Chiefs have opportunity to be historic in 2018
The Kansas City Chiefs don’t just have a great offense, they have a generational one. If things continue going the way they have, the Chiefs might have a claim as the best offense to ever grace an NFL field.
In 1981, the San Diego Chargers became the first team in league history to boast a 1,000-yard running back (Chuck Muncie), 1,000-yard receiver (Charlie Joiner) and a 1,000-yard tight end (Kellen Winslow Sr.). Last season, Kansas City matched that feat with Kareem Hunt, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce all passing the magic threshold.
This year, the numbers are even more absurd. The Chiefs are pacing for all three of those players to once again breeze by the 1,000-yard line, but now Sammy Watkins is threatening to eclipse 1,000 yards as well opposite Hill. No team has ever enjoyed a tight end, a running back and two wide receivers all getting to that milestone, not to mention a quarterback — Patrick Mahomes — who is on pace to throw for more than 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns.
Oftentimes we get caught up in the present and forget about the past. In this case, the present really is showcasing what could be the best we’ve ever witnessed. The Chiefs are scoring more than 37 points per game and while we are undeniably in an era of exploding offenses, that’s still the best of the best.
Watching Mahomes is to watch a general in complete command of his troops. Kansas City effortlessly moves up and down the field, having weeks at a time where punter Dustin Colquitt is barely forced to punt more than two or three times over a given span. It’s been the ultimate tour de force for Andy Reid and his mad creation, as the Chiefs have only been held under 30 points once in nine games.
If you think they are destined to slow down, consider that over its final seven regular-season games, Kansas City is playing the Arizona Cardinals and the Oakland Raiders, the latter twice.
Should the Chiefs find their way to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1969 and actually finish the job in Atlanta, this will largely be an offense remembered as one of the league’s best. It will join the ranks of the 1999 St. Louis Rams, a team driven by a wunderkind at quarterback and a hoard of Hall of Fame talents both in the backfield and on the outside.
It’s still a long road to Super Sunday, and the Chiefs defense might prove to be its counterpart’s foil, but this group shows no signs of slowing down.
