Chiefs' AFC West winning streak: How loss to Texans snaps Kansas City's nine-year stretch of division dominance

The Kansas City Chiefs' nine-year reign over the AFC West officially came to a shocking end tonight after they fell to the Houston Texans on Sunday Night Football.

In a moment that shifts the balance of power in the conference, the Chiefs' dynasty was not dethroned in a final dramatic showdown, but was rather eliminated mid-season by their own poor performance and the relentless rise of the Denver Broncos.

The loss to the Texans, a 20-10 defeat where the Chiefs' offense failed to score a touchdown in the first half, dropped Kansas City to a dismal 6-7 record. For a franchise that had made a historic run of nine consecutive division titles and three straight Super Bowl appearances, the sudden collapse is stunning. The defeat leaves the Chiefs' season hanging by a thread, forced to look up at a division they had owned since 2016.

The immediate beneficiaries of the Chiefs' demise are the Denver Broncos, who officially ended the dynasty from afar. After securing a commanding victory over the Raiders to move to a stellar 11-2 record, the Broncos are enjoying a franchise revival under Sean Payton and rookie quarterback Bo Nix. Their dominant run has not only moved them to the No. 1 seed in the AFC but has also given them a mathematical cushion that no team in the division can now overcome.

The Chiefs now face the humbling reality of playing for a highly remote Wild Card spot, while the Broncos stand poised to hoist their first AFC West banner since 2015. After nearly a decade of dominance, the AFC West has been reset, and the torch has been passed to Denver, confirming one of the most stunning and immediate power shifts in the NFL this season.

As the Kansas City AFC West dynasty came to an end, let's reflect on the past nine years.

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Last time Chiefs didn't win AFC West

The Sunday night loss was the final punctuation to the Chiefs' AFC West demise, meaning Kansas City will fall short of the division title for the first time since 2015.

This ends a nine-year streak of absolute dominance, marking the first time since the 2015 season that the Kansas City Chiefs have not won the AFC West division title. That year, the Chiefs actually had a strong 11-5 record but were edged out for the division crown by the rival Broncos (12-4), who went on to win Super Bowl 50. 

Chiefs' AFC West winning streak

Beginning in 2016, the Chiefs embarked on one of the most remarkable runs in NFL history, winning the AFC West in nine consecutive seasons, a streak second only to the New England Patriots' divisional run. The 20-10 loss to the Texans in Week 14 officially brought that nine-year streak to an abrupt end, as the Chiefs' 6-7 record mathematically eliminated them from catching the current AFC West leader. The 2025 season will be remembered as the year a nearly decade-long era of overwhelming dominance finally ceded power to a resurgent rival.

The AFC West titles were merely the foundation for one of the league's most successful modern dynasties. During a nine-year stretch, the Chiefs reached the AFC Championship Game an incredible seven consecutive times, every year since Patrick Mahomes took over as a starter in 2018.

This sustained excellence resulted in five Super Bowl appearances and three Super Bowl championships (LIV, LVII, and LVIII), cementing the legacy of the Andy Reid-Patrick Mahomes era as an unrivaled standard of success for a generation of Chiefs fans.

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