The Chiefs remained the only unbeaten team in the AFC when they beat the Jaguars to move to 5-0 on Sunday afternoon and they don’t have to look too far back in the archives to remember the last time they had that record.
They got off to the same start last year, but things quickly went the other direction. The Chiefs lost six of their next seven games before recovering in time to win the AFC West. They lost their first playoff game, however, and that was also the case when they opened with a 7-2 record in 2016, so there are likely some people wondering when the other shoe is going to drop for this year’s team.
Tight end Travis Kelce was asked a question in that vein after Sunday’s win and he explained why he feels that things will play out in a different way.
“I believe so,” Kelce said, via ESPN.com. “I think everyone can say it’s a different feeling, a lot more confidence, a lot more accountability amongst the guys to keep coming in and going through their routines of getting ready for each week. It has a lot to do with years past, guys feeling sick of the kind of up-and-down roller coaster, [wanting] to take what happened last year and fix it. Finishing the games ... overall, the finishing mindset has been huge in terms of what coach [Andy] Reid has emphasized on this football team. In the fourth quarter, we try to amp it up one more notch.”
One obvious difference from the past is that Patrick Mahomes is now the quarterback in Kansas City. The weeks and months to come will let us know whether that’s enough to put the Chiefs on an entirely different path.
