Chiefs are ‘burnt ends’ - why Kansas City won’t make the playoffs

Yahoo Sports host Andrew Siciliano, senior NFL reporter Jori Epstein and senior NFL writer Frank Schwab discuss Kansas City’s outlook for postseason as the defending AFC champions sit at 5-5 in the standings. Check out the full conversation on “Inside Coverage” – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

The Chiefs are done.

Burnt ends.

Its over, right?

They are burnt.

They are cooked.

It is over.

We are getting off spicy on Monday to make The postseason.

They are five and five.

The schedule is not.

They’re fronting.

I do believe that.

I don’t think theyre going to make the postseason.

This is not some hot take.

I’m not trying to make a 45-sec digestible clip So that the amazing Yahoo Social team can now push this out.

We’ll take the single now, so we’ll do it easy.

They’re not going to make the playoffs, OK?

They’re five and five.

The DVOA is great, but they’re losing all One-score games.

Last year, 10-0 in one-score games.

This year, 0 and 5 in one-score games.

Luck eventually comes back to the middle, and that is what it has done.

This year for the Kansas City Chiefs.

And while I do believe that Patrick Mahomes can’t be killed, I mean, in the football sense, and that he will never be dead, And that He will rise from the grave.

He is the man who comes back and, And gets you when there’s that four-minute everyone-is-happy scene at the movie’s end Where you’re going, wait a minute, do they really get him?

Is it really over?

And then he’s going to come back.

But I don’t think that scene exists today.

I know you make your own luck.

Joy, but I don’t know if there’s enough time here to get lucky.

I think you make a fair point, Andrew, and while Im not yet willing to go as far as you Are they to say they’re not making the playoffs?

I do think today was the first Day.

This was the first week that I’m, like, Wait a minute, I still trust that they could beat most teams when they reach the playoffs, But are they going to get there?

Because if not, It doesn’t really matter what you can do when you get to the playoffs.

Now, at 5 and 5, they’ve lost five games before and made it all the way.

Now, in 2023, they went 116 and won the Super Bowl.

But they won eight games before their fifth loss in 2021, when they went to the conference Championship also with Patrick Mahomes, 12, and 5, but they won 11 before losing the fifth.

And so, it’s not crazy that they lost five games.

The problem is they’ve already lost five games and stand at .500, And, as mentioned, that division’s going to be tough.

The Broncos are better than theyve been in the Patrick Mahomes era.

And so I think there was a period of time this season where we said, OK, well, the Chiefs will figure it out, but by the playoffs, they’ll be ready.

And they’ll be an offshoot at the division lead, but they should at least be able to stay OK for a Wild card.

And now I really don’t think there’s any.

Reasonable chance, like, okay, maybe 10%, 20%, but there’s no reasonable chance that they’re Winning the division.

I think that Colts game, all of a sudden.

Is it like the referendum on the Chiefs?

Are they gonna make the playoffs?

Because, look, if they do win that game, they are at home.

But the Colts, coming off a bye, and a very good team.

If the Chiefs win that game, you’ll probably have to beat either the Broncos or Chargers.

Which you probably do at home, at least one of them, maybe both.

The rest of the schedule looks pretty well set for them at the Cowboys.

OK, it’s Thanksgiving, but you should beat the Cowboys, Texans.

To get them at home, Texans are very flawed.

You have the Titans still; you’ll win that game.

You have the Raiders still; you’re going to win that game.

So I could see them getting five wins the rest of the way; they need to get to ten wins.

Which, pretty much, you have to reach in AFC to get a wild card.

But the tiebreakers are tough.

The Jaguars win yesterday was not good for the Chiefs.

If the Jaguars and Chiefs end up tied for the 7th seed, The Chiefs are out because they lost that game on Monday night.

And so we start to play; I mean, it’s early to be playing this game of, like, Oh, tiebreakers here: divisional record and head-to-head.

But that’s where we’re at with the Chiefs.

Chiefs are ‘burnt ends’ – why Kansas City won’t make the playoffs

Tags: