The Chiefs are walking into Week 4 with more on the line than anyone could have predicted a month ago.
Back then, the Raiders looked like another team headed for the AFC West cellar, a rebuild in progress and not much else. Kansas City, meanwhile, was supposed to be the standard-bearer again.
Now the standings have a different feel to them: Las Vegas has a share of first place in the division and is one of only three undefeated teams left in the AFC. That turns Sunday into an early measuring stick for a Chiefs team trying to remind the league it belongs among the NFL’s elite.
For Kansas City, that makes this a useful test rather than a nuisance. The Chiefs get the Raiders before their Week 5 bye, which gives Andy Reid’s group a clean look at how it stacks up against a team at the top of the conference picture.
And the road only gets more revealing after that. Following the bye, the Chiefs travel to Denver in Week 7 and Seattle in Week 8, then later face the Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Rams, Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots, and San Francisco 49ers from Weeks 12 through 16.
The first three of those late-season games are on the road.
Las Vegas, though, has its own reasons to make this one count.
The Raiders will have plenty of juice for a matchup like this, especially with a chance to land a statement win over their fiercest division rival inside their own building. Allegiant Stadium is also where Kansas City celebrated its most recent Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49ers, which only adds to the edge around the game.
A Raiders victory would shut down the “pretender” chatter. A loss, and the noise around them only grows louder.
There’s also a real football reason to take Las Vegas seriously. Under new head coach Klint Kubiak, the Raiders have looked better coached than they were a year ago.
Kirk Cousins is coming off a three-touchdown performance against the New Orleans Saints, and young weapons Ashton Jeanty at running back and Brock Bowers at tight end have helped the offense get close to 30 points a game. That puts pressure on Kansas City to bring a sharp week of preparation and a creative plan if it wants to leave Week 4 at 4-0.
And that’s the big prize for the Chiefs.
A win heading into the bye would give them their fourth conference victory and second division win, while also strengthening their hold on the AFC West and their pursuit of the conference’s No. 1 seed. The 3-0 start has been strong, but it hasn’t erased the questions hanging around this team.
There are still issues at left tackle, questions along the defensive front, and uncertainty about the floor of the receiver group. The schedule ahead will demand cleaner football.
For now, September is about getting positioned, not looking perfect. The Chiefs have already put themselves in the conversation. Sunday gives them a chance to stay there.
In Other News...
Brittany Mahomes Had A Different Focus After Chiefs Controversy
The Chiefs left Sunday night with another win, improving to 3-0 after beating the Dolphins 24-10 in a game that had no shortage of talking points. Miami had plenty to gripe about after a handful of controversial penalties went against the visitors, including a roughing-the-passer call on pass rusher Chop Robinson, and the officiating chatter quickly became part of the postgame conversation around Kansas City.
Brittany Mahomes took a different tack on social media, focusing on the crowd and the atmosphere rather than the penalty debate. It fit the mood inside Arrowhead, where the Chiefs keep finding ways to stack wins even as outside noise follows them from week to week. [Read more 🡒]
Brittany Mahomes Just Weighed In On The Chiefs Hottest Sunday Debate
The Chiefs 24-10 win over the Dolphins on Sunday pushed Kansas City to 3-0, but the postgame chatter quickly shifted away from the score and toward the flags. Miami took issue with several penalties, including a roughing-the-passer call against pass rusher Chop Robinson, and the officiating debate gave the victory an immediate second life online.
Brittany Mahomes stepped into the conversation on social media, though not by taking on the controversy head-on. Instead, Patrick Mahomes wife chose to highlight the Chiefs crowd, a reminder that even in a game with plenty of frustration on the other sideline, the home support at Arrowhead still tends to get the last word. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Fans Finally Have Ammo In The Refs Debate
The latest round of officiating debate has given Chiefs fans something they have not had much of in recent seasons: a data-backed argument. After a roughing-the-passer call went against the Dolphins and a pass-interference decision helped the Broncos, the conversation around NFL penalties widened again, and the numbers point to Kansas City as one of the teams that has not exactly been living on the favorable side of the ledger.
Paul Foellers FORCE ranking, which measures how teams fare in penalty luck, places the Chiefs among the least benefited clubs in the league. It is the kind of finding that does not settle every argument about officiating, but it does give Kansas City supporters a little more ammunition the next time the flag debate flares up, especially with the Chargers sitting at the top of the impact chart. [Read more 🡒]