Beginning Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs will play three of their final four games of the regular season in just 11 days, which is both unfair and a product of their success. Still, since the schedule came out in May, they embraced the process, but now they must get through it.
On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs will travel to Cleveland, a place they’ve not played since Mahomes first year as a starter in 2018. That was a 37-21 blowout that was a homecoming for Travis Kelce and Kareem Hunt.
That will be the case Sunday as both Ohio natives with close ties to Cleveland will attempt to win the first leg of this four-game set to end the season.
If this were a team led by rookies or inexperienced coaches, I’d be concerned about playing three games in 11 days. Yet, this is a significant game for the Chiefs, who can send a message to the Buffalo Bills in the chase for the top seed in the AFC.
With an early start on Sunday, the Chiefs, with a win, would put pressure on the Bills to defeat the Detroit Lions on the road, knowing Kansas City had already won earlier in the day. A loss would allow the Bills to close the gap to one game for the top seed.
Kansas City might be looking ahead and pacing for the onslaught of games. Defeating Cleveland is the task at hand. After a trio of close wins, the Browns could be the perfect tonic for the Chiefs woes since they lost to Buffalo.
Further, if the offense can kick into gear, Reid can rest some starters in the second half. The Browns are a wounded team, mired under the misguided effort to make DeShaun Watson the franchise savior. Instead, he’s been an albatross around the franchise.
Jameis Winston has taken over the reins of the offense. He’s shown some big moments, upsetting the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers at home. Though he has turned into a turnover machine, he can direct a path to upset the Chiefs when he’s on his game.
For Kansas City, they enter this game with question marks at left tackle. DJ Humphries tweaked his hamstring at the end of the game, and Wayna Morris might be starting again. If that happens, Myles Garrett could tee off and create more angst for Mahomes to deal with in the pocket.
However, if Mahomes can get more time in the pocket, the Browns secondary will lose their best defender cornerback, Greg Newsome II, who was placed on injured reserve. That’s a big blow to their defense and one Kansas City can exploit.
With four games left, it’s clear the Chiefs must earn that bye week in January. They can’t afford football fatigue between injuries, beat-up bodies, and the price they’ll pay for playing three games in short order.
Perhaps I’m making a big deal about this game, but the Browns aren’t going to lay down and hand the game to the Chiefs. They’ll need to win on their terms. Mahomes needs to play sound football, and the defense can’t let the Browns’ offense gain any steam in this game.
Andy Reid should open a few more pages in his playbook, focus more on the run, and show a few more things that might be useful in the playoffs. Of the four games left, this game Sunday sets the tone for the teams chasing the Chiefs, and within that locker room, they got the first one out of the way with a victory.
So, I believe this is the most crucial game of the season because it’s one the Chiefs should win comfortably, but it goes beyond the final score; it’s how they win that matters and what that does six days later against the Houston Texans and four days after that against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
