Closing the Book on the 2025 Chiefs

Hmmm.

Let's look at the 2026 schedule. 

The Chiefs face the AFC East and the NFC West. Seems like the Chiefs are gonna finish in 3rd place this year. Which means they'll get the 3rd place team in the AFC South, AFC North and NFC South.

Currently that's the Colts, Bengals and Falcons, teams that were hot this year or have a great QB or are the Falcons.

So they'll have a 3rd place schedule and a top 15 draft pick. And they'll have January off to rest and start the offseason 6 weeks earlier than usual. And the GM will have plenty of time to fix holes. Honestly, I'm fine with all of this. 

The things that actually sucks is Mahomes tearing his ACL, in mid-December, in the last few minutes. If he gets through another 5 minutes, maybe he sits the rest of the year with his existing knee soreness and focuses on 2026. 

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We're the only eliminated team with a positive point differntial. 

The 10-4 Bears are +27. The 6-8 Chiefs are +60. The 12-2 Broncos are +81. 

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Sorry, intrusive thought. Anyways, back to 2026. Kelce should retire. We don't know when Mahomes comes back, Week 7? Week 10 or 12? Say he comes back in November, will he be limited/bad on the run? His injury puts the 2026 hopes on ice. 

If I was playing a video game, I would tank, sit him for 2026, get a 4th place schedule and a top 10 draft pick and try to win the Super Bowl in 2027. 

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So far, Mahomes has been mirroring Brady's career pretty closely, much like Rodgers has mirrorred Favre's. 

Brady went about 10 years before winning another Super Bowl, but then he did win 4 in the last phase of his career. 

So sure, I think Mahomes will contend for Super Bowls again, but it might be with an entirely different roster. 

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All this will sort itself out. The only thing I have to think about is who I'm rooting against the most. 

The default over the last few years has been root against Allen, Burrow and Lamar. It's fun to have the best of the best by any metric. I don't have to worry about Burrow or Lamar this year. So just Josh Allen and the Bills. 

But then there's the Broncos. Can't let them get another Super Bowl, it's fun to have the most SB titles in the division. 

And then there's the Patriots. See most people might not care or think about them, but long-term...the Patriots and Steelers at the top with 6 Super Bowls. The Chiefs are at 4. So if Mahomes could get two more before he hangs up the cleats, that would put the Chiefs in the top tier, but only if the top tier is still six. 

The good news is those are the only three that would be a bummer. 

Also, there's a world where the Broncos or Bills experienceing a Super Bowl Loss hangover would be fun. But that's risky, ya know. 

The answer might surprise you, but the #1 team I don't want to win is the Pats. 

Mahomes has raised the bar to the point where we can eye the top tier status. 

#2 would be the Broncos but even if they got another Super Bowl, they'd still only tie the Chiefs. 

#3 would be Allen. He's still chasing Mahomes even with one.