The Kansas City Chiefs have done it again, for the second year in a row and the fourth time in just the last six seasons the Chiefs are heading to the Super Bowl. The Chiefs had a bit more of a rocky season this time around going 11-6 in the regular season, the worst regular season record since Patrick Mahomes became the starting QB in 2018. The Chiefs entered the playoffs as the No. 3 seed in the AFC after winning the AFC West Division.
The season for the Chiefs didn’t start off the best, after winning the Super Bowl last season the Chiefs came back and lost their first game of the season to the Detroit Lions, losing by just one point making the final score 20-21 on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023. The game was not just the start of the Chiefs season but was the first game of the 2023 NFL season.
The season started looking up after a devastating loss week one, going on a six-game winning streak beating the Jacksonville Jaguars 17-9 in week 2, a blowout win over the Chicago Bears 41-10 in week 3, the New York Jets 23-20 in week 4, the Minnesota Vikings 27-20 in week 5, the Denver Broncos 19-8 in week 6, and the Los Angeles Chargers 31-17 in week 7. The winning streak sadly came to an end when the Chiefs suffered a devastating loss in week 8 to the Denver Broncos in Denver 24-9. The loss not only ended the Chiefs winning streak but ended the Chiefs eight-year winning streak over the Broncos as well as being Mahomes’ first loss to any AFC West team on the road in his starting career.
After the loss to the Broncos the Chiefs season had its ups and its downs. In week 9, the Chiefs played the Miami Dolphins in Germany as part of the NFL’s international games series. The game marked the first time the Chiefs played Tyreek Hill since he was traded to Miami in March of 2022. The Chiefs left Germany with a win beating the Dolphins 21-14. After securing the win the Chiefs became the first team in NFL history to win a game in four different countries including Germany, England, Mexico and the United States. The Chiefs had their bye week for week 10 of the NFL season, meaning no football was played by KC.
In week 11, the Chiefs returned back to Kansas City to play the Philadelphia Eagles, making week 11 a rematch of Super Bowl LVII. Unlike Super Bowl LVII where the Chiefs defeated the Eagles 38-25 to become Super Bowl LVII Champions, in week 11 the Eagles defeated the Chiefs 21-17.
The next few weeks were a roller coaster for Chiefs Kingdom, they defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 31-17 in week 12 but then went on to lose to the Green Bay Packers in week 13, 27-19. Week 14 was a big week for Kansas City as they played the Buffalo Bills, seen as one of the biggest rivalries in the NFL. The Chiefs and the Bills have a long history of going at each others throats, one of the most notable games being the 2022 AFC Divisional Round game played in KC where the Chiefs pulled off the infamous 13-second drive to beat the Bills in overtime. The Chiefs were hoping to beat Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills for the first time in the regular season since the rivalry began but alas the Chiefs fell short, losing to the Bills 17-20.
The Chiefs then went on to play the New England Patriots in week 15, one of the worst teams in the NFL ending the season with a 4-13 record. Luckily for the Chiefs they were not one of those four games and were able to leave New England with a win over the Patriots 27-17.
On Christmas day 2023, NFL week 16, the Chiefs played the Las Vegas Raiders and in a Christmas nightmare the Chiefs lost to the raiders 14-20.
Then in week 17 in New Years Eve bash, the Chiefs played another one of their biggest rivals, the Cincinnati Bengals. Usually this is another one of the biggest and most highly anticipated matchups in the league, while it still was widely looked forward to the Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has been out for a majority of the season due to a wrist injury leaving this rivalry to be Mahomes vs Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning. While Browning and the Bengals put up a fight it didn’t work out in their favor as the Chiefs won the game 25-17. With the win over the Bengals the Chiefs secure the AFC West Champions title for the eighth straight season.
With the AFC West secure and the third seed in the playoffs set and unable to move, the final game of the NFL season was seen almost as a bye week to the Chiefs. In week 18 against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Chiefs benched their star players including Mahomes and Travis Kelce to put in backups like quarterback Blaine Gabbert. Even with an entire roster of backups the Chiefs pulled out a win in the final week of the regular season, beating the Chargers just 13-12.
Let the games begin, after finishing the regular season 11-6 the Chiefs secure the third seed in the AFC for the playoffs. The playoffs for Kansas City kicked off in Kansas City on Saturday, Jan. 13, for the Wild Card Round against the Miami Dolphins who were the sixth seed in the AFC. Temperatures at the game were record breaking being -4 degrees at kickoff and with windchill being -27 degrees, setting the record for the coldest game ever played at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs managed to beat the Dolphins in the subzero temperatures 26-7 to advance to the Divisional Round.
A week later on Sunday Jan. 21, the Chiefs traveled to Buffalo to play the Buffalo Bills in the Divisional Round. The game was monumental for both teams as the last time they met in the Divisional round in 2022 the Bills lost to the Chiefs in overtime. Not only was this a rematch of one of the most iconic games in playoff history but it was the first road playoff game of Mahomes’ starter career. The Bills and Chiefs fought to the very end but the Chiefs were able to leave Buffalo with a win against the Bills 27-24, advancing to the AFC Championship and knocking Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills out of the playoffs.
Finally the matchup everyone has been waiting for, on Sunday, Jan. 28, the Chiefs traveled to Baltimore to take on the Baltimore Ravens, the number 1 seed in the AFC, in the 2024 AFC Championship game. Just one game separates both teams from the Super Bowl, all they have to do is win. As hundreds of thousands of people watched on, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 to advance to Super Bowl LVIII, their second Super Bowl in a row and the fourth time in just the last six years. With the win over Lamar Jackson and the Ravens only two quarterbacks have ever beat Mahomes in his 17 postseason games with his 14-3 postseason record. Those quarterbacks being Tom Brady in the 2018 AFC Championship with the New England Patriots, Brady again in the 2020 Super Bowl LV with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Burrow with the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2021 AFC Championship.
Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers have the chance to be quarterback No. 3 to beat Mahomes in the postseason in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday, Feb. 11, at 5:30pm CST. Tune in to see if the Chiefs can win the Super Bowl AGAIN for the second year in a row and third time in six seasons. GO CHIEFS!
