KC Chiefs: What we learned about the AFC West after Week 5

The AFC West became a little more interesting after the KC Chiefs lost in Week 5.

The AFC West is most definitely still the Kansas City Chiefs’ to lose, but things got a little closer after this week’s slate of games, at least when it came to first and second place in the division. The Chiefs lost to the Raiders and while they still have a one game lead over Las Vegas, their margin for error is now much thinner.

There were only two total games played in the division this week, as the Chiefs and Raiders squared off, and the Broncos had an unexpected bye due to the Patriots’ positive COVID tests. So, let’s unpack what we learned about the other three teams in the division.

What did we learn about the KC Chiefs?

To be perfectly honest, the Kansas City Chiefs haven’t been playing all that well through the first five weeks of the season. They blew out both the Texans and Ravens (two playoff teams from a year ago), but they’ve honestly kind of slogged their way through the other three games.

This is both a good and a bad thing. It’s good because they went 2-1 in those other three games and only lost by eight points in the loss. It’s bad because this team just didn’t seem motivated on Sunday and it showed. They couldn’t stop anything defensively whether it was on the ground or through the air. The offense had an electric first half, but then fell asleep at the wheel and only perked up in time enough not to veer off the side of the road.

What we learned in this loss is that the Chiefs aren’t invincible and it almost looked like they felt they were invincible with the lack of interest they had in this game. It was really apparent they didn’t think much of the Raiders and were looking ahead to the Bills game.

Kansas City is still the best team in the AFC West and it isn’t close despite what the standings now say. The Chiefs’ problem is that they need to play that underdog role again because when they get too confident, games like the one against the Raiders happens.

Next up: The Chiefs head to Buffalo for a Monday afternoon (yes, afternoon) game against the Bills. This was supposed to be on Thursday night, but was moved because the Titans couldn’t follow COVID protocols.