KC Chiefs: Looking at potential AFC Championship match-ups
KC Chiefs fans should never get too far ahead of themselves, but how can we not? The Chiefs have one game standing in between them and a second straight AFC Championship Game. Who could they face in that game?
The Kansas City Chiefs should only be taking things one game at a time, but for us fans, it’s only natural to want to look ahead and see what future match-ups could be. If the Chiefs beat the Texans on Sunday, there are two different opponents they could see in the AFC Championship Game.
The likely (and I use that word with caution, as we’ve seen crazy stuff happen to one seeds over the years) match-up would be Chiefs vs Ravens with the game taking place in Baltimore. These two teams met earlier in the regular season – week three, to be exact – with Kansas City winning it 33-28 (though the game didn’t feel that close).
The last time those two teams met up, no one knew what the Ravens were yet. Both teams were 2-0 at that point in time, but most people expected Lamar Jackson to cool off and not keep up the insane pace he had in the first two weeks of the regular season. While he didn’t have a great game against the Chiefs, his team is much better than that week three team we saw come to Arrowhead Stadium.
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The Chiefs haven’t played a quarterback like Jackson since their winning streak began in week 11. He’s the type of quarterback who can deal defenses all kind of fits, but for whatever reason, the Chiefs have been able to get the better of him since his rookie year. That might not be the case if the game is being played in Baltimore however.
People have assumed this would be the AFC Championship Game we’d be seeing this season, especially once KC earned the two seed over New England. In order for Baltimore to hold serve in the AFC, they have to take care of business against the ever so pesky Tennessee Titans. Chiefs fans all too well never to count the Titans out of anything.
Tennessee went into Foxborough and knocked off the Patriots, something we were all grateful for, but can the Titans do that to the Ravens in Baltimore? The Ravens actually have an offense, unlike New England, and while their defense is vulnerable against the run, getting a lead over Tennessee will eliminate them being able to run the ball on every play. Forcing Ryan Tannehill to beat you is a much safer bet than allowing Derrick Henry to run roughshod over your defense.
There would be pros and cons, much like there is in most things, to facing either of these teams in the AFC Championship Game.
If it’s Chiefs vs Ravens, Baltimore would be very much looking to get revenge on one of the two teams who beat them in the regular season. It’d be a very good, highly competitive game between the two best teams in the AFC, but would KC be able to contain that rushing attack of the Ravens? If they could get a lead over Baltimore and force Jackson to throw more, that’d obviously be ideal. With the way the Ravens control the clock so well, this would be a tough match-up for Kansas City in the title game.
Chiefs vs Titans would mean that Kansas City would get to host the AFC Championship Game, but it’d also mean they’d have to exorcise all types of demons in their biggest game of the season. Tennessee has been a team that has had KC’s number for years now and most of us still have nightmares about Derrick Henry running all over this defense because he’s done so on MULTIPLE occasions.
Either team would pound the rock constantly against the Chiefs and that’s been a weakness for the Chiefs, so I don’t love either of these match-ups. It’d be tough for the Titans to go into Baltimore and pull off another major upset, but if they do, and the Chiefs take care of business against the Texans, KC would have a chance to host the championship game for the second straight year and hosting would be a major plus.
For now, however, the KC Chiefs need to simply focus on getting to the title game.