Kansas City Chiefs: Bye week is important for Super Bowl run

The Kansas City Chiefs now hold the two seed in the 2019 NFL playoffs. How will the Chiefs utilize this week off?

*EDITOR’S NOTE – Cameron Black, the staff member who wrote this, is blind, but has a great feel for the game, even without his vision. This article was written with the help of a screen reader.*

With a little under 90 seconds to go, Philip Rivers did what Philip Rivers is apt to do against the Kansas City Chiefs, throwing a pass directly into the waiting grasp of “Dirty” Dan Sorensen.

While the Chargers were ten points behind with only a little more then a minute to go, a comeback looked rather unlikely. The game ended the exact same way the previous match-up in Mexico City had ended, with Rivers being picked for the sixth time against the Chiefs this year, which seemed rather fitting.

Meanwhile, roughly 1,431 miles away in Gillette Stadium, the unimaginable was taking place; The New England Patriots were about to lose at home for the second time the season (the first coming at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs) to one of the worst teams in the league. They may not have known or cared, but Ryan Fitzmagic and the Miami Dolphins were about to do a huge service to the Kansas City Chiefs, as well as provide some entertainment and laughter for the rest of the league.

The Pats had the ball and it was first and 10, on their own 37 yard line with 29 seconds to go, and only down by a field goal, plenty of time for the GOAT Tom Brady right? First and 10 became second and 10, then third and 10, then… GAME OVER MAN!!!

The Miami Dolphins knocked off Belichick, Brady and the Pats at home. While this would not do anything for the Dolphins themselves (except allow them to end their season with some dignity and have something to take into the offseason), this win over the Pats, coupled with the Chiefs game clinching interception off Philip Rivers, changed the playoff narrative for several teams, but most of all, our Kansas City Chiefs.

With the Chiefs’ triumph and the Pats defeat, New England is now forced to play Wild Card weekend in Gillette Stadium against the Titans. Meanwhile, the Chiefs will be relaxing at home and preparing for the divisional round.

Obviously the bye week is one of the more coveted outcomes of the playoffs. There is a theory that seems to crop up every year, that some teams don’t want the bye week, fearing that any momentum might be broken. I am going to go out on a limb and say that that might be a theory thrown out there more by fans and the media, because I can’t think of a team that would refuse an extra week to rest and prepare, and that is exactly what I think the Chiefs will do.

Rest being the most important part of a bye week goes without saying. It is a simple answer, and requires very little writing on my part, so it might seem lazy, but the importance  of making sure the team (especially your starters) get the rest they have earned after a tough regular season cannot be overstated.

The Chiefs had a tough regular season, sure, but the playoffs are the best of the best, and if the Chiefs are hoping to make it as far as we all hope they will, then the next month of their lives will be positively brutal. All starters need to be rested up and feel like they are 100 percent.

It appears that the Chiefs are relatively healthy, but there are still some lingering injuries and illnesses around the locker room, that the bye week could help clear up. Of course, we were all saddened to see Chiefs rookie safety Juan Thornhill go down on Sunday, as he has been a stellar addition to a struggling Chiefs secondary from 2018.

Another reason this bye week is obviously great for the Chiefs is that they can use this extra week to game plan, for whichever opponent comes rumbling into Arrowhead next week, which will more than likely be the Patriots.

You can say what you like about a declining Patriots team and a Tom Brady who might finally be showing his age, but there is still few forces on earth that can stop the postseason Patriots, and just because they have been beaten before doesn’t mean they would allow themselves to be beaten again. In fact, the defeat they suffered at the hands of the Chiefs gives them all the more motivation to make sure they do not lose to KC again.

Another huge positive when it comes to the Chiefs getting the bye is that obviously it gives them a week of rest, but it forces the Patriots, who are beat up as it is, to play on Wild Card weekend. The last time New England played on Wild Card weekend, they got pounded by the Ravens in Foxboro.

With how unlikely it was for the Kansas City Chiefs to have a bye week in the playoffs, that makes it even more important for them to take advantage of this opportunity. Their road to the Super Bowl just got a little bit easier.