Maybe the Kansas City Chiefs are just that good

There are a lot of theories as to why the Kansas City Chiefs beat the New England Patriots on Thursday. How about this is just a really good football team?

We knew it was coming. NFL analysts, reporters, and fans are trying to explain how the Kansas City Chiefs could have whipped the New England Patriots the way they did. The Patriots were the league darling coming into the 2017 season, with real talk about going undefeated. Nobody gave the Chiefs a chance in that game. I don’t understand why.

Since the arrival of Andy Reid in KC, we’ve seen this team get better and better. Coming off of a 12-4 season, there was no reason to think they wouldn’t be contenders this year. The Chiefs roster is loaded with talent, and led by one of the best coaches in the NFL. Normally teams like that get a bit of respect.

For my own part, I called for the upset…repeatedly. All offseason, I have been saying that the Chiefs were coming into the 2017 season with very high expectations. There was absolutely no reason why KC shouldn’t have been able to hang with the Patriots, or beat them.

Proving Their Point

Kansas City went on to beat New England in convincing fashion, putting up 21 points in the fourth quarter alone. It’s a victory that has turned the NFL on its head early as it goes completely against the narrative. The Chiefs were supposed to be a “good win” that the analysts could point back to at the end of the season.

So when the question of “how did it happen” comes up, I say stop looking for excuses. The Chiefs won because Alex Smith outplayed Tom Brady. They won because Kareem Hunt had a record setting performance. KC won because Justin Houston was able to get to Brady late in the game.

If it were the other way around, everyone would say it was because the Pats were the better team. So why doesn’t that apply for the Chiefs?

Kansas City soundly beat New England across the board. That doesn’t tend to happen unless one team is better than the other. Yes, I just said that. The Kansas City Chiefs may very well be a better team than the New England Patriots this year.

Get Away From The Narratives

It’s not like we haven’t been here before. How many years have the Patriots been picked to dominate the league, but come up short? Don’t get me wrong, five Super Bowls since 2001 is beyond impressive, and there’s no doubt New England has been the best organization over that time. They haven’t been the best team every individual year though.

It’s not as though the Kansas City Chiefs haven’t been working at this. 11-5, 9-7, 11-5, and 12-4 over the past four seasons shows that this is a team that has been working. The Chiefs have steadily built up their organization year after year.

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It’s not like we haven’t seen this before either. Over the past four years the Chiefs have beaten four teams that would go on to play in the Super Bowl. That includes a 41-14 shellacking of the Patriots in 2014. That game had been the most scored against a Bill Belichick-led Patriots team until this past Thursday.

Simply put, the signs were there that this Chiefs team was ready to compete. All they did on Thursday night was to go out and prove it. Kansas City beat New England soundly. If it were the other way around, everyone would say it was because the Pats were the better team. So why doesn’t that apply for the Chiefs?

The Kansas City Chiefs have built a strong team for the 2017 season. The expectations are high in Kansas City, and there is every reason why they should be. The Chiefs might not be the sexy pick for the mainstream, but they are definitely deserving of some respect.