The Kansas City Chiefs‘ 20-13 loss to the Denver Broncos
on Thursday night continued what has been a surprisingly dangerous season for what has turn into one of many NFL’s elite franchises. The Chiefs had been already eradicated from playoff competition, however now they must put on the title of “10-loss group.”
The Chiefs haven’t misplaced 10 video games in a season because the 2012 season after they went 2-14 beneath then-head coach Romeo Crennel. That was the 12 months earlier than present head coach Andy Reid took over.
It won’t be any comfort to Chiefs followers who had been anticipating one other Tremendous Bowl run this season, however this group may be the very best 10-loss group ever. Or a minimum of considered one of them.
For no matter that’s value (not a lot).
Chiefs are one of many strangest 10-loss groups in NFL historical past
The primary oddity about this Chiefs group shedding 10 video games is the truth that they’ve performed in a minimum of the AFC Championship Sport in every of the previous seven seasons, whereas additionally reaching 5 Tremendous Bowls and successful three of them over that stretch. With quarterback Patrick Mahomes nonetheless within the prime of his profession, Tremendous Bowl expectations remained in place coming into the 2025 season. This was not purported to be a foul — and even common — group. This was purported to be among the best groups in soccer, an inevitable participant within the AFC Championship Sport and even perhaps the Tremendous Bowl.
However plenty of the Chiefs’ luck in one-score video games has turned on them this season, and they aren’t scratching out wins the best way they did in recent times. In addition they have some fairly critical flaws with the roster they haven’t been capable of overcome.
Mahomes’ late-season harm has additionally damage their capability to complete sturdy down the stretch.
The opposite beautiful improvement at play right here is the very fact the Chiefs have outscored their opponents for the season by 36 factors. Usually, groups that lose this many video games in a season get outscored general and normally by a really vast margin.
The Chiefs are nonetheless on the constructive facet of the point-differential mark regardless of the entire losses.
According to the Pro-Football-Reference StatHead database the Chiefs are simply the 14th 10-loss group in NFL historical past to have a constructive level differential. As of Thursday, their plus-36 level differential could be the second-highest out of that group, trailing solely the 2008 Green Bay Packers (plus-39).
The 2008 Packers and 1990 San Diego Chargers (plus-34) are the one different 10-loss groups with some extent differential of plus-30 or higher.
The 2008 Packers had been in a really related scenario as this 12 months’s Chiefs. They had been a reasonably constant contender for years and had been coming off a 13-3 season in 2007. They’d a random down 12 months in 2008, after which bounced again with 11 wins in 2009 earlier than successful 10 video games in 2010 and successful the Tremendous Bowl.
Might the Chiefs comply with the same path? So long as Mahomes is ready to totally restoration from his leg harm and get again to being the Corridor of Fame quarterback he’s, then there isn’t any cause why they may not bounce again the best way the Packers did. They nonetheless have some huge flaws to repair, however so long as the quarterback is there, the trail continues to be manageable.
