Chiefs Face So-Called Rivals After Acquiring All-Time Great

The 6-0 Kansas City Chiefs and the 2-5 Las Vegas Raiders do not share a rivalry. A rivalry indicates a continuous, competitive relationship with another person or party competing for the same thing. This relationship is non-competitive, and while the Chiefs are fighting for pole position in the playoffs to help them finish a three-peat, the Raiders are competing to avoid further embarrassment. The only national headlines involving the Raiders this season came when they traded away a future Hall of Fame receiver. The most recent of many national news stories covering the Chiefs involves acquiring a future Hall of fame receiver. KC may be flawed for a 6-0 team, but Raiders fans have many more unsolved issues this season.

The Las Vegas offense ranks 24th league-wide in points scored and 26th in total yards per game. The Raiders have thrown more interceptions and lost more fumbles than any team in football, resulting in a giveaway total four higher than any other team in the league. They also have just three takeaways through seven games, which is the league's second-lowest total. The Vegas defense ranks 29th in points allowed. They can't even return punts; their average for yards per punt return is the league's second-worst. There's nearly nothing positive to say about the Raiders right now.

KC, on the other hand, continues to win despite injuries altering the Chiefs' offense's gameplan practically every week of this season. Now, the proud citizens of Chiefs Kingdom can actually get excited about a recent change to Kansas City's roster. No other human signed to an NFL contract right now has more career receiving yards than KC's newest acquisition DeAndre Hopkins. D-Hop bringing his killer smile and even-more-killer resume to Kansas City should provide a major boost for an offense that ranks 13th in both passing yards and points per game. His inclusion may be gradual, but then again, Andy Reid may want to use this game as an opportunity to show the rest of the league how dangerous this new weapon can be in this new context. With all that in mind, I'm predicting that the Chiefs make a statement today with a 30-17 victory over their so-called rivals.

Chiefs Somehow Underrated Entering So-Called Super Bowl Rematch

The so-called rematch to last year's Super Bowl happens this afternoon, and the underdog in that game is the team who hasn't lost since winning it all last year. I guess I can see the odds-makers' perspective after all these Kansas City Chiefs injuries, but I'm still putting my money on the defending champs today. Patrick Mahomes is 11-1-1 against the spread in his career. Andy Reid is 21-4 as a head coach coming off a bye week. KC's injury concerns deserve recognition, but injuries also gave the San Francisco 49ers a unique problem to handle this week.

San Fran is starting their third kicker in three weeks after both Jake Moody and Matthew Wright suffered injuries while attempting tackles during a kick-off. This could be big for a Niners offense ranking 25th league-wide in red zone touchdown-scoring efficiency. They aren't facing many elite defenses, either. Half their opponents so far rank in the bottom eight for yards allowed, and only one ranks higher than 14th. They haven't faced a team with a defense that ranks higher than the Chiefs in both points and yards allowed per game. A quick look at their season so far would indicate that this revered 49ers squad has been inconsistent.

San Francisco has played the Jets, Vikings, Rams, Patriots, Cardinals and Seahawks. They beat the Jets, Pats and Seahawks. I know that seeing Mahomes' Passer Rating at 19th is weird, but San Fran's wins all came against QBs with ratings lower than that. Their best game of the season came against the 3-3 Seahawks, and when they face off with any other playoff-caliber opponent, they lose a close game. To think something else would happen today seems illogical, so I'm predicting a 26-20 victory for Kansas City. An extra week for Andy Reid to work out how this offense operates with the current weapons at its disposal should give the Chiefs the edge today.

Mediocre Mahomes Meets Stout Saints Defense As Greatness Eludes Entire NFL

I'm not sure that there's a single great team in the NFL right now. Our Kansas City Chiefs are 4-0 entering tonight's Monday Night Football match-up with the New Orleans Saints, but we all know KC put some flaws on display and survived some close calls already. Despite the Chiefs' current concerns, they stand out like a leaky lifeboat atop an ocean of "pretty good". The only other undefeated team in football is the Minnesota Vikings, and their current QB Sam Darnold could turn back into a pumpkin any day now. The only other teams with just one loss are the intriguing-but-unproven Washington Commanders with an intriguing-but-unproven rookie QB and the Houston Texans, who have only just snuck by teams like Indy, Chicago and Jacksonville before finally sneaking by a quality opponent in Buffalo yesterday.

The San Francisco 49ers just dropped below .500. The frisky Buccaneers just lost a thriller in overtime against the two-loss Falcons. Who's really good right now? Anybody? The New Orleans Saints started off stronger than anybody, but they, too, have shown their flaws in recent weeks.

The Saints started their year with 91 points scored in their first two games. Then, they were held to 12 by the defensively unimpressive Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3. Their last game was a nail-biter loss to the underrated Falcons, who won 26-24. Their offense still scores more points per game than anyone in the league through nearly five weeks of the regular season, and their defense allows the seventh-fewest points per game. New Orleans held their first three opponents all to under 20 points, and it took multiple field goals from beyond 50 yards last week for the Falcons to surpass that. It's an objectively tough defense, but KC is already familiar with facing tough defenses.

The Chiefs didn't light up the scoreboard in their win over the Chargers last week, but that isn't too surprising. KC played that game without their two best running backs and most of the game without their best wide receiver. They also faced off with arguably the best defense in football. The Chargers allow the fewest points per game in the NFL and the fifth-fewest yards per game. KC scored four more points last week than the Chargers allowed in their first two weeks of the season combined.

New Orleans also isn't facing the cream of the crop when it comes to opposing QBs. After beating Bryce Young, who ranks last in Passer Rating league-wide, they faced Dallas' Dak Prescott, whose Rating ranks 16th. The Eagles' Jalen Hurts is 25th in the NFL in Passer Rating, and Kirk Cousins ranks 15th, which is the highest Rating among any QB the Saints have faced this season. To be fair, Mahomes' oddly average start has left him with the 19th-highest Rating in the league to this point. Neither team should be expected to score a ton tonight, but that's more because of the guys who won't be on the field than the guys who will.

Injuries will significantly affect both teams today. The Chiefs are without Rashee Rice, Isiah Pacheco and Hollywood Brown for an unknown amount of time. The Saints enter tonight's game without Taysom Hill, former Chief Willie Gay Jr. and about half their starting offensive line. Center Shane Lemieux and right guard Cesar Ruiz are both out for tonight's game, and left guard Lucas Patrick is listed as questionable. That could make it difficult for New Orleans to stop Chris Jones and George Karlaftis from pressuring our old friend Derek Carr in critical moments.

Jones already has three sacks and a forced fumble, and I expect those totals to increase tonight. The Saints' inability to stop KC's defense from making Carr uncomfortable will ultimately doom them. I'm predicting a 23-17 victory for the defending champs.