Kansas City Chiefs’ AFC rooting interests Redefined

The Kansas City Chiefs’ AFC rooting interests get redefined. Wildcard contenders must fall, while an old enemy becomes an ally. The Oakland loss hurt, but wins by these teams will hurt the Kansas City Chiefs even worse. Dan Salem and Todd Salem debate in today’s NFL TD Sports Debate. Two brothers from New York yell, scream and debate the NFL and sports.

TODD:

The Kansas City Chiefs are in the thick of the AFC playoff hunt. With a Thursday jump on the rest of the conference, Kansas City sits half a game behind AFC West-leading Denver and currently holds one of the conference’s two wildcard spots.

However, the loss to the Oakland Raiders a few days ago hurt, big time. Everyone had penciled in the W for the Chiefs here. After all, Oakland was 0-10 entering play. But that is the nature of the NFL. No win is guaranteed, no matter how well one team is playing and how poorly the other appears.

With the demoralizing loss, KC dropped out of a tie with Denver for the division lead. It also put in play a number of competitors for the AFC wildcards. The entire AFC North is still fighting for spots. As are Miami and perhaps Buffalo, not to mention the Chiefs’ divisional foe San Diego, and maybe even the Houston Texans.

There are a few games this weekend with obvious rooting interest for KC. Cleveland is playing at Atlanta; Baltimore is playing at New Orleans; the Jets could send Buffalo home with little hope; as can St. Louis facing San Diego.

However, with so many teams in play, there are also a couple matches where Kansas City probably wants both sides to lose. The Bengals are playing the Texans, and the Dolphins are facing Denver.

Who should the Chiefs be rooting for today? Obviously they want Denver to lose, right? Or perhaps not. How confident should KC be in itself? Is it better to remove a wildcard contender from consideration by having Miami lose?

And who poses a bigger threat in the other match? Neither team looks dominant but both can be feisty.

Kansas City has a running game and pass defense worthy of the playoffs, but as Oakland just proved, that isn’t always enough. They could use some outside help.

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DAN:

The teams that win the two AFC playoff spots will get outside help, the question is from where. In the case of the Kansas City Chiefs, they must look outside the division for such assistance. Its not that I don’t think the Chiefs can overtake Denver, because they can, but the easier play is for them to secure a wildcard berth.

Kansas City has its work cut out, with five really hard games left on the schedule. The Broncos, Cardinals, Raiders, Steelers, and Chargers all stand between the Chiefs and the post season. And we know that Oakland is not a guaranteed victory. If Denver loses this week, then their matchup with Kansas City looms even larger.

But in terms of rooting interest for the Chiefs and their fans, Miami and San Diego are tops on the list. The AFC North will beat itself up enough to slim their four team dogfight down to two. But Miami and San Diego must fall for the Chiefs to start breathing easy.

With a Miami loss to Denver, Kansas City pulls ahead in the wildcard race. They will be only one game back from the Broncos, a game they can reclaim next week with a victory over Denver. Root against Miami.

A San Diego loss is huge for KC, as is a Buffalo loss and a Baltimore defeat. But the big game is Cincinnati versus Houston. I’m rooting for the Bengals in this contest as a Chiefs fan. Knock the Texans out for good and create more separation.

The Kansas City Chiefs are walking a tight rope, ranking in high at running the ball on offense and defending the pass on defense. But they stink at stopping the run and are just as bad when it comes to throwing the ball themselves. Thankfully they own head to head matchups with the Chargers, Bills, and Dolphins, having defeated all three teams.

My prediction, the Chiefs are in with a wildcard berth. No matter how bad a loss that Oakland game was, this team is in great shape. Boo Miami and Boo San Diego. Let the contenders fall like flies.