Kansas City Chiefs: Third straight AFC West title won’t be easy

By Leigh Oleszczak | May 20, 2018

KANSAS CITY, MO - DECEMBER 10: Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt (27) prepares to celebrate his 1-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter with a "jump ball" celebration early in the second quarter of an AFC West showdown between the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs on December 10, 2017 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Kansas City Chiefs recently won the AFC West in back-to-back seasons for the first time in franchise history. Can they make it three in a row?

The answer is of course they can! The question if WILL they, however, is one we won’t have the answer to until late December of this year or even early January of 2019. The Kansas City Chiefs have been at the top of the division the last two years, but there are good reasons as to why people aren’t banking on them to win a third straight AFC West title.

The first reason is that the Chiefs have a different quarterback. Chiefs fans LOVE Patrick Mahomes and what he should be able to bring to Kansas City, but any time a team undergoes a change at the most important position of the game, it’s going to take their stock down a little bit. It doesn’t matter how good we think the new signal caller will be.

Another valid reason is that the Chiefs have a tough division. Say what you will about the other three teams, but all of them have legitimate reasons as to why they could be the AFC West champs at the end of the season.

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A lot of Chiefs fans were peeved when Broncos general manager John Elway said the Chargers were the team to beat in the division this year. That made Chiefs fans think, “Wait a sec. We’ve won the division the last two years! Why no compliment for us?”

For one, it’s Elway and he’s been trolling the Chiefs since he entered the league in the 1980s. Second, the Chargers are a good team. Had they not gotten off to an 0-4 start last year, the Bolts might have actually won the division. They looked darn good as the season rolled along.

Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn deflected that hype, however, and said that until his team can knock off the Chiefs, then that’s the team still on top in the division.

"“We know Kansas City won this division, they had a good draft, they brought in some key free agents. To me, that’s still the team to beat in this division. Until we beat Kansas City, we can’t even talk about playoffs and things like that.”"

Lynn has a valid point for why people shouldn’t be ranking Los Angeles higher than the Chiefs and that’s for the simple fact that the Chargers have not won a game against Kansas City since 2013. Since then, they’ve gone 0-8. That’s likely due to change this year, but the Chargers are very much one of those teams where if they get a lot of hype, they tend to disappoint.

While many Chiefs fans seem to be picking their team to win the AFC West for a third straight season, it’ll be a tougher task than many seem to think. The Chargers could have one of the best defenses in the NFL, not to mention Philip Rivers is still a good quarterback. The Broncos will have a good defense again and a better option at quarterback. Lastly, the Raiders could be firing on all cylinders offensively.

With a new quarterback, a tough division, and an even tougher schedule (especially the first four games), the Kansas City Chiefs are going to have their work cut out for them when it comes to trying to go for consecutive AFC West title number three.

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