Impressive Defense Improves Chiefs' Championship Chances

Major improvements to the Kansas City Chiefs defense have completely altered the way the world views this team. Don't forget that Kansas City took a losing record into November this year. They allowed each team they faced to score at least 29 points in every game from the start of this season until the middle of October. That defense put Chiefs Kingdom in a position where we wondered if KC would miss out on the postseason completely. Now, after all those fear-inducing failures, the Chiefs are a first-place 7-4 team with realistic Super Bowl aspirations. After one of the worst starts to a season in the history of NFL defenses, the Chiefs' 22.7 points allowed per game currently ranks as exactly league average.

It's no surprise that it took various specific changes to make this transformation possible. Brett Veach's strategy of never overspending on cornerbacks works wonders when under-rated players like Rashaud Fenton, L'Jarius Sneed and Charvarius Ward avoid the injury report. The coinciding addition of Melvin Ingram seems to have ended the experiment of Chris Jones as an edge rusher for now. This decision immediately improved KC's ability to pressure opposing quarterbacks.

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo deserves a ton of credit for limiting snaps for Chiefs defenders susceptible to giving up big plays. Spags also deserves praise for expanding the roles of emerging young talent like Nick Bolton and Willie Gay. The center of Kansas City's defense hasn't looked this good since Derrick Johnson's prime, and it could be key to making the Chiefs a championship contender again.

All these changes give the Chiefs a tangibly greater chance of success every time they take the field. Kansas City allowed 32.6 points per game in their first five games of the season. They have allowed 11.75 points per game in their last four. I'm aware these victories came against Daniel Jones, Jordan Love and a Dallas Cowboys team without their two best receivers. Dallas didn't have problems putting up points without Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb on Turkey Day, but I digress. The Chiefs' improvements on defense surely have something to do with the teams they're playing, but tests against elite teams with elite quarterbacks are rare. Without this improvement from the defense, the Chiefs probably wouldn't have this four-game winning streak, and our playoff dreams would already be dashed.

Can KC Claim Crucial Victory in Vegas?

Our eyes now turn to the desert where the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Las Vegas Raiders in a pivotal divisional face-off. The winner here undeniably takes the inside track in the race for the AFC West. Can the Chiefs play a complete enough game to claim victory tonight? We can at least see that their defense looks up to the task recently.

This Chiefs defense held opponents to a touchdown or less in five out of their last eight halves of football. Chris Jones moving to the inside with the addition of an immediately effective Melvin Ingram made a major impact, as did the improving health of KC's secondary. Perhaps the most important recent change is the emergence of Nick Bolton and Willie Gay as trustworthy, dynamic athletes in the middle of the Chiefs defense. The presence of these capable, young linebackers will improve both Kansas City's defense and financial status for years to come.

All these improvements defensively flips this teams' identity, especially when paired with surprising struggles of Patrick Mahomes. Despite perhaps the worst stretch of football in his still-young career, I cannot expect Mahomes to be mediocre today or ever. This week is just different, not only because of the Raiders, but because of the chance KC has to take hold of their division.

Some regression to the mean must also be expected regarding the production of each teams' QB. Mahomes ranks 16th in QBR, and right behind him at 17 is Derek Carr. The Chiefs' half-a-billion-dollar man finished 2nd overall in that category last season, and Carr finished at 11th. 

Vegas has also just shown the league that they can limit the opposition's quarterback, but they also showed that it may not matter. The Raiders allowed only 110 passing yards last week while sacking the opposing QB twice and hitting him six times. Despite this, they still lost to Daniel Jones' Giants.

Like I remind myself every week, it's not all about KC's quarterback. The Chiefs should utilize their emerging rushing offense against this Raiders defense that allows the fifth-fewest passing yards per game and the fifth-most rushing yards per game this season. If Andy Reid and the rest of the coaching staff can do this effectively, it should give the Raiders plenty of time to beat themselves. I predict a hard-earned 27-23 victory for the Chiefs tonight.