The Kansas City Chiefs have become the modern villains of the NFL for most fan bases, and even if you no longer have a true rooting interest in the NFL playoffs, you might hear a lot of, "Anyone but the Chiefs," when you ask folks who they think is going to win the Super Bowl in New Orleans next month.
So who actually poses a threat to the Chiefs right now? Patrick Mahomes and company are fresh off of a season in which they really only lost one game. The second loss on their record came in Week 18 when they played strictly backup players against the Denver Broncos. This Chiefs team has mastered the art of winning the one-score game and they are able to beat teams in so many different ways.
They're the #1 overall seed in the AFC and in the NFL, in general, for good reason. So who can realistically knock them off? Who has the best shot of doing it?
Let's take a look at the top three potential candidates among the seven teams leftover.
3 teams who could realistically knock off the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs
1. Buffalo Bills
Let's start with the most obvious, which would be the team that actually handed the Chiefs their first (and really only) loss of the 2024 regular season. The Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs have played some epic matchups over the last handful of years and their regular-season bout was no different.
These two teams know each other well and it's always a treat for NFL fans to get to watch Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes go head-to-head.
It would be tough for Buffalo to beat the Chiefs a second time this year, which gives me a little bit of pause, but the Bills have played about as well as any NFL team all season long and look like a viable potential threat to take Kansas City's AFC title from them.
2. Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens have probably been thinking about that dreadful first game of the season for quite some time. I mean, even if Isaiah Likely had worn all white shoes, we might be talking about the potential of the Ravens having sent the Chiefs' entire 2024 regular season on a different course.
Instead, the Chiefs were the first of five losses for the Ravens this season, one of the most shocking statistics of the entire year. Watching this Ravens team play, is it not shocking that they've somehow managed to lose five games?
I think that loss back in the 2024 season opener is going to fuel this Baltimore team. If they can go on the road and beat Buffalo in the Divisional Round, there's no doubt they could go to Kansas City and pick up a win in the AFC Championship.
3. Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles had the Kansas City Chiefs on the ropes in the Super Bowl a couple of seasons ago, and they might be the most likely NFC team to dethrone Kansas City in the Super Bowl yet again.
With all due respect to the Detroit Lions and all of the other teams remaining in the NFC in this year's playoff race, I don't know that anyone in the NFC poses as serious of a threat to Kansas City in the Super Bowl as a team like the Eagles.
Philadelphia has balance offensively as well as a completely dominating running attack. They have one of the best defenses in the league and a coordinator in Vic Fangio who historically gave Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs fits while he was head coach of the Denver Broncos, at least for his part.
The Eagles might be the single most likely NFC team to beat Kansas City in the Super Bowl if it comes to it.