Why Chiefs’ Season Is Now an Overtime Coin Toss

“Going into the back end of the schedule here,” Travis Kelce said on Wednesday’s edition of New Heights, “got seven games left and we basically got to run the table. And I haven't been in this situation in a long, long time, man.”

Memories of 2015

It was 10 years ago, to be exact, and the Chiefs in fact ran the table. It was the last time their record was as bad as it is now through 10 games.

In Kelce’s third NFL season, Kansas City opened 1-5 before incredibly winning its final 10 regular-season games. In the playoffs, after blanking the Texas (the last Andy Reid shutout prior to their Oct. 19 victory over the Raiders ), the Chiefs then bowed out in a hard-fought 27-20 loss to Tom Brady and the Patriots.

A Texas-sized task

Patrick Mahomes was at Texas Tech back then, but he also knows what’s required to pull off something as Texas-sized as what the Chiefs accomplished in 2015.

“Obviously it's gonna be hard to get back in the division race,” he said after Sunday’s 22-19 loss at Denver. “But at the end of the day, the goal is to get into the playoffs and try to make a run at it.

“And we're kind of at that point where we got to find a way just to win, win football games. And gotta keep moving forward. That's what this league's all about.”

What this week is all about is Indianapolis (8-2) on Sunday (12 p.m. CT, CBS/KCTV, Channel 5, 96.5 The Fan).

“I think we have the pieces to win out,” defensive tackle Chris Jones said Sunday, “but it starts with one game, starts with us, especially offensive line, defensive line. These next few games are going to be critical for us, individually and also as a group, for us, to make sure we control the trenches.”

Those players in the trenches are without question the right players, the Chiefs universally believe. Internally and externally, their roster is considered largely better than team that went 15-2, dominated one-score games, and got blown out in the Super Bowl.

But this season, arguably the NFL’s biggest enigma, the Chiefs are 5-5 and the only NFL team without a victory in one-score games (0-5).

“It's even more frustrating knowing the kind of guys that we have,” Kelce said, “knowing the kind of talent that we have, knowing the type of coaches that we have. And everybody's got to just kind of look themselves in the mirror, man. You can't sit around pointing fingers, whether it's somebody missing a block here, somebody missing a catch here, playcalls.

“You got to kick that **** aside, and you got to think about how you're going to (expletive) attack the day. And you got to put all the selfish **** aside, all these things that you want for yourself. And it's just got to be about this team, about the guy next to you.”

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