The NFL is an arm’s race and everyone is chasing after the Kansas City Chiefs in 2023. Over the last handful of years, it could be argued the Chiefs are the NFL’s most “feared” team. They are certainly the team everyone’s trying to keep up with.
The combination of Andy Reid as head coach and Patrick Mahomes at quarterback has been a deadly one. Even with the Chiefs trading Tyreek Hill last offseason, the KC offense didn’t miss a beat and was still the best in the NFL, all the way through winning Super Bowl LVII. So what teams are going to compete with the Chiefs this coming season?
Every week for the Chiefs seems like a huge matchup in 2023, and the usual suspects are on the Chiefs’ schedule like the Bengals and Bills. But what teams could actually derail this team’s hopes of repeating? What maybe “unexpected” opponents could come alongside the Bengals and Bills and give the Chiefs a true challenge, maybe even beat them?
3 NFL teams that could challenge the Chiefs’ repeat chances in 2023
1. Miami Dolphins
I doubt Andy Reid does this, but I think it’s funny to picture Andy Reid as the Wolverine “meme” where Wolverine is looking longingly at a framed photo, and the framed photo is revealed to be Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle with the Miami Dolphins. I’m sure Reid is just fine with having Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and whoever else offensively, but you can’t help but wonder if he could steal anyone’s receivers in the league, it might be the Miami Dolphins.
Tyreek Hill was obviously traded by Kansas City last offseason when KC drew a bit of a line in the sand when it came to contract negotiations, and obviously, that’s just the business side of the NFL. Hill can’t really take it personally, because he clearly wasn’t willing to take anything less than full price to stay with the team that made him a star, either.
At their best last season, the Miami Dolphins were really tough to outscore. They obviously have a number of really explosive playmakers offensively and can run a track meet with Kansas City. The Dolphins also added Vic Fangio as their defensive coordinator in 2023, along with Jalen Ramsey at the cornerback position.
Fangio never was able to beat the Chiefs in his three seasons with the Denver Broncos, but it’s probably fair to say that Fangio’s defenses gave Mahomes and Andy Reid more fits than most. This game will be played in Germany in Week 9, and I think Miami has a chance to hand the Chiefs a loss in the NFL’s international series.
2. Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos have an embarrassing drought going in regarding their annual pair of matchups against the Kansas City Chiefs. You have to go all the way back to Week 2 of the 2015 season to find the last time the Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs, and it took them a miraculous comeback and overtime to do it in that game.
The Chiefs, especially with Patrick Mahomes at the helm, have owned the Denver Broncos. Mahomes actually made his NFL starting debut against the Broncos late in the 2017 season. The Broncos have gotten close to beating the Chiefs in recent years, but haven’t closed the deal. The one positive the Broncos have going for them against KC at the moment?
Since starting their first matchup in 2022 with a 27-0 deficit, the Broncos have actually outscored the Chiefs 52-34 in the last six-plus quarters of play. So, there’s that. But it still shows up as two losses on the Broncos’ overall record.
The reason I think the Broncos can derail the Chiefs’ chances of repeating? I don’t know that any team is going to be hungrier to get on the board against the Chiefs in 2023. The Broncos may not win the Super Bowl this coming year, the first year under Sean Payton, but beating the Chiefs might qualify as pretty close.
With Sean Payton in the building, I think we’re going to see a much more competent Denver Broncos team, especially offensively. They face off against the Chiefs twice in a three-week span — first on Thursday night in Week 6 and then again in Denver in Week 8.
3. Jacksonville Jaguars
After the way they finished the 2022 season, I don’t know that I’m higher on any up-and-coming team in the entire NFL than I am on the Jaguars. Maybe the Detroit Lions (who are also on Kansas City’s schedule).
The Jacksonville Jaguars started last season pretty inconsistent, but the flashes were there. After losing in London to the Denver Broncos, the Jaguars went on an absolute tear, winning eight of their next 10 games including a brilliant comeback in the playoffs against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Unfortunately, the magical second half for the Jaguars ended in Kansas City, and in brutal fashion. The Jaguars had a chance with plenty of time left in the fourth quarter to mount a 10-point comeback, but receiver/returner Jamal Agnew fumbled the ball just as the Jaguars were about to cut the Chiefs’ lead from 10 to 3 and the hopes of coming up with an upset on the road against the Chiefs were dashed.
The Jaguars have reloaded in 2023 with a roster that is largely the same as what we saw a season ago, but the players will have grown and developed even further in Doug Pederson’s system. Not only that, but Jacksonville added Calvin Ridley at last year’s trade deadline and will add him to a vastly underrated receiver corps, one that looked like it might be the worst in the NFL going into last season.
The Chiefs will take on the Jaguars in Week 2, and playing in that Florida heat in Week 2 can be absolutely brutal.