The Kansas City Chiefs know that it’s now or never. It’s just that they’ve not felt this pressure for a very, very long time.
Patrick Mahomes has never not played in the AFC championship game. He’s played in five of the last six Super Bowls. His tenure as the Chiefs starting quarterback has always meant playing 20 games per season, which means January’s calendar is full.
This year, however, everything feels off. That’s not just a lazy way to refer to the problems on both sides of the ball (and special teams) for the Chiefs. It’s also a way of referring to the despairing sense that the wheels might actually come off of a car that’s known for dependably long treks.
The Chiefs sit at 6-6 after Week 13. The bye week only yielded sloppier play and more injuries, so it’s not as if the midseason rest stop provided a real oasis in the schedule. After losing to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day, the Chiefs are locked into a third-place spot in the AFC West with very thin hopes to claim that title. In fact, chasing such an idea feels silly.
The Chiefs’ post-game quotes speak to the pressure the team is feeling for the first time since Patrick Mahomes took over as starting QB.
Instead, Chiefs Kingdom is hoping their favorite franchise can simply limp into the postseason at this point, thankful for the extra seventh seed tagged onto the playoff picture a few years ago by league owners. To get there, the Chiefs need to win out, which is no small task given the way Andy Reid’s team has looked for the first 12 weeks of the season.
Yes, the Chiefs have wins over the Baltimore Ravens, Washington Commanders, and Detroit Lions this season, but each impressive victory on paper comes with an asterisk. Rosters were depleted by injuries. Quarterbacks were sidelined. Some of K.C.’s brightest moments have come at lucky moments when the opposing team was dealing with myriad issues.
Such is life in the NFL, of course. A team can only play the opponent in front of them, but for those watching the Chiefs week after week, it’s hard to muster up the confidence that they can put it together for the stretch run. The Chiefs know that any momentum can only be built week by week at this point, one contest at a time.
Following their loss to the Cowboys in front of millions of viewers, quarterback Patrick Mahomes addressed the elephant in the room: the notion that they’re buried in the postseason standings.
“At the end of the day, you just gotta win every game now and hope that’s enough. So, I mean, we’re going to play a lot of good football teams coming up, and if we’re going to make the playoffs, we’re gonna have to win them all. That’s got to be the mindset when we step into the building when we get back.”
Coach Reid said that mindset is preached throughout the season to the roster. “We go in every week thinking that. In this business, you stress to get your game plan down, and then practice it, and then go out and do it.S o there’s no days off on that. It’s competition, and you’re giving it your all, and I wouldn’t expect anything less from the guys now.”
The bad news there is that if the Chiefs have already been saying all the right things and the results are a .500 record heading into December, it’s hard to imagine such a message landing in a different way. The only fix for the Chiefs might be serious roster changes and staffing considerations. That won’t happen until the team goes home for the offseason, which in 2025 could come sooner than ever.
