Must Earn Renewed Optimism Ahead of Week 7

Chiefs must prove they're really back

The Kansas City Chiefs' offense has undoubtedly been better since getting Xavier Worthy back, averaging over 31 points per game since his return. However, they still took a tough loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 5 with him in the lineup. Patrick Mahomes has been playing at an MVP level all year. Now that he's got adequate weapons downfield, the Chiefs' passing game has been elite once again.

However, this team still has plenty of questions it needs to answer. The defense has performed admirably in the first third of the season, but there's no doubt that they're worse on paper than they have been in recent years. The ground game has been absolutely abysmal behind Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt. Rashee Rice will be back in Week 7's matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders, but his presence won't directly impact the defense or the running game.

And yet, just as quickly as people abandoned the Chiefs during their early struggles, they've been just as fast jumping back onto the bandwagon. All five editors on NFL.com's panel picked KC to beat the Raiders this weekend. Tom Blair predicted a 29-17 victory for the Chiefs:

"They're back, baby! And on Sunday, they're about to be even more back somehow, because Rashee Rice is set to make his season debut, marking the first time ever that he, Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy will be on the field in the same regular-season game. Patrick Mahomes might think he's hallucinating after having to make the best of a patchwork receiver corps for too long. The timing of this matchup, coming after a prime-time win over Detroit, lines up perfectly for the Chiefs to recreate a classic narrative thread from the latter days of the Patriots' dynasty: look beatable in the early goings, then ease back into Super Bowl-contending shape."