In the Patrick Mahomes era, the Kansas City Chiefs have proven themselves to be the best playoff team in the NFL. With their Divisional Round win over the Buffalo Bills, the Chiefs are advancing to the AFC Championship Game for the sixth straight time. That is the second-longest streak ever for making the Conference Championship in the NFL. The team has even made three of the last four Super Bowls, with two of those ending with a victory.
However, prior to Mahomes taking over as the starting quarterback, the team did not historically have tons of success in the postseason. In this article, we will take a look at what the Chiefs have done in the playoffs throughout their history.
Chiefs' playoff history
With all of their recent playoff success, NFL fans might forget that the Chiefs weren't always great in the postseason. Their recent success has launched their playoff record all the way to 22-21, though, and they now have the 13th most playoff wins and 11th best playoff win percentage.
The Chiefs did start off decently in the postseason. The team was founded in 1960 and was a part of the AFL, and they even won the AFL Championship in 1962. The Super Bowl was first played in 1967, and the first four seasons it was played had the best team from the AFL play against the best team from the NFL. The Chiefs even made the first-ever Super Bowl in 1967, but they lost to the NFL's Green Bay Packers. Three seasons later, they were back, though.
The Chiefs became Super Bowl champions in Super Bowl IV after beating the Minnesota Vikings 23-7. Their dominant win redeemed their blowout loss (35-10) from Super Bowl I.
The AFL and NFL merged in 1970, and the Chiefs looked like one of the top teams as they already had two Super Bowl appearances under their belts. However, they did not make another Super Bowl until 2019. The team had a 50-year Super Bowl drought, and in that time, they only won five playoff games. The worst stretch was from 1994 to 2013, when the team lost seven straight playoff games.
Since 2018, though, Kansas City is 13-3 in the postseason. They won the Super Bowl during the 2019 (Super Bowl LIV) and 2022 (Super Bowl LVII) seasons, with those victories coming over the San Francisco 49ers (31-20) and Philadelphia Eagles (38-35), respectively. The team even made Super Bowl LV, but they lost 31-9 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Now, the Chiefs are riding a five-game playoff winning streak dating back to last season. The Chiefs have already established themselves as a dynasty, and their next game on that path will be against the Baltimore Ravens. It will be their sixth straight AFC Championship Game appearance, and a chance to make another Super Bowl is on the line.
Can the Chiefs win the Super Bowl again?
At this point, betting against the Kansas City Chiefs just never seems like the right move. They are underdogs going against the best team in the AFC in the Conference Championship, but all Kansas City has done under Patrick Mahomes is win. Many fans were concerned that they would struggle on the road, considering Mahomes had never played a playoff game at an opponent's home field until last week. That theory was dispelled when the Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills, one of the teams with the hardest environments to play at.
The Chiefs are really coming into their own, too. Largely in part due to dropped passes, the Chiefs have had arguably their worst offensive season with Mahomes at the quarterback position. The receiving corps just wasn't getting the job done for the best quarterback in the NFL. Additionally, Travis Kelce saw some regression and had his first season since 2015 without at least 1,000 receiving yards.
The offense has gotten back on track in recent weeks, though, which makes Kansas City a scary team. The Chiefs scored 53 combined points in their two playoff games so far, and they had more total yards in each of those two games than they did in all but one game since Week 8. Kelce is playing like his normal self, and Rashee Rice has stepped up as the top wide receiver that the team so desperately needed. Kelce had two touchdowns in the Divisional Round, and despite being a rookie, Rice led the team in receiving touchdowns in the regular season. Isiah Pacheco has also been running the ball effectively. He had 97 yards and a touchdown on the ground against Buffalo.
Their offense being back makes them a massive threat to take down the Ravens since the Chiefs' defense has never been as good during the Mahomes era as it is now. Chris Jones is still one of the best defensive tackles in football, and all of the young players around him have further developed their games this season. Jones and cornerback Trent McDuffie were selected as first-team All-Pro members, as McDuffie has become one of the best slot corners in football.
Whether they win or lose this week, Kansas City has already had an epic run in recent playoffs that will likely continue into future seasons. Chiefs fans definitely want the team to go down as the greatest ever, though, and another AFC Championship win would further improve the Chiefs' playoff history and help their case as the greatest dynasty ever.
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