Chiefs Road to L.A. No Freeway

The 2021 Kansas City Chiefs may have just rolled to an easy win over the Pittsburgh Steelers but the “Road to L.A.” won’t be like that. At all. Next in town are the Buffalo Bills who are coming off their own shellacking of the New England Patriots, 47-to-17.

Stay Off the Five

Unfortunately, I don’t know if there’s any way the Chiefs can metaphorically, “Stay off the 5” in these playoffs. I guess you’d have to know that the 5 Freeway (Santa Ana Freeway) in California is so bad it’s often joked that it’s a parking lot. Two years ago, K.C. not only had the Bye Week, but made their first game, a 24-to-zip, comeback for the ages, against the hapless Houston, Texans. Also two years ago, K.C. beat the Titans in Arrowhead to advance to the Super Bowl.

Then, in 2020, the Chiefs beat the Browns 22-to-17 followed by beating the Bills 36-to-24 in the AFC Championship game in Arrowhead. Anyone who thinks this year’s Bills team will be easier to face than last year’s team, needs to have their pulse taken… to see if they have one.

Although we learned that the Chiefs never give up and can comeback in a camera-flash from any deficit… if they fall behind big against any of their current foes, or teams they may face the rest of the way, K.C. could end up in a Hollywood Nightmare Cul-de-sac (dead end) long before they ever get to Cally.

Ironically enough, the Chiefs next game, against the Buffalo Bills, is on CBS, Channel Five (5) here in Kansas City.

This year’s road will present some very tough opponents. Let’s begin with the AFC. While the Chiefs go up against the Bills next Sunday evening — a team they’ve already lost to this season — the other game is between two teams the Chiefs have lost to this season as well: the Bengals and the Titans. All those previous losses… not sure if those are good omens or bad Juju.

It was said recently that Bengals QB, Joe Burrow, is like Tom Brady. While he has a long way to go to get there, his hook up with WR Ja’Marr Chase was troublesome for K.C and helped lead to a 34-to-31 loss just two and a half weeks ago. The upside for K.C. is that the game would be played in Arrowhead Stadium next time, if they beat the Titans. If they don’t beat Tennessee, the Chiefs won’t be worrying about them much anyway. On the other hand, I’d be more surprised if the Bengals don’t beat the Titans than if they do. At least… for the Bengals sake… Joe Burrow has the right attitude:

The Titans are expecting to get RB Derrick Henry back for their game vs the Bengals this weekend. It’s hard to see Henry having a big impact in that game but the Titans will attempt to make their running game the primary weapon instead of relying on QB Ryan Tannehill to win the game. If the Bengals can stop, or slow down, the Titans running game, it will go a long ways towards a victory. The Titans FanSided web site says the Titans offense doesn’t change with, or without, Derrick Henry:

“The rushing attack of the Titans, surprisingly enough, didn’t take an enormous hit. In nine games without Henry in the lineup, Vrabel audaciously asked his running game to step up. The Titans would go on to average 135.8 rushing yards per game, only 11.8 yards less than the 147.6 they were averaging with Henry in the lineup.”

The match-up between QBs Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen is all the rage in the media right now. For now, the Chiefs are opening as 2.5 point favorites. You can only imagine that’s because they are playing at Home. The Bills beat the Chiefs in Week 5, coming into Arrowhead Stadium and winning 38-20, also in a Sunday Night game. Opening as a 2.5 point favorite in a game at Home is like saying, “We’re better than you are… maybe.”

Then there are the teams the Chiefs must face from the NFC, if they somehow get past all their AFC foes. The positive is, they’ll only have to face one of these following teams: L.A. Rams, Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Rams eliminated the Cards last night 34-to-11. If it happens to be the Los Angeles Rams, the Chiefs will be facing the Super Bowl, it’ll be a Home team in their own stadium for the second year in a row. It would also represent two Missouri teams, as the Rams used to be located in St. Louis, and when they were there, they went to two Super Bowls, but that still may end up dividing some area fans.

It’s funny that the last four teams will include the Rams because L.A., and the Cards, are two teams that spent time in St. Louis. The Cardinals were in St. Louis from 1960 to 1987. The Rams were in St. Louis from 1995 to 2015. While the Cards were thought to be the best team in the league for the better part of the 2021 season, they lost 4 of the last 5 games and are coming into the playoff with questions. Not big enough to overcome… apparently.

One more note about the Rams: if they so happen to go on the road and beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers… and then go on road to meet (in all likelihood) and beat the Green Bay Packers… it will mean they have gone on the road twice for the privilege of playing in the Super Bowl –> AT HOME.

This is the team I’d have to pick as the favorite to win the Super Bowl based on their 2021 Season consistency. If the Chiefs do face the Packers in the Super Bowl it will be a re-match of Super Bowl I. It will be billed as: the battle between Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes, but we know it will be much more than that.

If the 49ers some how get past the Packers and then the Bucs or Rams next week –> Super Bowl LVI will be a re-match of Super Bowl LIV when, “Do we have time to run WASP?” became the newest maxim for the Chiefs.

If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs both end up back int he Super Bowl, it will be the first time two teams have had a re-match the very next year since… the Cowboys and the Bills faced off in January of 1993 and again in January of 1994… both won by Dallas.

.

.

The Chiefs are likely not to be the favorite against all these NFC foes with the possible exception of the 49ers. What do you think? Is the path to L.A., and a victory once they get there, going to be a tougher road this year, or not?

.

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

.

If you are viewing this in Apple News and would like to join the Discussion, [GO HERE.](http://arrowheadone.com/chiefs-road-to-l-a-no-freeway/#disqus_thread)

.