The Kansas City Chiefs have seen a lot of people jump off the 2025 bandwagon after the Thanksgiving loss to the Dallas Cowboys that dropped the AFC champs to 6-6.
Needing to run the table over the next five weeks just to make the playoffs, potentially as the No. 7 seed, the Chiefs are in a position many never thought they would be, at least this season.
But with a log-jammed AFC, as things stand, the Chiefs are on the outside looking in, in the 10th spot, with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Texans ahead of Kansas City, and the Buffalo Bills the seventh seed, owning the tiebreaker over the Chiefs as well.
However, for CBS Sports' Jared Dubin, he's ranked all potential Wildcard teams, and out of eight, the Chiefs come in at No. 3.
"They just cannot seem to win the close games this year that they have consistently won otherwise during the Patrick Mahomes/Andy Reid era," Dubin writes. "Even when it looks like the offense is operating in a small box, they still find a way to be efficient and put points on the board, and the defense is basically a league-average unit. This is a good team that's gotten some bad luck."
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Have Chiefs really gotten bad luck in 2025?
That is an interesting conversation starter, and looking back at last season, the Chiefs were bulletproof in one-score games (12-0 including playoffs), and this season, Kansas City is 1-6 in one-score games.
Reid's team has always had a knack for making "the" play at the right time in the fourth quarter, but this season, that trait has deserted them, with costly penalties, dropped passes, and anything else you can think of, hindering the Chiefs.
One could make the case that the Chiefs used up their luck last season, going 15-2, going 11-0 in one-score games, so the football gods leveled the playing field in 2025.
Either way, the Chiefs haven't been the "Chiefs" in clutch moments, and it could very well be the thing that keeps them out of the postseason for the first time ever in the Mahomes era.
More Chiefs news:
- Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes offers perfect game plan for Texans in Week 14
- Andy Reid offers odd 'reality' message for 6-6 Chiefs
- Andy Reid's O-line injury update will have Chiefs fans nervous vs. Texans
- Josh Simmons injury update is tough blow for Chiefs' offensive line amid playoff push