Winning two straight games is hard enough in the NFL. Winning a Super Bowl is a different kind of grind entirely, and the Kansas City Chiefs are living through both realities right now.
Kansas City opened the season 5-0, then dropped back-to-back games, including a loss in Denver against the Broncos. What stings most is how that one slipped away.
The Chiefs looked like they had it secured, only to let it unravel in the final minutes. That kind of loss can linger, and it could end up mattering.
Even so, DraftKings still has the Chiefs near the top of the Super Bowl 61 market. Despite the skid, Kansas City owns the third-best odds to win it all in February, sitting behind the San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills.
The full board shows just how much respect the Chiefs are still getting:
San Francisco 49ers +580
Buffalo Bills +650
Kansas City Chiefs +950
Seattle Seahawks +1000
Jacksonville Jaguars +1000
Los Angeles Rams +1100
Chicago Bears +1100
Cincinnati Bengals +1500
Denver Broncos +1600
Detroit Lions +1800
New England Patriots +1900
Minnesota Vikings +1900
Green Bay Packers +3000
Houston Texans +3500
Baltimore Ravens +4000
Pittsburgh Steelers +5000
Dallas Cowboys +5000
New York Giants +6500
Carolina Panthers +7000
Tampa Bay Buccaneers +7400
Atlanta Falcons +8400
Washington Commanders +12000
Las Vegas Raiders +15000
Cleveland Browns +15000
New Orleans Saints +20000
Philadelphia Eagles +50000
Arizona Cardinals +70000
Indianapolis Colts +80000
Tennessee Titans +100000
New York Jets +100000
Miami Dolphins +100000
Los Angeles Chargers +100000
Kansas City is also third in the AFC race, which is where the real pressure is starting to build. Buffalo is ahead of them there, and Jacksonville is too. That makes the Bills and Jaguars the Chiefs’ biggest threats in the conference picture.
The movement from last week wasn’t dramatic, but it was noticeable. After the Chiefs’ first loss of the season, they were at +850 to win the Super Bowl and +360 to win the AFC.
Those numbers have slipped a bit, but not enough to suggest the market has turned on them. Buffalo keeps winning, and Jacksonville turned in a strong Sunday showing, so the shift makes sense.
The AFC West is a little clearer. The Chargers, sitting at 0-7, are effectively out of the picture.
The Raiders are still technically hanging around, but they don’t look like a real threat for much longer. That leaves the division as a two-team race, and Denver grabbed the lead with its Week 8 win.
Even with the two losses, the Chiefs are still being treated like a team that belongs in the top tier. That’s the weight of what Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid have built: a club that oddsmakers still trust in the biggest moments, even when the recent results have been rough.
In Other News...
Travis Kelce Takes Blame As Chiefs Sloppiness Starts Raising Concerns
Travis Kelce was back on the field against Denver despite the injury concerns that had followed him into the week, and he still managed to give the Chiefs a steady presence in the passing game with five catches for 67 yards. But the larger story out of the 28-24 loss was the sloppiness that kept showing up at the worst possible moments, a problem that has started to feel bigger than one bad night.
Kelce did not hide from his part in it, acknowledging mistakes and sounding frustrated with how he has played recently. For a Chiefs offense that has too often lived on precision in tight games, the margin for error keeps shrinking, and the latest setback only adds to the pressure to clean things up before the next chance slips away. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Let A Frustrating Broncos Loss Expose A Bigger Problem
A frustrating afternoon in Denver ended with the Chiefs on the wrong side of a 28-24 loss, and the final sequence only added to the irritation. Patrick Mahomes still put up 321 yards and three touchdowns, but Kansas City could not finish when it mattered most, including a key goal-line chance that came up empty late.
The bigger concern was how the offense let a winnable game slip away after a crucial penalty derailed a fourth-down attempt and the final drive never produced the decisive answer. Even the postgame reaction spilled beyond the field, with Brittany Mahomes taking to social media to criticize the referees call, a sign of how sharply the loss landed around the team. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Fans Have Every Reason To Be Furious Over This Flag
The late-game sequence in Denver left Chiefs fans with plenty to argue about, because Kansas City seemed to have the winning touchdown in hand on a fourth-and-goal snap before the flag changed everything. What had looked like the defining play of the night instead turned into a stoppage that flipped the pressure right back onto the offense, and the debate over the call quickly spread beyond the stadium.
The reaction was immediate, with fans and commentators questioning whether the movement on the line really justified the penalty. Former Fox Sports host Skip Bayless weighed in, and even Brittany Mahomes joined the chorus of voices wondering about the decision, underscoring how a single judgment call can dominate the conversation long after the game is over. [Read more 🡒]