The Kansas City Chiefs have made three straight Super Bowls and have been an AFC powerhouse ever since Patrick Mahomes became the starting quarterback.
But, with December nearly halfway over, the Chiefs are 6-7, officially out of the AFC West picture, and hanging on by a thread in the AFC playoff picture with Wild Card hopes shrinking every week.
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In Week 14, things went from bad to worse as the Chiefs lost to the Houston Texans, 17-10, on Sunday Night Football.
Mahomes threw three interceptions with no scores, and Eric Edholm of NFL.com revealed that it “felt like a funeral” in his latest power rankings.
“Kansas City isn’t mathematically eliminated from the playoffs — yet — but Sunday felt like a funeral at Arrowhead, with the 20-10 loss to Houston officially ending the Chiefs’ streak of division titles at nine. Patrick Mahomes didn’t have anything close to a vintage game against a terrific Texans defense, but he also didn’t drop two catchable passes with a chance to tie or win the game in the fourth quarter. First came Rashee Rice’s brutal flub on fourth down, giving the ball back to the Texans. Then, after a great defensive stand, Travis Kelce‘s bobble ended up as a game-killing Texans interception. There couldn’t have been a more cruel, painful knife twist than that ending — a surefire sign that this offense is broken, even if we’ve known it for a while. We’ve done various pre-eulogies, maybe even retracting a few along the way, but this feels like it. A shocking end to an incredible run.”
Edholm proceeded to move the Chiefs down one spot to No. 20, and just one spot ahead of the Miami Dolphins, who are 6-7 after a shocking twist despite a 1-5 start to the season.
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Kansas City has lost four of its last five games, and the next one is against the Los Angeles Chargers, who are 9-4 and coming off a gritty win against the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football.
At this point, the Chiefs likely have to win every game from here on and out, and seeing them not in the playoffs will be very strange.