Can the Chiefs’ Super Bowl streak continue?

By David Mullen

Since the 2014 NFL season, the AFC has won seven of the last 10 Super Bowls. Most recently, the Kansas City Chiefs have been as close to a dynasty as a 32-team league with an unbalanced schedule can get. Kansas City, led by head coach Andy Reid and the field magician QB Patrick Mahomes, will  go for an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl crown — a three-peat — and accomplish a feat that has never been achieved in the LVIII-year history of the Super Bowl.

In analyzing the AFC and the Chiefs’ chances at professional football immortality, two questions arise. First, can Kansas City be stopped? Second, have fans seen anything weirder on the football field than the new special team’s formation on NFL kickoffs introduced for the 2024 season?

Let’s punt on the kickoff rule for now, just pointing out that you have to see it to not believe it. The formation retooling is meant to lower player concussion rates but have caused players and officials heads to spin. As far as the Chiefs chances, one thing is certain. Kansas City will win the AFC West for the ninth consecutive season. Only the 2009-2019 New England Patriots (11) have won more division titles in a row.

With regard to the Chiefs reaching Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, it appears only the Baltimore Ravens,  Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, the upstart Houston Texans and possibly the Jacksonville Jaguars stand in the way.    

Kansas City will win the AFC West. They have the best 53-man squad in the division and it is not even close. It is difficult to find a weakness with the Chiefs without nitpicking. The Chiefs had issues at wide receiver, so they acquired Hollywood Brown in the offseason and drafted UT speedster Xavier Worthy.

The weaknesses among the Los Angeles (nee San Diego) Chargers, the Las Vegas (nee Oakland) Raiders and Denver Broncos are obvious. No team had a .500 record in 2023. The only changes in the AFC West standings result when a team moves to another city. 

The Chargers have a new coach, Jim Harbaugh, but the same QB in talented but fragile Justin Herbert. Los Angeles will rely on a running game to keep Herbert healthy. The Raiders are awful. Antonio Pierce is the new (interim to permanent) coach, and the new QB is Gardner Minshew. Those changes scare no team. With tight end one of the team’s strengths, the Raiders drafted Georgia TE Brock Bowers in the first round. Go figure. Denver is on a Rocky Mountain low. Under head coach Sean Payton, the Broncos are going through a complete overhaul. 

In the AFC South, the Texans were the surprise team in 2023, led by MVP candidate QB C.J. Stroud. Houston improved their offense by adding Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon. Jacksonville began 2023 as NFL darlings, then collapsed and missed the playoffs. 

A healthy QB Trevor Lawrence is a difference maker. The Indianapolis Colts won nine games last year without the services of QB Anthony Richardson for an entire season and could improve. The Tennessee Titans are cellar dwellers in a strong division.

Every team in the AFC North were above .500 last season, but the 2024 schedule is much tougher. The Ravens, led by reigning MVP Lamar Jackson, open against the Chiefs and face other playoff teams including the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo and Houston outside of their division in the regular season. A division title will speak volumes on whether Baltimore can reach New Orleans in February.

Cincinnati had an inordinate amount of bad luck last year. This is a team that almost won the Super Bowl in 2021. QB Joe Burrow is a winner and will raise the Lombardi Trophy at some point. Some key players like Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have contract issues, but in today’s NFL, contracts appear nonbinding. 

The Cleveland Browns are reeling, hoping that QB Deshaun Watson can return to stardom. The Pittsburgh Steelers are banking that QB Russell Wilson will provide an upgrade. He won’t, and maligned QB Justin Fields, also acquired in the offseason, is waiting for another chance.

A division once dominated by the Patriots is now a three-team race. Buffalo is often in the Super Bowl conversation, only to letdown the rabid fans in western New York. Josh Allen is a perennial MVP pick, but it is hard to see the Bills offense improving with the loss of Diggs to Houston. Head coach Sean McDermott is in the hot seat in chilly Buffalo. 

The Miami Dolphins’ offense, led by QB Tua Tagovailoa is exciting to watch and hard to stop. 

The New York Jets are depending upon the magic of QB Aaron Rodgers, who is 40 and coming off a ruptured Achilles tendon injury in the first quarter of last season’s first game. But the Jets defense is young, athletic and ready to take off. The Pats, without longtime coach Bill Belichick, are a mere shell of the team that once dominated the division. 

Eight franchises have won two Super Bowls in a row, including the 1990’s Cowboys. No team has won three in a row. The Chiefs will win their division, as will Jacksonville, Cincinnati and Miami. The wild card spots go to Baltimore, Buffalo and Houston. The Chiefs are still the AFC’s best team and will continue their quest to three-peat in New Orleans. 

Next week, we look at the NFC, the prospects for the local team and predict a Super Bowl champion.