Kansas City Chiefs: Keeping the Midwest on the Map

With a thrilling win over the Texans Sunday night, the Kansas City Chiefs are 5-0 for the second time under Head Coach Andy Reid. This is the first time they’ve accomplished this feat since 2013, which was Reid’s first year with KC.

How About Those CHIEFFFFSSSSSSSSSSSSSS?

Winning streaks of this magnitude are nothing new for the Kansas City Chiefs under Andy Reid. From the 2013 season to the end of the 2016 season, the Chiefs have had win streaks of nine, five, ten, and five games.

That level of continued success is forcing the Chiefs into the national conversation. What’s more important than the previous win streaks is how the Chiefs are going about the current win streak. They are playing electric, edge of the seat, blink and you might miss it football.

These are not your father’s Chiefs and they are doing everything they can to let the world know the Midwest and Kansas City aren’t boring at all. Much has been written the past few years about the Chiefs being a good team, but boring to watch. This narrative started to change when Tyreek Hill burst onto the scene last year, and they have cultivated it more this year.

Because of the Chiefs regular season dominance in the past few years, their number of nationally televised games increased.

Kansas City and understandably so, has been known as a cow town in the past. The Midwest in general, is normally overlooked by east coast media giants. The Royals got the ball rolling on returning Kansas City to national prominence. The Chiefs are taking their lead and thriving. There’s no overlooking this team right now. They seem to rise to the occasion in the regular season’s biggest moments.

Primetime

Because of the Chiefs regular season dominance in the past few years, their number of nationally televised games increased. Seeing six primetime games on the Chiefs schedule at the time of release was surprising.

The Chiefs have played two of those six games so far and did not disappoint. They out battled a tough Redskins team last Monday evening on ESPN. On Sunday, even though the final score doesn’t indicate it, they handily beat the Texans on Sunday Night Football, which is supposed to be one of the best match-ups of the week.

Kansas City is the sixth smallest media market with an NFL team. It seemed like we never got a lot of love from the national media. Those days are over as long as Reid and company are in town.

More from KC Kingdom

Ahead of the Redskins game, ESPN decided to unveil a new tailgate hour. They are doing four this year and two of them are in KC. It was chosen in part because “Kansas City has the best-smelling parking lot of any NFL Stadium”.

It was also chosen because of the atmosphere and sea of red. One Green Bay fan that came down to check out the atmosphere, said it was even better than Lambeau. When the Chiefs played the Redskins last week, Randy Moss and Charles Woodson mingled with the crowd beforehand and showed off the spirit of our great city. Moments and events like this highlight how great this city is.

Fans complained about losing a home game to play in London back in the 2015 season, but this move is paying dividends. The Chiefs willingness to sacrifice a home game is getting them more love from the NFL schedulers and also putting KC in a position to host a Super Bowl.

Up Next

The Chiefs will take on the Steelers in the main slot on CBS this Sunday. The Steelers are coming off a matchup where they lost 30-9 to Jacksonville. Steelers quarterback Ben Rothelisberger threw five interceptions in that contest. That tied his career high and with the Chiefs ball hawking defense he could be in for another rough day.

The Chiefs will want payback for the AFC Divisional Round loss suffered at the hands of Pittsburgh back in January. Look for Chris Jones and Justin Houston to hound Big Ben all day. The rush defense should be challenged by Le’Veon Bell as they were ten months ago. Shutting him down will be the key to this game.

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