Kansas City Chiefs: Is a Fifth Super Bowl Victory Awaiting?

Sports teams come and go. Some win, some lose, and then the season resets. The winners can win again or even taste defeat; even the losers can change their futures. That, however, doesn’t seem to be the scenario for the Kansas City Chiefs, who consistently win. Nine games into the 2024 season, they’ve won nine. Is the Super Bowl title a formality at this point?

9-0 Beckons for a Perfect Season

At the weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs edged out a nail-biting fixture against the Denver Broncos. They trailed until the fourth quarter, and the team recorded a narrow 16-14 victory. This allowed the Chiefs to continue their winning streak for the season, and they now boast a 9-0 record for the campaign and the international sportsbooks for NFL betting have them as serious Super Bowl favorites.

Around 30 teams have gone 9-0 before, so this isn’t a massive achievement—but given the rest of the season, it does show that Kansas is far beyond the other teams. In their division, the AFC West, where they obliterate the other teams in terms of overall record, the Los Angeles Chargers 6-3 pales in comparison.

While the Chiefs have won the Super Bowl many times in recent years, they could achieve another record. The last perfect regular season was accomplished by the New England Patriots in 2007. Back then, the regular season was only 16 games long; however, now, with 17 games commissioned, the Chiefs have an opportunity to make history by becoming the first 17-0 team, although some would argue their week 10 matchup against the Buffalo Bills is their biggest test yet.

Are the Chiefs Good for the NFL?

The 9-0 record is part of a larger winning sequence. Going back to December 2023, the Kansas City Chiefs are on a 15-0 run, having won every game since that point, going all the way to triumph in the Super Bowl, and of course, continuing to win since that point. While the supporters at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, will be pleased, is this actually good for the appeal of the NFL?

Sports have to be competitive to be desirable and interesting. F1 suffered with viewership figures when Lewis Hamilton won everything, the WTA was difficult to sell before Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka broke Serena Williams’ vice-grip on the calendar, and the examples go on. The more volatile and competitive sports are, the more appealing they are.

Given that the NFL is rapidly expanding its appeal to host more global games in the United Kingdom, Germany and elsewhere, is it detrimental to have one team dominating the competition? While it could make more immediate Chiefs fans – it won’t make for a prolonged or interesting relationship with European sports fans.

What Could Ruin the Chiefs?

Does this powerful dynasty look like another powerful team? The aforementioned New England Patriots used to run the NFL with similar dominance—winning three Super Bowls in five years. However, it all came crashing down when Tom Brady left the franchise. Brady would go on to win the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while the Patriots…ended up sacking Bill Belichick and have not progressed past the Wild Card playoffs since.

To prevent this from happening to their franchise, the Chiefs gave Patrick Mahomes a contract for 10 seasons, ending in 2031. While he can part ways with the Chiefs, it would have to take an extraordinary offer for the team even to entertain the notion of him leaving for another franchise.

If another franchise were to tap him up, there would be no substitute for the iconic quarterback who has continually dictated the Chiefs’ games. It would be difficult to see how Andy Reid could replicate the same team results without his star player. Fundamentally, that is one of the differences between Reid and Belichick. Bill thought he was bigger than Brady on the field, and he turned out to be wrong. Reid knows he’s important but appreciates that Mahomes does the heavy lifting in their relationship.

Travis Kelce brings a lot of success to the team and is possibly the best wide receiver in the NFL right now. When Mahomes throws out long passes, it is usually Kelce who makes the difference at the end of these plays. In addition, he brings a lot of eyeballs to the team as he is dating music superstar Taylor Swift. If he were to stop dating her, that would certainly lose a lot of passive Swifty Chiefs supporters. While the Instagram follower numbers might drop, it is unlikely to impact the field of play much.