The Kansas City Chiefs won't take the field again until Week 11 when they square off against the Denver Broncos in what will be an all-important AFC West showdown. Unfortunately, though, their quest to gain as favorable a position as possible in the playoff picture took a significant hit before the 1 p.m. ET slate of games kicked off on Sunday.
The Indianapolis Colts made it known at the trade deadline that they were going all-in on their hot start to the 2025 season by acquiring cornerback Sauce Gardner from the New York Jets. While there is still plenty of football left to be played between now and the end of the regular season, Indianapolis continues to look like a juggernaut, moving to 8-2 on the season with a 31-25 overtime victory against the Atlanta Falcons in Berlin, Germany.
Week 10 Quickly Starts on Sour Note for Chiefs as Colts Move to 8-2
With the Colts matching the Denver Broncos at 8-2 to maintain their hold on the top spot in the AFC, the pressure is only turned up on the Chiefs as they try to overcome their slow start to the 2025 campaign to continue their stretch of AFC dominance.
Fortunately, the Chiefs have an opportunity to turn a two-game deficit in the loss column into a much more manageable deficit. As noted above, Kansas City will travel to Denver for a showdown against the Broncos in Week 11. That game is followed up by the Chiefs hosting the Colts at Arrowhead in Week 12.
There may be a sour taste in the collective mouths of the Chiefs' roster and fan base after seeing the Colts escape Berlin with a win over the up-and-down Falcons. The saving grace for the defending AFC champions is that their path forward is very much in their own hands. With wins over Denver and Indianapolis in the coming weeks, Kansas City would be right back in the thick of things in the race for the No. 1 seed and homefield advantage through the conference championship game that comes with it.
Now, as promising as the path forward would look for the Chiefs if they can pick up wins over the Broncos and Colts in back-to-back weeks, Kansas City would then face three teams over the next four weeks (Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans, and Houston Texans) who are currently outside of the playoff picture.
With that being said, everything must start for the Chiefs with a win over the Broncos in Week 11 and a victory over the Colts in Week 12. Those two contests are as close to must-win games as Kansas City has faced during the regular season since the end of the 2023 campaign.