Everyone's Afraid of the Kansas City Chiefs

Can anyone challenge the Chiefs?

It's not exactly common to see a 5-4 team sit atop the NFL Super Bowl odds. That's exactly what's happening this year with the Kansas City Chiefs, though. Despite sitting third in the AFC West division and outside of the current playoff picture, it's seen as a given that this team will go on a run in the second half of the campaign, make the postseason, and return to the championship game.

It all starts in Week 11 against the current AFC West-leading Denver Broncos. The Chiefs' upcoming opponent has gotten out to a dominant 8-2 mark behind one of the top defenses in the league. Earlier this year, detractors couldn't wait to pick against KC after they started the season just 0-2. However, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense have struck fear across the NFL once again, even after a discouraging loss to the Buffalo Bills. NFL.com's panel of editors all picked Kansas City, with Tom Blair predicting a 23-20 victory:

"I almost tricked myself into going with the Broncos and their superpowered defense at home. Could Denver's pass rush keep Patrick Mahomes from getting back into the Master of the Universe groove that helped him power a three-game win streak for K.C.? Sure, maybe. Can Bo Nix give Andy Reid the fifth ever post-bye week loss of his decades-long head-coaching career? That's a tougher question to answer — unless you need to splash some cold water on any idle thoughts of a Broncos upset, in which case it's exactly where you want your brain to lead you."

"All due respect to Nix and Sean Payton for putting together an exciting season so far, but this figures to be the Biggest Test Yet of Denver's legitimacy. And I would feel a lot better about the Broncos' chances if I knew they were going to have Patrick Surtain II and J.K. Dobbins on the field, as they did for their only victory to date against a team that is currently in the playoff picture, a four-point squeaker over the ever-angsty Eagles back in Week 5. It feels like everything would have to line up perfectly for Denver to pull this off, and Mahomes and Co.'s fresh-and-rested status kind of takes that scenario off the table from the jump."