Analyst has Chiefs as AFC West contenders with one huge if originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Kansas City Chiefs will enter the 2026 season having to do something they aren’t used to, especially in the Patrick Mahomes era, and that’s prove the doubters wrong.
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After being the AFC’s apex predator for years, in 2025, the Chiefs stumbled badly to a 6-11 record and missed the playoffs, along with Patrick Mahomes tearing his ACL.
So, a lot went wrong for Kansas City, but some think it was the season it needed to force a roster reset and put the building blocks in place for another extended run at winning a Super Bowl.
But to do that, the Chiefs have to make the playoffs, preferably as division winners, and CBS Sports’ Tyler Sullivan thinks Andy Reid’s team can overtake the Denver Broncos for the AFC West crown.
“The Kansas City Chiefs could find themselves back in the conversation depending on how their quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, recovers from his own season-ending injury (ACL tear),” Sullivan wrote. “Given Kansas City’s pedigree, they can’t be counted out and are viewed by the sportsbooks as the betting favorite to reclaim the division crown.”
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Of course, they are, but I enter this year wondering if the 2025 season was a blip on the radar for Kansas City, or the start of something more sinister.
Mahomes and Andy Reid will always give the Chiefs more than a puncher’s chance at the division, but the Broncos are still an elite unit, and the Los Angeles Chargers have to fulfill Justin Herbert‘s potential eventually, right?
So, it won’t be as easy as previous years, and the Chiefs will likely have to lay waste to the division, which is a tall order now, but Mahomes and his health are a big question.
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Do the Chiefs have enough weaponry on both sides of the ball to claim the AFC West even if Patrick isn’t 100 percent? That, my friends, is the million-dollar question.
