The Chiefs lost their week 10 matchup to the Titans and now it’s time to worry about Kansas City. They haven’t looked the same. Their offensive line has some questions. Their defense has even more questions. The Raiders are ready to sneak past them in the west. Everything that can go wrong in Kansas City is going wrong . . . but there’s good news! There are a lot of weird similarities between the 2019 Chiefs and the 2018 Patriots. That Patriots team won a Super Bowl.
Quarterback MVPs
The 2018 MVP was Patrick Mahomes. He’s now back at the helm for the Chiefs. The 2017 MVP was Tom Brady. He led the Patriots to the Super Bowl.
Yes, that’s a surface-level comparison but it’s still a good sign. As long as the Chiefs can keep Mahomes healthy and upright they’ll be a threat to make the Super Bowl.
Week 10 loss to Tennessee
Last year the Patriots got absolutely blown out by the Titans in Tennessee. A lot of people started asking questions about New England after that game. They didn’t look right. No Super Bowl contender should get dominated like the Patriots did in Week 10 of the 2018 season.
No Super Bowl contender should give up a game-winning drive to Ryan Tannehill and the Titans in 2019 either, but that’s exactly what happened to the Chiefs this past week. The Titans feel worse this year than they were last year, yet Kansas City let them run all over the field. Patrick Mahomes couldn’t pull out a win. It’s obviously a bad sign for Kansas City.
Chiefs fans also invaded Nissan Stadium much like Patriots fans did last year. It’s tough for the Titans because fans want to travel to Nashville.
The division threat
Last year, the Dolphins entered their Week 11 bye at 5-5. The Patriots’ loss to the Titans dropped them to 7-3. The Dolphins were a threat to New England and they still had a game against the Patriots in Miami.
This year the Oakland Raiders are even closer to the top of the division than the Dolphins were, but it’s the same idea. The Raiders are currently 5-4 while the Chiefs are 6-4. The 2019 Raiders weren’t expected to be a contender halfway through the season. The 2018 Dolphins were in the same spot in terms of expectations.
The Raiders do have a game against the Chiefs, but it is in Oakland. For reference, the Dolphins went on to lose four of their last six games. Oakland shouldn’t falter in the same way.
Week 11 bye
Again something surface level, but the 2019 Chiefs have the same bye week as the 2018 Patriots.
A Week 10 bye is kind of nice. Teams know where they have to improve. It’s far enough along in the season that it is a good resting spot for a playoff run. It helped the Patriots — even though they lost two games after their bye — and it should help Kansas City.
The defense is the weakness
The 2018 Patriots defense was not as bad as people made it out to be. That didn’t stop people from blaming that side of the football for the Patriots’ struggles.
The situation with the Chiefs is much worse, but it’s still similar. The Chiefs offense will have to carry Kansas City for the rest of the season and into the playoffs unless the Chiefs defense improves coming out of the bye. The 2018 Patriots were able to improve. The Chiefs need to do the same thing.
National media reaction
After the Patriots lost to the Tians they were buried by the national media. The Patriots were done. They couldn’t keep up anymore. Tom Brady had a noddle arm and the passing game was finished. The Patriots defense couldn’t stop anyone even with a genius head coach. It was over. Of course, the Patriots proved to everyone it wasn’t over by winning the Super Bowl.
The exact thing has happened to Kansas City . . . just kidding. No one is burying the Chiefs. No one is saying Kansas City has no shot in the playoffs. It’s not time to bury the Chiefs. After all, they have some odd similarities with the Patriots.
