Annual rites of spring: The NCAA basketball tournament, The Masters, Opening Day in baseball and, of course, predicting the Kansas City Chiefs will finally give up the NFL’s resident dynasty.
So, don’t blame Colin Cowherd. While he didn’t call Patrick Mahomes a loser, Cowherd isn’t the only critic of the Chiefs’ personnel moves since their Super Bowl LIX loss.
“I’m really worried about Kansas City,” Cowherd said this week on The Herd. “Joe Thuney, one of the more valuable offensive linemen in the league, left. And they didn't want him to leave. They couldn't afford him.
“They don't have a left tackle. They paid a lot for Jaylon Moore, who's never been a starter. By the way, they're not going to go 11-0 in one-score games. Raiders are better, Broncos will be better, the Chargers will be better. It never lasts forever.”
True, but the Chiefs are coming off their best record in the Mahomes era, 15-2. And that includes their season-ending loss at Denver, where Andy Reid rested most of his starters. The fourth team ever to reach three consecutive Super Bowls, Kansas City is accomplishing rare feats.
The Chiefs are 9-1 over their last 10 postseason games. Their nine consecutive wins prior to the Super Bowl loss matched the second-longest streak in league annals, held by Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers (nine from 1961-67). Only Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots (10 from 2001-05) established a longer streak.
And that’s partly why Cowherd’s FS1 colleague, Nick Wright, had something to say about Cowherd’s Kansas City worries.
“This is an annual tradition,” Wright told Cowherd, “where you pick a new team to win the AFC West and then, midway through the year, you're like, ‘Yeah, I probably shouldn't have done that.’
“Also, you said the Chiefs didn't want to lose Joe Thuney. What, was there a gun to Brett Veach's head when he called the Bears and traded him? They didn't lose Joe Thuney; they traded Joe Thuney. So, I just got to say the rest of your bracket feels a lot like we are respecting the teams that were really good last year, except for of course, the Chiefs.”
