KC Chiefs: 2019 is best chance at Super Bowl run in long time

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Frank Clark #55 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates a second quarter sack with Alex Okafor #97 (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /

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The biggest reason to pick against the Kansas City Chiefs in this year’s playoffs is, as it stands, they would probably have to go to New England and Baltimore, assuming Baltimore wins in the divisional round. This would be difficult, but home field advantage doesn’t mean what it use to.

The Rams and the Patriots went on the road to beat their foes in their respective conference championship games last season. Once again, Baltimore, Seattle, San Francisco, Buffalo, New Orleans, Houston, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, New England, Green Bay, and Dallas are a combined 56-24-4 on the road against the spread this year. Those are all the current playoff teams if the season ended today.

While it’s going to be tough to go through the Ravens and the Patriots on the road, it’s doable.

DOMINANT DEFENSE

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The single biggest reason why KC Chiefs fans should believe this is the best shot they’ve had in a long time is Steve Spagnuolo and the resurgent defense. Even though Kansas City has really struggled against the run this year, there are signs of life, as they’ve given up a total of 94 rushing yards to New England and 52 against Denver last week.

Some of that is game script, as the Broncos had to play catch-up for a majority of the game, but it gets the job done. Many Chiefs fans believed all the defense needed to do was be a little better than last year and there’s no doubt that has occurred.

According to Pro Football Reference, the Chiefs are 11th overall in team defense. They are 26th against the run, but that has risen after the last two weeks. The majority of the season is important to look at, but many teams just get hot at the right time, and that is what the defense seems to be doing.

Spagnuolo has blitzed like crazy this year and has been a noticeable upgrade from Bob Sutton. So, if Chiefs fans were right last year, the defense should be improved enough to get their first Super Bowl appearance in 50 years.

Much of this improvement on defense is due to health, as Chris Jones, Frank Clark, and Tyrann Mathieu are playing their best ball of the season. The injuries of Emmanuel Ogbah and Alex Okafor will be tough for the pass rush, but the sudden addition of future hall-of-famer Terrell Suggs should help patch up that potential weakness.

While T-Sizzle is a big name, he is 37 years old, but it seems like he could have enough in the tank to be a difference-maker. Whether he works out or not, the move was the right one from Brett Veach considering the only thing he might bring is an edge over his old team in the Ravens, in a game he could most certainly get up for.

The fact of the matter is the defense is starting to gel, even if it took 14 weeks.

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