Why Chiefs Fans Are Thankful Through Week 10

Welcome to being a fan of the best team in the league that experts refuse to call elite. How's it feel? For me, it's a lot of worrying about our Kansas City Chiefs only being good enough to get to the playoffs and disappoint yet again, then a lot of just trying to relax and appreciate this remarkable team that's good enough to give us all those worries. Since now’s the time for giving thanks, we’ll stay positive today and look at unique statistical breakdown that should make all Chiefs fans feel thankful.

The 2016 Chiefs defense consistently limits opposing teams to less than their average points per game. Just take a look at the points scored by KC’s opponent’s this year/that team’s current average points per game (and how they rank league-wide in that statistic)*:

San Diego Chargers – 27/29.2 (3)

Houston Texans – 19/17.9 (29)

New York Jets - 3/17.9 (28)

Pittsburgh Steelers – 43/23.8 (15)

Oakland Raiders – 10/27.2 (5)

New Orleans Saints – 21/29.4 (2)

Indianapolis Colts – 14/26.6 (7)

Jacksonville Jaguars – 14/19.3 (27)

Carolina Panthers – 17/24.6 (12)

*It should be noted that I omitted Thursday's game to keep things even.

So, KC has already faced three of the five highest-scoring offenses in football. The Chiefs won each of those games and held their opponent to less than their current points-per-game averages. KC hasn’t allowed a team to score higher than their current average since October 2nd, when they looked awful against Pittsburgh in Week 4. The only two times they allowed a team to score more than their current average (at Houston and at Pittsburgh) coincide with the Chiefs’ only two losses. Kansas City keeps winning in spite of their franchise QB, but they’ve proven their ability to win against any team not considered top-shelf.

What’s arguably more important than KC’s currently-firm grip on a ’16 playoff berth is the promising future of this Chiefs defense. Dee Ford continues to lead the league in sacks and make me feel dumb for counting him out earlier this season. Marcus Peters is still on pace for the most interceptions in NFL history, and continues to make ridiculous, game-changing plays. Chris Jones looks like he could become great, or at least good enough to replace Dontari Poe if the Chiefs can't afford to keep them both. I'm not saying KC will make a Super Bowl run year-after-year, but the Chief's shouldn't be bad for a very long time.

Now that (*long sigh*) is definitely something we should all be thankful for. By the way, if the Chiefs shared Thanksgiving dinner together, who do you think would carve the turkey? Does Andy Reid let Alex Smith do it? Maybe they'd hold hands around the knife and carve it together? Sorry, I'll stop. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Doug LaCerte's favorite Thanksgiving side-dish is oyster casserole, and if your family doesn't make that, man, you're missing out. He also has Twitter and Facebook.