Kansas City Chiefs still heavy favorites to win AFC in 2021
The Kansas City Chiefs have a glaring hole at left tackle and could use a few other starters. However they remain a clear AFC favorite in 2021.
This offseason has been uneven for the Kansas City Chiefs.
After being blown out in Super Bowl LV by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kansas City had a clear initiative to fix the offensive line. Yet that started with cutting tackles Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher, two stalwarts who helped win a title the year prior. However, with injuries, the Chiefs decided to cut bait with a possible reunion later on.
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In free agency, the Chiefs aggressively signed guard Joe Thuney to a five-year, $80 million deal before luring guard/tackle Kyle Long out of retirement for one year and $1.5 million. Still, Kansas City didn’t land all its targets, missing on eight-time Pro Bowl tackle Trent Williams, who went back to the San Francisco 49ers.
Regardless, the current odds to win the AFC show an undeniable fact. The Chiefs are overwhelming favorites to reach their third straight Super Bowl.
Kansas City has +225 odds to hoist the Lamar Hunt Trophy come January. The next-best odds belong to the Buffalo Bills at +500. In short, if the Chiefs saw their odds double, they’d still be the favorite to take home the hardware.
After Buffalo, the Baltimore Ravens come in at +600, followed by the Indianapolis Colts at +1000 and Cleveland Browns, who check in at +1100. The conference is fairly deep in quality teams, with all the aforementioned clubs at least winning 11 games in 2020. Yet the Chiefs are far and away seen as the likely winner of it in the end.
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The reasons are both myriad and simple. Kansas City has the league’s best quarterback in Patrick Mahomes and a pair of Hall-of-Fame-level targets in tight end Travis Kelce and receiver Tyreek Hill. The offensive line, if a decent left tackle is either signed or drafted, is improved with the returns of guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and tackle Lucas Niang, along with the additions of Long and Thuney. Defensively, the Chiefs are essentially the same team.
Of course, things happen. Players get hurt and teams disappoint. The only teams to ever win the AFC three straight years are the 1972-74 Miami Dolphins, 1990-93 Bills and 2016-18 New England Patriots. It won’t be easy.
And yet, if the odds are any indication, it’s the Chiefs and everyone else in the AFC for 2021.
