Kansas City Chiefs (4-2)
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Denver Broncos (2-4)
The Kansas City Chiefs were among everyone’s favorites to be a serious Super Bowl contender this season. Indeed, they looked like it up until just a couple of weeks ago, to boot. They started off 4-0, and were one of only two teams in the AFC (the other being, not surprisingly, the New England Patriots) who remained unbeaten. But then, they got physically beaten down by the Colts on Sunday Night Football, and followed that up last weekend with another tough home loss, this time to the Texans.
Now, the Chiefs are reeling, and could use a bit of a break. Instead, they have a very short week before moving away from the comforts of home, and heading to the thin air at Mile High, to take on the Denver Broncos, who have had exactly the opposite season as the Chiefs. Instead of starting off 4-0 like KC, Denver started off 0-4. But since then, they finally got hot, beating the Chargers on the road, and then shutting out the Titans last weekend. The Broncos have a tough defense, but they have looked great in the past two weeks, allowing just 13 points in their last two games.
Yes, Denver is getting hot at precisely the same time that the Chiefs find themselves getting cold, and that means that this is potentially a very dangerous game for Kansas City. They do not want to drop a third straight game, especially not to a division rival. For the first time all season, they could find themselves out of first place as midseason is approaching, and they would then surely have to ask themselves what is wrong? Not long ago, KC was running like a well-oiled machine. Suddenly, they are stalling a bit on offense, and unable to stop anyone on defense. The Colts did not score a ton of points on the Chiefs, but KC could not stop them from physically beating down their defense, and holding onto the ball when they absolutely needed to, with the game on the line.
So, will KC right their ship before this small slide suddenly turns into a big one, and they begin to look at risk of possibly losing control of the AFC West, and perhaps even find themselves in danger of missing the playoffs? It might be a little early for all of that yet, but seriously, Kansas City simply cannot afford to lose this game. It would not only hand the Raiders sole possession of first place, at least until this upcoming weekend, but it would also mean that they have to suddenly look over their shoulders at the Broncos themselves, a team that they once were fully four games ahead of in the standings. Surely, this was an unthinkable scenario – probably for both teams – just two weeks ago.
The Broncos have to be feeling fired up. Their defense is playing lights out in recent weeks, and this is a golden opportunity to try and get the better of the famously dangerous and explosive Kansas City offense right as they appear to be showing cracks, for the first time really in the past two seasons. Denver still has some issues, but I imagine that they will make this a very tough game for the Chiefs, and I would not be surprised if this is a tough, tight game from beginning to end, decided possibly on the very last play.
My pick: Denver
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