USA TODAY’s Nate Davis has released his annual NFL record projections, this time for the 2020 season.
Davis has the Kansas City Chiefs going 12-4 on the season, which is one win short of their 2019 record. They’ll win the AFC West and make the postseason, but they’ll fall shy of making it to Super Bowl LV. Before we continue to break down the good and the bad of this projection, let’s see what Davis has to say about Kansas City.
“If they’re to become the first Super Bowl champions to successfully defend their title in 16 years, they’ll definitely have to earn it. Patrick Mahomes and Co. must play at Baltimore, Buffalo, Tampa Bay and New Orleans as part of a fearsome gauntlet – though none of those teams will look forward to facing an ever-fearsome offense that should have an added dimension with first-round RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire.“
In this projection, the Chiefs win the AFC West for the fifth consecutive season, marking the first time in franchise history they’ve won five straight. They will make the playoffs as the AFC’s No. 2 seed, but with the new playoff system that doesn’t give them a bye week or much of an advantage.
It seems like Davis is picking the Ravens, Bills, Buccaneers and Saints as his four losses for Kansas City. All of those are road games for the Chiefs, but I find it hard to believe they won’t come away with at least one win in those four games.
As for the rest of the AFC West, the Broncos make the playoffs as a wild-card team. The Raiders will head up the bottom of the division. I feel like Davis is vastly overrating the Chargers once again. In 2019, Davis had the Chiefs as a wild-card team but had the Chargers winning Super Bowl LIV over Eagles. Sure enough, Los Angeles turned out to be the worst team in the AFC West division. In general, Davis only had 3-of-8 division title winners correct in his projections. If there’s one reason to take his 2020 projection with a grain of salt, the accuracy of last season is probably a good place to start.
