Three Biggest Games: Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs continued their string of irrelevance in 2014, meandering their way to a 9-7 record that ended with players and coaches watching January football from their respective couches. Flashes of brilliance followed by inauspicious losses were the order of the year for last season’s Chiefs, in a season defined by inconsistency. Here are three challenges of varying measure KC will have to conquer to make it back to the playoffs in 2015.

Week 2 vs. Denver Broncos

For the first time in several years, the AFC West division championship feels genuinely up for grabs. The Broncos petered out in the payoffs after a solid regular season as Peyton Manning struggled to deal with his nagging, late-season injuries. Every year sees a perennial playoff contender fall off the rails, and Denver, with their new head coach and questions over an ageing quarterback, are the ultimate candidate. The Chiefs will have a chance to notch up a crucial win over their toughest division foe as early as week 2 on Thursday Night Football.

Week 8 vs. Detroit Lions

In one of the more intriguing inter-conference matchups of 2015, the Chiefs take a home game from their beloved Arrowhead across the pond to Wembley Stadium. There they will meet the ever-improving Lions, who pulled off a miraculous last-second win last year in London against the Falcons. The match will feature contrasting offensive styles, in which Alex Smith’s dink-and-dunk offense meets the gunslinger Matthew Stafford and his array of deep weapons. In the extremely likely scenario that unrestricted free agent Justin Houston – who damn near broke the single-season sack record last year – again dons the red and gold, he will need a huge showing to keep the Lions’ flashy offense in check.

Week 13 at Oakland Raiders

Losses don’t come much more humiliating than going down to your most pitiful divisional opponent, in their home stadium, in the pouring rain, after said opponent went 0-10 to start the year. But that’s whet exactly happened to the Chiefs in a West Coast primetime affair that strangely wound up being one of the more entertaining games of the season. The raw but wily Derek Carr will face off against an opportunistic KC secondary featuring Hussein Abdullah, Ron Parker and Sean Smith. With newest Raider Amari Cooper potentially in line for rookie of the year honors by week 13, this is shaping up as a game that will be won or lost through the air.