Sarah Quintanilla

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Three weeks into the 2025 NFL Season, last year’s Super Bowl runner-up is off to a sluggish start. The Kansas City Chiefs’ lone win comes against the lowly New York Giants, hardly a feat for a franchise that’s a regular participant in the AFC Championship Game. That fact alone speaks volumes to the mettle and poise the team possesses, two crucial attributes in sustaining the dynasty they’ve established. Fans are quick to exclaim the end of their success with every decline we see. They’ve simply established a level of success that has unfairly invited all sorts of ridicule that only Tom Brady could relate to. 

There’s much room for optimism pertaining to the Chiefs despite the loss of Xavier Worthy to a friendly-fire injury. With Isiah Pacheco still a threat on the ground, the defense is kept honest, which always bodes well for the passing game. Having Patrick Mahomes at the helm with his security blanket, Travis Kelce at his side, it’s impossible to count these guys out in any fashion. Even when the Chiefs led the league in drops back in 2023, they always found a way to win. So much so that they started to discount these wins because of how close they were. Field goal wins as time expires, the constant need to come back — these complaints from losing fans only move the goalpost. The way quarterbacks are measured is a victim to the success of Mahomes, even though Joe Burrow is held in high regard for beating him a single time in the playoffs. The Chiefs continue to be the biggest roadblock on the AFC side of the bracket year after year. 

On the other side of the Chiefs dynasty equation is that there is yet to be a rising contender. The Baltimore Ravens demonstrate how to blow leads in the fourth quarter year-after-year. The team as a whole desperately lacks the moxie of a future champion; however, they possess the most complete team across all-three phases. They have yet to put it together across a season. The Buffalo Bills pose the biggest threat to the reigning conference champions with quarterback Josh Allen’s electric playstyle. His mobility and durability stretch games and Allen plays beyond what any defense is used to. He’s a much scarier threat when he tucks and runs downfield as he mows down linebackers that the 31 other quarterbacks simply can’t emulate. It comes to a point where teams can’t stop him; they just hope to contain or outpace him. 

While Mahomes leads an offense that wins games, the stout defense is what solidifies the championship ability. It relieves the need for Mahomes and the offense to be sensational every week, an issue Josh Allen is burdened with. Defensive tackle Chris Jones and the defense deserve just as much praise for keeping the game within reach for as long as they do. With an offense that’s always capable of scoring, a defense that can produce a stop and one of the most consistently clutch kickers in the league, there’s no reason to suggest the demise of the Chiefs. Until their shortcomings are as consistent as the success they’ve conditioned fans to expect, Chief’s Kingdom is still comfortably in the midst of their dynasty era.