There's one stat about the Chiefs that should scare the rest of the AFC
This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning.
The Kansas City Chiefs rolled over the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday at home, winning 36-10 in a game that never felt as close as that lopsided score.
Patrick Mahomes was his usual brilliant self, throwing for 258 yards and three touchdowns, all without one of his favorite targets, Travis Kelce, who was out with COVID.
The win was the Chiefs’ eighth straight, which is pretty incredible, and kept them in the No. 1 spot in the AFC playoff race. They’re now 11-4 and sit a game ahead of Tennessee, who beat the Chiefs 27-3 in Week 7.
The Chiefs will finish off their regular season with two road games – a huge showdown next week with Joe Burrow and the Bengals followed by a trip to Denver to face the Broncos in the finale.
The rest of the AFC better hope that the Chiefs somehow slip up over the final two weeks and don’t get home-field advantage in the playoffs because this one stat is bad news for the rest of the conference – the Chiefs have given up 10 points or fewer in their last five home games. That includes wins over the Packers, Cowboys, Broncos, Raiders and Steelers.
After a slow start to the season, the Chiefs now seem primed to make a run to a third straight Super Bowl appearance and a lot of that has to do with how the defense has been playing, especially at home.
Dealing with Mahomes and that offense is never a fun thing but now the defense is coming up big and a trip for any team to Arrowhead in the playoffs doesn’t seem like a good option.
Sure, the Bills beat the Patriots in New England on Sunday and beat the Chiefs earlier this year on the road, but you have to think things would be a bit different for them in a playoff game in Kansas City. The Chiefs, as you might remember, beat Buffalo at home the AFC Championship Game last year.
There’s still a lot of football left to be played (this 17-game season seems extra long) but the Chiefs are back where we all thought they would be and their defense has a ton do with that.
Which is bad news for the rest of the AFC.
Quick hits: Awesome corgi race in Minnesota… NFL Week 16 Awards… Washington teammates fight on sideline… And more.
– The corgi race at halftime of yesterday’s Rams-Vikings game in Minnesota was as awesome as it sounds.
– My NFL Week 16 Awards look back at the good, the bad, and the hilarious from Sunday’s NFL action, including the snow making a Russell Wilson TD pass look so good.
– Washington’s Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne (who were also teammates at Alabama) got into a fight on the sideline last night in Dallas and the NFL world had reactions.
– Dan Quinn’s reaction to DeMarcus Lawrence’s pick 6 against Washington was too good.
– Robby Anderson celebrated a first down while losing to the Bucs by 26 points and NFL fans ripped him.