The Kansas City Chiefs' downfall in 2025 has been used as an excuse for many pundits to bury the franchise and ignore the fact that the dynasty is still very much alive. Clearly, last season was a failure, going 6-11, and missing both the playoffs and Patrick Mahomes to an ACL tear. However, this is a new season with offseason improvements for the Chiefs on both sides of the ball, Mahomes progressing ahead of schedule in his rehab, and, for the first time in years, a favorable schedule.
There is still a belief from the league as a whole that Kansas City is going to be a postseason player deep into the 2026 season. After three prime-time games in the first half of the season, the Chiefs are scheduled to take on the Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Rams, and New England Patriots, all in featured matchups from Weeks 12-15, showing a strong sense of belief that Kansas City will still be one of the best teams to pull ratings.
The schedule isn't giving the Chiefs this opportunity unless the league office has a full sense of belief that the franchise is going to be a playoff contender deep into the season. We've seen with other teams that being accomplished in recent history isn't enough to earn this level of trust with the Bengals, never having received much primetime action following their Super Bowl trip in 2021,
Kansas City is being handed a featured schedule that is factoring in last season and putting little weight on the rare misstep. It shows that there is a clear level of expectation, pointing to last season's struggles as the outlier in what has been an otherwise consistent dynasty.
Chiefs have clearly earned league's belief despite last season's struggles
When you look back at the history of Patrick Mahomes in a Chiefs uniform, it's logical to understand that last season was the outlier in just about every way. When the quarterback has been healthy, there isn't one season KC hasn't at least appeared in the AFC Championship game, further proving that Kansas City has as good a shot as anybody at returning to dominance.
If the NFL truly didn't believe in the Chiefs returning to their former glory, you can bet on it that this year's Week 1 matchup with Denver wouldn't be on primetime. Mahomes' return at this point is expected, as crazy as that may sound for a player in his scenario. The return of Travis Kelce is also baked into the fact, with the possibility of music icon Taylor Swift making an appearance and expanding the league's worldwide audience.
All of this combined to give the league schedule makers a clear sense of belief that Kansas City is going to be right back in the mix in the 2026 season. There simply isn't any way around this, with league pundits holding the dynasty's funeral a bit too soon. No question, the Chiefs are setting up what can be looked at as a revenge tour and are being handed a clear level of belief.
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