NFL Notebook: 2025 Kansas City Chiefs Preview
Patrick Mahomes has been the starting quarterback in Kansas City for seven years. That time is marked by seven trips to the AFC Championship, five appearances in the Super Bowl and three times hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy. While the Chiefs’ bid for a historic three-peat fell short last year, they were still the first team to reach a third straight Super Bowl after winning the prior two.
This season, the Chiefs of Mahomes and Andy Reid look to tie the record currently held by the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick Patriots who reached eight straight AFC Championship Games. But it won’t be easy. The AFC is the conference that’s most stacked at the top, and the AFC West is the toughest division in that conference.
EXPOSING THE CRACKS
For a team that went 15-2 in last year’s regular season, Kansas City showed a lot of flaws. For starters, the offense only ranked 15th in the league for points scored. Whiel Mahomes played efficient football and had his trademark ability to pull a rabbit out of his hat at the right time, the Chiefs had no ability to get the ball downfield in the passing game consistently.
Travis Kelce still caught 97 passes, but his per-catch average is down to 8.5 yards. Kelce will turn 36 in October. The receiving trio of Xavier Worthy, Marquise Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster is one big collective question mark. The two prime running backs, Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt each averaged less than four yards a carry. An offensive line that had problems at the tackles traded away a piece of its interior when the Chiefs dealt guard Joe Thuney to Chicago for a fourth-round draft pick.
The defensive line has multiple holes, there’s at least two gaps at linebacker, another at corner and the safeties are shaky.
So far, this is looking like a bleak preview. But it’s by design. To appreciate how good the Chief stars are, you have to first appreciate how much they paper over.
VETERAN SAVVY & STAR POWER
The bright spots naturally start with Mahomes, who is still the quarterback you most want on your side in the fourth quarter of a close game. The coaching staff, with Andy Reid at the top and Steve Spagnuolo as defensive coordinator, is as good as it gets. Spagnuolo’s defense, even with the aforementioned holes, finished fourth in the NFL for points allowed.
Chris Jones is one of the league’s great defensive lineman on the interior and the fact he didn’t get more consideration for Defensive Player of the Year is unfortunate. Leo Chenal is an elite linebacker, and Trent McDuffie is one of the game’s best cover corners.
Moreover, Kansas City took steps to upgrade their weaknesses. They used their first-round draft pick on the offensive line, taking left tackle Josh Simmons out of Ohio State. Then K.C. went to work on the defense. Multiple rookies, starting with tackle Omarr Norman-Lott could get playing time. If any of them hit, it would be a needed jolt for a veteran team that is surviving with guile and savvy right now.
The Chiefs also bolstered the corner opposite McDuffie when they signed Kristian Fulton. An above-average corner, Fulton is ideal fit with this lineup.
OUTLOOK
You have to think that Kansas City will decline this season, if only because winning 15 regular season games two straight years seems a little unreasonable. That explains their betting market position of 11.5 with the Over/Under. The bigger question is whether any decline will drop them below the rising Chargers or Broncos in the AFC West, and below the Ravens and Bills in the AFC as a whole.
The Chiefs will be judged by what they do in the playoffs—and there’s no way any decline will drop them out of the postseason. But I do expect enough of a decline to make the AFC West a lively three-team race this season.