Chiefs at Chargers - Week 3 - Record: 3-0

I saw something from the 538-to-win people, you know, they're the ones who can predict election outcomes and a bunch of other things (even though they really whiffed on the Trump win last November) -- they took a survey of I-don't-know-who-or-how-many, but they found that the Chiefs were the least disliked team in the NFL. On the list of most disliked teams, the Chiefs were at the very bottom, No. 32.

At first glance that's, hey, cool! Very few people dislike us! The fewest of any team! That has to be good! Woo-hoo!

But then, we're not particularly liked either. On the list of most liked teams, we were near the bottom, not last, but close to the bottom. Still. It is as if we embody the essence of the Oscar Wilde quote: "Worse than being talked about is not being talked about."

The Chiefs are just there. You can't dislike them, but, that's because they're so stuck in that middle-America podunk little middle-of-nowhere smallish-size nondescript city perception. As you know Kansas City is light years from being nondescript or meaningless. It's just, Kansas City doesn't have a New York Times ubercasting network to govern what people are supposed to think about things.

Already the world is shifting into ultra-crazy mode, especially with this media-generated racialist war exploding out of control. The NBA's Golden State Warriors talk about not going to the White House for its championship celebratory recognition, and Donald Trump tweets "Well you're not invited anyway so nyaah." So the entire sports world including the NFL rages against that mean racist Trump.

Colin Kaepernick starts separating himself from the allegiance-to-the-flag activities that open every NFL game, others join him in support of the racialist spasms that define today's raging culture war, and when Trump recently urges the NFL to fire those guys, they now amp up their rage so the New York Times suckling media outlets can showcase the folly for the most spectacular virtue signaling there can be.

As a result, at least it appears to be a result, the NFL is floundering. People complain about a lot of things, and some of it is legitimate. In my view the speed and force of the game causing more likelihood of brain injuries among the players is one of those things, and some day when I have time I'll include my thoughts about that in a post.

But the culture war now comes roaring into the game in a big way. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell doesn't have a clue about what to do, for the entirety of his tenure, what is it now, ten years? He's been worthless. He simply has not shown the leadership required to make sure the game doesn't suffer from all this internecine virulence. Now that it's getting worse, he'll still bumble and stumble about addressing it, miserably failing to move things to a point where what is truly just and righteous prevails.

Meanwhile the Chiefs are in the middle of this meandering morass all the while starting off the season well, yet again firing out to a 3-0 record.

Today we started off hot, scoring two touchdowns in about 3.87 seconds, then simply slogged through the rest of the game before Kareem Hunt found a crease to score a close-out touchdown late.

At the end of the game the announcers crowed about the Chiefs having now won 25 of their last 29 regular season games. Yes, you could justifiably say we do some things very well. They are indeed all the things we've talked about for the past several years of Andy Reid-Alex Smith football. All Chiefs fans know them too well.

But as the scoreboard said "17-10" for what seemed like about 14 hours of this game, I couldn't help but see a number of things that bother me about this Chiefs team.

- Our pass protection. Again our O-line is simply not giving Alex Smith enough time. I'm sure I see opponent quarterbacks have far more time than we do, I'm sure of it. I mean, on one play late, Melvin Ingram, one of the best pass rushing linebackers in the league, sacked Alex Smith, and on the replay it showed the most feeble attempt to even block him. Please. Please please please.

- Our run blocking. This should be our best quality on the O-line, but it was still iffy. Yes we've got Kareem Hunt back there, and those times we can get a small seam and he can do magic. Maybe I'm expecting too much -- and I have a right to, I'm a fan -- but watching the Chargers running game early they were able to blast out for huge gains regularly. This relates to the next inadequacy:

- Our linebackers. Where were they on those gains? To their credit they had to have made adjustments because they did keep the Chargers to zero points after they got 10 in the 2nd quarter, but in my view there were a number of other reasons for that, one of which was that Philip Rivers was just off today. There were throws he'd always make that today were just crap. Maybe he has lost a step, this is his 14th year in the NFL.

- Penalties. Holy moly, how many more penalties can we get? At one point in the 4th quarter they said we'd had 111 yards in penalties. And there were more after that, I'm sure, including a Phillip Gaines PI at the goal line with less than half-a-minute left in the game. It's awesome we are so aggressive, but can we juuuust dial it back a bit and still play well?

These things concern me. They are all major issues, major, and while you may think I'm a little melodramatically overblown with any one or two of them, I just don't think a good Andy Reid talking-to will solve them.

On the other hand, there are some awesome things about this team.

- Kareem Hunt. Is it possible just to get him the ball every single time we run an offensive play? Really. With the exception of Hunt, Tyreek Hill and, believe it or not, Albert Wilson, the rest of the Chiefs offense was invisible. And again, not to belabor the point, but the O-line is partly to blame. Alex Smith just can't get untracked more routinely. Travis Kelce, for one, was nowhere today. But Kareem Hunt was just phenomenal, again. The kid powers, weaves, dances, and has terrific vision.

- Our pass coverage in the D-backfield. I really believe that we are missing Eric Berry, I do. For the overall purpose of pressuring the opponent's offense, Berry is just a factor that is missing right now. But these guys are playing their hearts out to make up for it. Terrance Mitchell had two picks and harassed their receivers constantly. He wasn't perfect, but I'll take it. Marcus Peters was All-Pro. Daniel Sorensen was all over the field. There's someone I'm not mentioning I'm sure, but it was very satisfactory today.

- Our tackling. Have you noticed that as far as our defensive technique, we're pretty danged good? We rarely miss tackles. The tackling is very sure, and if we can't make the solid hit we're regularly stopping people by grabbing ankles and holding on. And there's always help, no one is giving up on the play. Defensive Coordinator Bob Sutton has really taught these guys to play fundamentally sound defense, and over the course of a game that really pays off.

- Special teams. One of our strengths was still true today. Colquitt punted well and Santos had a field goal right after getting creamed on a field goal attempt. Our coverage team did splendidly keeping the Chargers far from their end of the field, but once we did foolishly try that snap-to-Albert Wilson fake-punt run that got snuffed. Our defense did hold keeping it from hurting us.

- The big plays. I've always been nervous about our reliance on the big play. You can't always count on it. Thing is, everyone says how good the Chiefs are at it. Maybe there's a reason. Maybe there's something we've got that makes us more likely to get them. Maybe it can be coached and developed and perfected. Today there were the interceptions. The key stops. That sack by Justin Houston late when it was still a one-score game. The bursting blistering touchdown from Hunt to seal it. Maybe that isn't such a bad thing for a team that needs a little more recognition, that needs to climb up the list of most liked teams a bit more.

This is a nice win for a team that, while it does have a lot of work to do, does seem to have what it takes to get the job done.

Maybe in a world distracted by the idiocy of the culture, and even though they're dismissed as whatever by most of the NFL-watching world, the Chiefs can continue to authentically be a team that deserves to be considered one of the best.

That's pretty cool right now.
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Eagles at Chiefs - Week 2 - Record: 2-0

I did not like this game at all. I just didn't. It was waaay too nerve-racking.

We're up 27-13 with 0:14 left in the game. The Eagles are in the red zone and I'm thinking, "Nkay, touchdown pass, on-sides kick recovery, Hail Mary pass completion for the touchdown. I'm sure of it. They'll get 14 points in 14 seconds. Only the Chiefs."

And sure enough, they get the touchdown, our vaunted special teams bungles the kick return and they get an easy on-sides kick recovery, and their QB Carson Wentz throws a perfect floating strike into the middle of the endzone with all four of their tall lanky receivers ready to swallow it up. That's until Eric Murray's lone flailing hand shoots high up from the crowd to bat it away. Whew...

(Eric Murray -- life-saver -- if you remember there was that extraordinarily dorky play at the end of the first half when Terrence Mitchell misplayed an interception right into the hands of their tight end who went racing for the endzone. Murray was left all alone to make a touchdown-saving tackle. WHEW...)

I already don't have any hair on my head, so then I had to have lost hair on other parts of my body. Okay, way too much information about the near heart seizure we all were about to suffer, but yeah, this game was indeed really aggravating.

Yes I must say it was really fun to watch Superman Travis Kelce fly across the goal line on that amazingly spiffy shovel-pass play. It was really fun to watch our defense step it up in the 4th quarter featuring another Superman flight by Daniel Sorensen to thwart a Wentz pass attempt. Then there was Superman Justin Houston deflecting thrown footballs off his head (allowing Chris Jones to make an interception). Then there was Superman Kareem Hunt powering his way across the goal line to put us up by those two scores late in the 4th quarter.

We have a team of Supermen, really.

Because that's what it took for us to win this game against the Eagles good quarterback, tough defensive front, and phenomenal offensive line. Thing is, even against that line our D-line registered six sacks and umpteen QB pressures.

But it took the efforts of our special talents at the specialty positions to ultimately take care of business, because for most of the game our O-line and Alex Smith were miserable. This was not a fun game to watch, it just wasn't.

The number of times Smith reverted to his looking, looking, looking and not throwing the ball to receivers he can make completions to and then just getting sacked was just mind-numbing. Again again again he is doing this. But then, at a crucial point in that last touchdown drive he steps back and fires a fantastic throw to Chris Conley down the sideline for a big gain. GUHHH? Why doesn't he have the confidence to make that throw more often?!!

In the end it was those big plays from our studly Superman players -- and Kareem Hunt, I mean, wow...

The crazy thing is that Alex Smith was 21 for 28. Huh. That's actually pretty good. And a couple times he scrambled or ran for important yardage. Huh. We can all go back to that old saw about how he actually managed the game well in light of the 57 times he was sacked, yeah, I guess. I guess we can say this game was a lot like a 2013 game in which we win by a few points because he just controlled things well. Okay.

Really, I shouldn't complain. Seeing Hunt do his thing -- that's better than before. Seeing receivers like Conley and Tyreek Hill out there making plays -- that's better. Seeing our defensive front anchored by people like Jones and Houston playing pretty well against a good O-line -- that's better. Seeing our D-backs hold their own in an Eric Berry-less defense, that's actually not bad at all. I mean, Eric Murray -- heroically rescuing us Chiefs fans from certain football obsession death on a number of occasions today!

So while this was a bit exasperating, we got the win and there are things we can be pleased about. It may look daunting, but when you have a team of Supermen, it'll all turn out fine in the end!
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Chiefs at Patriots - Week 1 - Record: 1-0 - Part II

A lot of things to mention about this one, so let's roll. Here are my impressions in no particular order.

Eric Berry. Didn't this happen before? Berry being lost for the season in the very first game? Yeah, back in 2011, when he got smeared by some Bills blocker messing up his knee. This year it was his Achilles, and that same injury took Derrick Johnson out for the year in the first game of the season in 2014!

What is it with the Achilles? How on earth does that happen? Berry was just dancing around on the field covering Rob Gronkowski like he had all night and ::pop!:: there goes the Achilles.

The interesting thing is that in 2011, after a slow 0-3 start, the Chiefs won a few games and toughed out a 7-9 record with a pretty horrible team (we also lost Jamaal Charles early in the season), largely because our defense was not that bad and very well conditioned actually. That was one of the few good things about Todd Haley, he had our team in shape.

What will happen this year? Everyone is stunned about the Berry thing, but we do have some depth and Berry is a very strong leader in the clubhouse, that won't go away.

The offensive line. Everyone was raving about Alex Smith and Kareem Hunt and well they should. Smith was 28-35 with tons of yardage on long accurate strikes to receivers breaking open and four touchdown passes on the night. Awesome, truly awesome. I do think having Pat Mahomes right there knowing he'll be taking over some day is getting Smith to step up his game, I really think that's some of it.

Then there's Kareem Hunt, who had 148 yards rushing and a truckload more on pass receptions. It was the greatest debut performance by a running back in NFL history. Sensational, truly sensational.

But really. Taking nothing away from Smith and Hunt, it was made possible by the terrific play of our offensive line. This was and always has been a major concern of mine. This year people were saying we're good there, we're good, don't worry -- but I've still wondered.

Tonight? I was blown away, simply because Alex Smith actually had time. I mean, please, it was like night and day. You know, you do: the times we watch Alex Smith step back and get creamed in the pocket, is, well, legion. You know! Meanwhile the times we watch the opposing quarterback step back in the pocket and look around, fry an egg, read a book, take a nap before waking up and throwing the ball downfield for an easy pass completion... Errgh!

Tonight it was splendidly wonderfully gloriously different.

Alex Smith had time to go through his progressions.

That was huge, really really huge. We've always been told Smith is one of the smartest quarterbacks there is, and I've always wondered, well, how come he's really crappy at seeing those receivers break open for optimum pass completions???

A lot of it was answered tonight.

The offensive line finally gave him plenty of time to do that. Sure there were a few times he tucked it and tried to scramble away. Sure the New England defensive front played more poorly than I think a lot of people thought. Sure the whole Patriot defense looked already defeated in the 4th quarter when our offense put a 21-spot on the board.

But give credit to that offensive line for making this all happen.

Justin Houston. Justin Houston just being on the field and 100% healthy got Tom Brady scared (see my last post). If Tom Brady played scared, think about what will happen with other quarterbacks. Our defensive line was especially resilient even though I think it was a bit more soft than I wanted to see. It held strong however when it counted most, notably on two critical 4th down-and-inches stops.

Andy Reid. Just a quick shout-out to one particular thing I know we all liked really really a-lot.

The two-minute drill just before the end of the 1st half.

How great was it to see us take the ball a long way down the field with just over two minutes left to score a touchdown bringing the score from 17-7 down to just 17-14 down. It was methodical, it was mistake-free, it was robust, it was imaginative.

Oh that we might see that happen more this year, especially at the end of close postseason games to get wins.

The Patriots fans. I have no animosity towards the Patriots at all, I really don't. I know lots of people do because they're the NFL equivalent of the "super team". But if you can legitimately build a fine professional sports franchise then you should benefit from your success, more power to you. Of course, I am and always have been a big fan of the Golden State Warriors, the NBA's version of the Patriots. I'm great if they win the next 57 titles.

But then, I do want the Chiefs to be a super team also, but they must earn it, and I'm great with that. All that said, I must say that through the 4th quarter it was kind of fun to hear the silence in Gillette Stadium, behold the stunned looks on the faces of those Patriots fans, and listen to the announcers tell of how much the place resembled a morgue. It gave you a chance to enjoy the only thing you could hear, all the whoops and hollers of the Chiefs players when they scored all those touchdowns putting the game out of reach.

But then this is the curse of winning. It is indeed an odd thing. Except for the instance when they actually consummate the season and win the actual title, whenever the Warriors win a regular season game I confess it is kind of, eh, they won again, whatever. When they lose it's, Whuhh?! Are you kidding me? When the Chiefs win like they did Thursday night, it is thrilling! We weren't supposed to win.

Having a very difficult history in the postseason? Hey, right now that's great for Chiefs fans because the wins are that much more gratifying. It's devastating for Patriots fans! Right now. I'd rather be a Chiefs fan.

I'm sure there are a number of other items related to this game, this is great for now. It wasn't a perfect game by any means, and I do believe too much is made of the Patriots loss when again, they were still ahead at the start of the 4th quarter. It isn't as if they're suddenly a bad team.

And the Chiefs are not suddenly a juggernaut. They play in the very tough AFC West and we have the schedule of a division-winning team.

But it is easy to like what we saw Thursday night, and we'll see if they can get decent play from Berry's replacement and continue the vibrant enthusiasm that carried them to this win.
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Chiefs at Patriots - Week 1 - Record: 1-0 - Part I

Tom Brady flinched.

You simply could not miss it. In the middle of the 2nd quarter or whenever it was, at a point when the game was still close and New England playing well enough, Tom Brady went back to pass, stood in the pocket, had plenty of time, and

He flinched.

He hunched over with a jerk, just for a second, when he heard the footsteps before straightening up again, then threw some pass -- I don't even know what happened with it, it may have been a touchdown for all I know -- but damn.

Tom Brady was scared.

Everyone saw it, right there on national television on the showcase NFL opener.

Sure enough, even behind 27-21 as the 4th quarter began, the Chiefs turned it on and took down the most dominant team of the modern day at their place.

There is so much to write about regarding this game, Kareem Hunt, wow, Alex Smith, wow, Eric Berry, wow, our overall resilience throughout the game, wow, so many other things, but I simply have to plug in a Part II later because it is late at night now and I still have work early tomorrow morning.

Anyway, whoa-hoo, what a night.
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Chiefs 2017 Preview - The "Let It Be" Post

The Chiefs will not make it to the Super Bowl this year.

I've decided that my life will be much better if I jettison something that has been a thread running through my Chiefs fan life and my Chiefs blogging here:

I expect the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl OR ELSE!

Well, how far has that gotten me? Every time I see a past year's highlight of the Chiefs doing great things all I can think is "Oh, yeah, that was the year we lost to ___ in the playoffs, so what of it?" It has gotten to the point where I cannot appreciate the great things they do, like all the wonderful plays they had last year on the way to a division title, which included sweeping all their division opponents (Den, Oak, SD).

See, that's pretty awesome. I've decided I'm going to revel in Chiefs achievements by the moment, and let it be. Very nice.

Now I understand most Chiefs fans -- or any wise mature fan for that matter -- do that anyway, I got that. And I understand everybody wants their team to win it all, there's nothing wrong with that, I got that too. I'm ohh-kay, thanks for your concern.

But the letting it be regular season approach applies most strikingly because this is the Chiefs -- one of four teams existing since the merger in 1970 to have never appeared in a Super Bowl (Jets, Lions, Browns the others). Sure they'd won the Super Bowl the season just previous to that, that's cool.

Still. This is a team that simply cannot win once it gets into the postseason. Every time they make an appearance they notoriously go through a kryptonite portal when all their weaknesses get amplified and strengths disappear. Yeah, you know. 

And they're the reverse of clutch. Sure we beat the Texans in '15 -- finally a playoff win! But we beat them 30-0 -- not complaining mind you. But since our Super Bowl win in '69 we've played ten postseason games decided by a touchdown or less and lost eight of them (the wins: Oak '91 Pit '93), including the last six such games in a row -- here they are for all the ugliness: Pit '16 (by 2) NE '15 (by 7) Ind '13 (by 1) Ind '03 (by 7) Den '97 (by 4) Ind '95 (by 3).

It is pretty standard that for a Chiefs fan to watch a close postseason game it requires experiencing maddening heart-ripping disconsolation. You know, Chiefs fan, you know.

Oh Dave WHY do you start a post about the most promising team in Chiefs history with this?

It is because I don't think this team is the most promising in Chiefs history. We all know that team is a couple years away when FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY we will have a drafted and developed quarterback running the show. You do know that this upcoming September 13 will be the 30th anniversary of the Chiefs last win from a D&D QB -- THE THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY. All the NFL openers for this year will have been played by that date and guess what, most of the teams that won will have won with a quarterback they drafted and developed as most all of them have for the past 30 years for any game they won.

(Here's a link to the Jon Bois piece from three years ago that graphically demonstrates this abomination. I wonder what it looks like now, updated? Please note, it isn't any different for the Chiefs.) (And for those of you who don't know why this is so meaningful, who haven't beheld The Quarterback Project, here is a link to that.)

Of course a couple years from now we'll be looking for great things from D&soon-to-be-D'ed Pat Mahomes, who has looked spectacular through his crazy rawness in preseason games. But for now, we're going with non-Chiefs-D&D Alex Smith, who is famously the third winningest regular season quarterback over the past four Andy Reid years.

Yes, there are people clamoring for Pat Mahomes to start right now. Wrong wrong wrong move. He still has a ton to learn and he's been playing mostly against second string exhibition game squads. I do think he's up to learning, that's awesome, we all have seen he catches on fast and has got the tools and, you know what? -- He's shown he's got good decision-making instincts. Every Chiefs fan is excited for Pat Mahomes.

Meanwhile the love-hate relationship continues for Alex Smith. You know what it's like. 

Love - He's really smart and manages the game extraordinarily well. Hate - He won't or even can't throw the ball down the field (aren't you salivating over a good refined Pat Mahomes regularly throwing to Tyreek Hill? Ahhhhh... [note the drool at the side of my mouth]) 

Love - He proficiently executes a complicated Andy Reid offensive scheme. Hate - He loses track of receivers breaking wide-open way too often. 

Love - He's mobile as all get-out and opens things up with his legs. Hate - He doesn't go through his progressions well enough to avoid getting sacked. 

Love - He makes splendidly amazing throws in tight windows. Hate - He makes inexplicably wretched throws to wide open receivers. 

Love - He gets those quick wide-out screens going to our playmakers and they get pretty decent yardage from them. Hate - Because he can't throw the ball down the field we must run those plays far too frequently anyway, which keeps defenses crowding the line, limiting what our offense can do.

Are there more? You can probably think of a few, and no matter what there's one thing about them -- they drive you crazy. Crazy great one moment, then crazy soul-crushing the next.

Now, yeah, I know. Every team has quarterbacks like that. No, nah, they don't. Yes we can be very fortunate we've got Alex Smith, and please don't get me wrong, I do believe Smith's abilities can get us to the promised land. But there is always that thought that one time in the postseason something stupid is going to happen that'll kill us.

It's happened far too often. Whether it's Alex Smith doing something that messes us up or any typically stupid thing happens to mess us up, it's just going to happen.

At least that's the attitude. No, it isn't defeatist, it isn't fatalistic, and I'm not even going to spout that it's realistic to cover myself trying to make my skepticism more noble or anything, all I'm saying is my approach to this year is merely to enjoy what we do regular season, that's all. Just let Chiefs good things be. And I am wildly hoping that I am so wrong wrong wrong about the regular season-beyond -- please join in my rooting for me to be wrong.

As it is, what are the realistic expectation for the Chiefs 2017? Let's just look at each unit for a bit and see how Super Bowl possible each one is. While I am tempering my expectations, let's just go for broke and look at the possibilities, why not.

Quarterback. Somewhat Super Bowl possible, but then I've already elaborated on that above.

Running back. Not really Super Bowl possible. We lost Spencer Ware to injury and we cut C.J. Spiller. Everyone's thinking about how great it will be to give rookie Kareem Hunt the ball, and sure I'd love to see spectacular things from him, but, well, I have my doubts. I think the Chiefs can do some things here with De'Anthony Thomas. Last year they had Tyreek Hill run plays from the backfield and it was okay actually, they just can't get away with it too much.

Tight end. Really Super Bowl possible. Travis Kelce says it all.

Wide receivers. Mildly Super Bowl possible. That's mainly because of Tyreek, but really, still, what have other teams specifically planned for covering him when the rest of the receiving corps is just not that overwhelming? We cut Jeremy Maclin, Chris Conley is okay and in real need of a break-out year (which we're all hoping happens, for sure). I have no idea why we continue to keep Albert Wilson, he just drops too many passes. Let's hope Demarcus Robinson steps up this year or rookie Jehu Chesson shines for us.

Offensive line. Barely Super Bowl possible. I've heard that this unit is pretty good, but I'm sorry I just don't think so. It was painfully exposed in the Seattle pre-season game, and I know Seattle has a terrific defensive front, but what kind of teams do you think we're going to play in the postseason? We have serious questions at guard especially, and we even had to trade for a tackle just before the season started. They are decent with run blocking but still too inadequate for pass protection against teams with strong pass rushers -- huh, kinda like Denver, Oakland, and San Diego.

Defensive line. Pretty Super Bowl possible. This appears to be one of our strengths. We got a fine replacement for Dontari Poe in Bennie Logan. Chris Jones is a monster and we all can't wait to see him get untracked. We've got guys who can stand up lineman, and this new kid with the eye-chart name, Tanoh Kpassagnon is incredible.

Inside linebackers. Mildly Super Bowl possible. I think people are overrating our linebacking core, also. Derrick Johnson is a legend in Chiefs football, but this will be his 13th year in the league -- for a defensive player that's a lot and he's already had two season-ending achilles injuries. We've shuffled guys around trying to find the right mix. I will say Ramik Wilson has progressed, and this other new kid we drafted, another eye-chart name, Ukeme Eligwe -- he's been earning rave reviews, let's hope he can transfuse himself well into NFL play real quick.

Pass rushers. Somewhat Super Bowl possible. Just because of a healthy Justin Houston here. It'd be much more Super Bowl possible if Tamba Hali could regain his form, but he's already starting the season on the PUP list. Dee Ford still needs to prove himself, that's kind of sad but I'm great with seeing if this'll be a breakout year for him. Until he shows it we'll just have to accept where we're at with this group.

Cornerbacks. Somewhat Super Bowl possible, but again for this unit it is only because we do have a phenomenal play-maker out there, Marcus Peters. I like Steven Nelson a lot, but we've got to have a healthy Terrance Mitchell and we've got to get more consistent play from Phillip Gaines.

Safeties. Mildly Super Bowl possible. You may be saying, "Aagh! What about Eric Berry?" Yeah, I really like Eric Berry, I really do, I've said that a million times and I do mean that. He was rated the 13th best overall player among the NFL Network's top 100 as voted on by the players -- very cool. But I've got to see Berry really truly actually beat a good quarterback in a playoff game before I have any postseason confidence in the guy, sorry. And our other safeties? Daniel Sorenson, Ron Parker -- serviceable, that's fine, but really Super Bowl possible?

Special teams. Extraordinarily Super Bowl possible. This is one area that is genuinely fantastic. It earns raves from everyone everywhere and it deserves it. And it isn't just the great Tyreek Hill returns and the return game overall, but our coverage game is solid, Dustin Colquitt is a great punter (let's hope he holds up because he's in his 13th year!) and Cairo Santos is one of the most reliable kickers in the league. I know, it doesn't seem like it, but he is.

Thing is, the special teams alone won't get us to the Super Bowl. Honestly, this team overall is an upper-mid-level team with a realistically modest chance to go deep in the playoffs. I truly believe they are that kind of a team, I do, and while I never look at any preseason prediction stuff, I have heard the Chiefs are these days have routinely ranked in the upper half of any power rankings list.

That's cool, because for now, I'm just going to enjoy each game as it is -- the Super Bowl doesn't even count as far as I'm concerned.

I do like these Chiefs, so I'm just going to let it be. It'll be fun.

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