Kansas City Chiefs: 5-0 record marked beginning of turmoil last year

The Kansas City Chiefs are 5-0 for the second consecutive season and are one of two undefeated teams in the league. Can they continue to win games moving forward or will this be a similar story as last year?

While it’s great that the Kansas City Chiefs are 5-0 in 2018, they did the same thing in 2017. It ended like all of the previous seasons had: an early exit in the playoffs with fans wondering once again why they bought into this team as a true Super Bowl contender.

When the Chiefs started off 5-0 last year, most fans were thinking an AFC Championship appearance had to be in the cards. Instead, that 5-0 start was wiped out quickly, as the Chiefs would fall into a downward spiral and eventually sit at 6-6 on the year.

Yes, the Chiefs still went on to win the AFC West, but they went from potentially having the number one or two seed in the AFC playoffs to being a four-seed and having to play in the Wild Card round. From there, we saw them do what they always do in January: Build a big lead, collapse in the second half, and lose the game.

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Losing that game in January signified the end of the Alex Smith era in Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes officially became “the man” from that moment on. He’s looking the part of a franchise quarterback so far, but it’s hard not to look back at that 5-0 start last year and connect it to this year’s team.

After going 5-0 last year (and beating good teams in the process), the Chiefs would then lose to the Steelers and Raiders, beat the Broncos, and then drop games to the Cowboys, Giants, Bills, and Jets. It was an awful stretch for the Chiefs and even though they rebounded and won the division, the team that started 5-0 seemed like a completely different team from the one we saw at season’s end.

These next few weeks will be incredibly important for this Chiefs team because this time last year was when the team crumpled. Will this team get in its own head and fall apart again? Or will this team continue to play like one of the best teams in the league and lock up a top spot in the postseason?

It all starts with next week’s game against the New England Patriots. The Patriots started the season off slow, but they’ve seemingly figured things out now. KC may have beaten the Patriots handily last year, but that was in the first game of the season. A lot has changed since then.

CHIEFS NEXT FIVE GAMES

at Patriots (10/14 – Sunday Night Football)
vs Bengals (10/21)
vs Broncos (10/28)
at Browns (11/4)
vs Cardinals (11/11)

Looking at these next five games, the Chiefs should be able to add to their win totals, but they had an easy “middle of the season” stretch last year and that’s when they faltered. Will we see a similar fate this year?

I’m not trying to come off as “Negative Nancy” here, but as far as I’m concerned, 5-0 isn’t an accomplishment. This team has to prove they can win come January and not just in the regular season. A 5-0 start is great, but does it really matter if Kansas City is a one and done in the postseason again?

We’ll soon find out if adding Mahomes makes all the difference or if this team cracks under pressure again in 2018.

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