The 11-2 Patriots and 11-2 Broncos are tied for the best record in the NFL. They’ve each won 10 games in a row.
And they’re both underdogs at home in Week 15.
The Patriots, who can clinch the AFC East by completing the sweep of the Bills, are 1.5-point underdogs against Buffalo. Coach Mike Vrabel undoubtedly will find a way to use that to poke and prod his players — even if the Bills had nothing to do with the setting of the line.
Ditto for the Broncos. They’re 2.5-point underdogs at home against the Packers. That one is a bit more defensible, since the Broncos have played plenty of games against overmatched foes, with very few truly convincing wins. (Still, coach Sean Payton likely will have a thing or two to say to his players about the betting line.)
The spreads are driven in part by wagering patterns. Bettors still don’t believe in the Patriots and Broncos the way they could, or perhaps should.
In contrast, the gamblers continue to cling to the idea that the 6-7 Chiefs, who are 5.5-point favorites against the 9-4 Chargers, will emerge from their current funk.
However it goes, it adds a little spice to the 15th weekend of regular-season football, with all three games having postseason significance to both teams.
Chiefs Clips
After last week’s loss to the Texans, the Chiefs’ chances of making the postseason are low.
They’re technically not out of it yet — though they could be eliminated from postseason contention in several different scenarios at the end of Week 15.
But with the Chiefs having lost four of their last five games to fall to 6-7 on the season, the first thing quarterback Patrick Mahomes wants is just to get back in the win column. Beyond that, he told reporters on Wednesday that he doesn’t need much to motivate him.
“I always want to win, so it’s not like I have to draw too far,” Mahomes said in his press conference, “but when I look at it now, I don’t know what the percentages are but I know they’re not high and I think it’d be special if we get to the playoffs and can make a run. So why not give ourselves a chance to do that? And we have to start by winning a football game, so that’s what we’ll start at.”
Mahomes noted that the culture the Chiefs have built over this extended run is something they’ll lean on in the coming weeks.
“We’re in an unprecedented territory, someplace that we haven’t been since I’ve been here,” Mahomes said in his Wednesday press conference, via transcript from the team. “I think you lean on the guys that have battled through adversity and came out better on the other side. That’s Chris [Jones], Trav [Kelce], all of these guys that have won championships.
“It hasn’t always been pretty, but it’ll really test us to see what type of character we are and I think we got the guys in the room to do it.”
The Chiefs were without wide receiver Hollywood Brown and right tackle Jawaan Taylor during their first practice of Week 15.
Brown missed practice for personal reasons. He had one catch for 35 yards in last Sunday’s loss to the Texans and has 42 catches for 494 yards and five touchdowns this season.
Taylor did not play against Houston due to triceps and knee injuries. Wanya Morris, who started at left tackle last weekend, was also listed as out and is expected to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Cornerback Trent McDuffie (knee) was the team’s only limited participant. Safety Brian Cook (ankle), tight end Noah Gray (shoulder), quarterback Patrick Mahomes (knee), wide receiver Nikko Remigio (concussion), wide receiver Rashee Rice (hamstring), right guard Trey Smith (ankle), and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (rib) were listed as full participants.
The Chiefs could be officially eliminated from playoff contention in Week 15 and tight end Travis Kelce said that the situation is a “tough reality” for the 6-7 team to be in.
Neither Kelce nor the Chiefs have missed the playoffs since the 2015 season and Kelce played a big role in their most recent loss. Kelce dropped a pair of passes in last Sundays 20-10 loss to the Texans, including one that he juggled before it was intercepted in the fourth quarter. It continued a frustrating season for the tight end, who will make a decision about coming back for a 14th year once this season is over.
During the latest episode of his New Heights podcast with his brother Jason, Kelce said that he’s been working the same way he has in the past and doesn’t have an easy answer for why the results have been so different.
“I feel like I’ve always had the answers in years past. And this year, I just can’t find them,” Kelce said. “I keep thinking if I show up to work and I put in the work and I fix the issues through my practice habits and through perfecting the game plan and my fundamentals and what I’m being taught, and go out there and try and play my ass off for my guys next to me, it’s all going to come together like it has in years past. And this year it is just not.”
The Chiefs aren’t out of hope yet and Kelce vowed to make any remaining contests “the most important game in the world,” but it feels like the end of a momentous run in Kansas City is coming sooner rather than later.
Late in the third quarter of Sunday night’s game, Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice took a huge (and legal) hit from Texans safety Jalen Pitre.
Everything about the play raised the commonsense question of whether Rice should be checked for a concussion, from the violent manner in which his body hit the ground to the way his arms moved (possibility indicating the fencing posture) to the placement of his hands on his facemask after he came to a rest.
Rice, however, apparently was not evaluated for a brain injury during the game.
Per the Chiefs, Rice did not enter the sideline medical tent and it was not reported that Rice was placed into the concussion protocol during the game. The NFL has not responded to an inquiry regarding whether a concussion evaluation was ordered for Rice, or whether one was performed.
It’s the kind of hit that make it reasonable to at least give him a sideline evaluation. The player rarely will say or do anything that takes him off the field. It’s for the doctors and the spotters to protect the player from himself.
Again, it’s one thing to say the league cares about health and safety. It’s another thing to prove it, with a clear commitment to identifying all situations that cry out for an evaluation.
In Rice’s case, it looked like the kind of thing that should have resulted in a concussion exam. As best we can tell, it did not happen during the game.
The Chiefs’ disappointing 2025 season could effectively come to an end on Sunday, when a loss combined with wins by three other AFC teams would eliminate Kansas City from playoff contention.
There are many scenarios that could find the Chiefs mathematically eliminated on Sunday, but the simplest is this: If the Chiefs lose to the Chargers, the Bills beat the Patriots, the Jaguars beat the Jets and the Texans beat the Cardinals, then the Chiefs will not make the playoffs.
In that scenario, the Chiefs would fall to 6-8 and would have already clinched finishing behind the Broncos, Patriots, Jaguars, Chargers, Bills and Texans in the AFC standings. That would leave only one remaining AFC playoff spot, and that’s the spot that will go to the winner of the AFC North.
And that’s not the only scenario in which the Chiefs would be eliminated on Sunday, just the one that’s most likely to happen. Swap out the Colts beating the Seahawks with the Texans beating the Cardinals, for instance, and the Chiefs are eliminated that way, too.
Even if the Chiefs win all four of their remaining games, a lot has to go right in other games for them to leapfrog enough teams currently ahead of them in the standings to make the playoffs. They’re a long shot, and even their long-shot chance may come to an end on Sunday.
Ten months ago today, Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts met in the Super Bowl. They’ll never forget that night in New Orleans.
They’d surely love to forget the two night games that capped Week 14.
On Sunday night, Mahomes threw three interceptions and accounted for no touchdowns in a 20-10 loss to the Texans. On Monday night, Hurts had four interceptions, a lost fumble, and no touchdowns in a 22-19 overtime loss to the Chargers.
That’s eight total turnovers in one weekend for the two most recent Super Bowl quarterbacks.
Mahomes completed 14 of 33 passes for 160 yards and three picks against Houston. Hurts completed 21 of 40 throws for 240 yards and four interceptions against L.A.. Putting their numbers together, it’s a combined passer rating of 25.29.
The Chiefs, at 6-7, face a steep uphill climb to get back to the playoffs. And the Eagles are no lock. If they don’t end their three-game losing streak soon, they could get swept right out of the NFC field. Which means that both Super Bowl teams could potentially fail to qualify for the postseason.
The Chiefs are down another offensive lineman.
Per Adam Schefter of ESPN, Wanya Morris suffered a season-ending knee injury during Sunday’s loss to the Texans.
Matt Derrick of ChiefsDigest.com adds that while Morris’ ACL appears to be intact, there is additional ligament damage. Morris and the team are still considering medical options.
Morris went down on the first play from scrimmage on Sunday night. While head coach Andy Reid didn’t have confirmation of Morris’ injury during his Monday news conference, he did note that the prognosis “did not look good.”
Undrafted rookie Esa Pole replaced Morris at left tackle in the contest, with Reid saying on Monday that Pole “did a nice job for what he was asked to do.”
“After the game I mentioned I was proud of him because he had no reps in practice for the most part and then just a couple fill-in things,” Reid said on Monday. “We just picked him back up here and he again had limited reps and jumps in and I mean he’s a rookie. He jumps in and did some pretty good things against what I think is a pretty good football player.”
With starting left tackle Josh Simmons on injured reserve with a dislocated wrist and Morris now out, Pole could be in position to start for the Chiefs moving forward if right tackle Jawaan Taylor remains out. Jaylon Moore, who started at left tackle during Simmons’ absence earlier this year, was at right tackle on Sunday night.
With his nine-figure New Heights podcast, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce already has the most lucrative career in sports media. When he retires (most likely after the current season, but who knows?), Kelce likely will be able to name his price for a spot on a pregame show or in a broadcast booth (if he wants either).
The reality that Kelce is currently in the media (and will inevitably have an expanded media presence) isn’t prompting him to help others currently in the media to do their jobs.
Via Jesse Newell of TheAthletic.com, Kelce declined multiple interview requests after Sunday night’s 20-10 loss to the Texans.
All players (except those in the concussion protocol) are required by the NFL to speak to reporters after every game.
It’s not the first time Kelce has declined to talk this year, either after a game or during the week. (All players must be available once during the days preceding each game, at a podium or in the locker room.)
Players have been fined in the past, if/when the failure to comply with media obligations becomes chronic, and if the media covering the team complains about it. Sometimes, the media doesn’t make waves.
Kelce is a first-ball Hall of Famer. He has, in the past, been extremely cooperative with media requests. Apparently poised to retire if the Chiefs had won Super Bowl LIX, he decided to return for another year after the Chiefs fell short. His quotes after games, especially after a loss that could be the final nail in the coffin of the Chiefs’ season, would be interesting and potentially revealing.
The rule applies to all players. While it’s an insult to the reporters covering the game for any player to not speak to them, it’s also a slap at teammates who face the music after all games — good, bad, or ugly.
Among the most consequential plays in Kansas City’s 20-10 loss to Houston on Sunday was the ill-fated fourth-and-1 pass with just over 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Head coach Andy Reid told reporters after the contest that he “messed that one up” with the game tied and the Chiefs at their own 31-yard line.
In his Monday news conference, Reid was asked if he had any other feelings about that decision and play-call after watching it back on film.
“Well listen, we’ve been so good in that area — whether it was run or pass,” Reid said. “And so, I felt we were in a good position. I thought we had a good play. Again, I thought it was the right thing to do then.
“This is terrible to say in a situation like this because we didn’t win and we didn’t get that, but I would probably do that same thing again. But, I also know, when you don’t get ‘em, it can be a problem, especially when they’re in that field-goal-range area. But, again, I thought the risk-reward was right for that time. It slapped me in the face, though. It didn’t go that way.”
With the club at 6-7, Kansas City’s postseason hopes are dwindling, though not completely extinguished. That’s part of the message for how Reid will motivate the club with a Week 15 home matchup with the Chargers on tap.
“I have learned over the years that anything’s possible,” Reid said. “So, I communicated that to the guys. They were down in the dumps after the game. I mean, they put their heart and soul into that thing and we came up short. But, at the same time, there’s a way you’ve got to pick yourself up and get yourself going again. And hope is always a good motivator there.
“So, I think our guys realize that. I mentioned it to them after the game — not that that’s what they wanted to hear at that particular time. They were still very upset about what just went on. They wanted to win that game, obviously.”
