Expected to Beat NFL’s Best Coaches, Chiefs Now Face Best QBs

Kansas City has reached five of the last six Super Bowls and won three. But if the Chiefs are going to return this season, they’ll have to overcome a division with the best quarterbacks – not to mention the best group of head coaches -- in the NFL.

That’s why this season is significant, and why any Patrick Mahomes celebration speeches this February will be even sweeter than the others. It’s shaping up as the toughest road yet for the Chiefs, and it’s more than simply two more games against Justin Herbert.

“Surprised? I was, at least a little bit,” said NFL.com’s Nick Shook, who ranked the quarterbacks in the AFC West best in the league. “We knew Mahomes and Herbert would lift this division's overall ranking to a certain level, but the true linchpin of the group is the new student in the class.”

He’s more than a student. While new to the Raiders, Geno Smith resurrected his career when he took over the starting role in Seattle three years ago, earning a pair of Pro Bowl selections. He finished 9-8 in 2022, 8-7 in 2023 and 10-7 last season before the Seahawks traded him to Tom Brady, Pete Carroll and the Raiders this offseason.  

“Not only did Smith's acquisition by the Raiders give Las Vegas a legitimate starter,” Shook said, “it also filled out the league's strongest quarterbacking division entering 2025.”

Bo Nix is entering 2025 amid plenty of glass-half-full pundits in Denver, after leading the Broncos to the playoffs as a rookie starter last year. He also nearly upset the Chiefs in Kansas City before Leo Chenal blocked a last-second field goal attempt to preserve a 16-14 victory.

“I haven't forgotten about Nix, who flirted with end-of-year awards consideration in 2024, even as a bit of a tumultuous late-season stretch reminded us of the challenges that face every rookie,” Shook added. “Nix married quite well with coach Sean Payton, helped the Broncos return to the postseason for the first time in nearly a decade and positioned Denver for a very optimistic 2025.

“If he keeps it up, he'll climb the ranking and confirm the supremacy of a division otherwise populated by proven veterans.”

The proven veteran coaches should complement those quarterbacks better than any division, too. Carroll in Las Vegas, Payton in Denver, Jim Harbaugh in Los Angeles and Andy Reid in Kansas City have combined for 10 Super Bowl berths, five Super Bowl championships and one College Football Playoff national title.

But unlike at Michigan, Harbaugh didn’t lead Herbert and the Chargers to a playoff win. This could be the year that changes.

Shook, who ranks quarterbacks in an index after each game throughout the year and postseason, had Herbert ranked No. 11 in the league after his disappointing postseason loss at Houston. Mahomes fell to No. 7 after his loss in the Super Bowl.

Smith (No. 12) finished just behind Herbert, and Nix concluded on an upward trajectory at No. 20.

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