We haven't argued in a while: nearly every Chiefs podcast is wrong, I think.

[Direckshun]

Spoiler!

Necessary disclaimer #1: What I'm saying right now is what the rest of you are doing: projecting the season and how good this team is.

Necessary disclaimer #2: I may be awfully handsome, but I am not a god. I understand that I am wrong sometimes and may be wrong on this.

Necessary disclaimer #3: I really only care about talking football, and not the assumed upsides and/or downsides of my personality, which you probably don't like.

Almost all the time I spend exercising or working alone or driving, I'm dialing up a Chiefs podcast. I listen to more than most: Time's Ours, Locked On, It's Always Sunny In Chiefs Kingdom, KCSN, 4th and 1, Arrowhead Addict, Arrowhead Pride, Roughing the Kicker. I don't catch all of it but I catch a lot of it.

And this past week, after breaking down the roster, several of these podcasts are, I think, overshooting what the '22 Chiefs may be capable of.

These podcasters -- with the lone exception of Nick Jacobs, whose opinions I find pretty "grounded" -- are all predicting a Super Bowl season. And while that's to be expected of Chiefs-friendly media, it sure as **** makes Chiefs Kingdom toxic by Week 10 as the Chiefs are, say, 5-4 and still trying to get their roster figured out. "We should be the go away favorites for the 1 seed!" we're all being primed to spout in November, when the Chiefs may be trying to just hold onto the AFCW. I just listened to three straight Chiefs podcasts predict the Super Bowl unanimously among their hosts, including KC Lab on KCSN, which is normally more grounded. Maybe Kissel's infected them, I don't know.

I appreciate optimism, but routinely predicting a 13-4 or 14-3 schedule against a bear of a calendar with a rookie secondary and a DL held together with scotch tape is irresponsible. Argue all you want that podcasts have no responsibility, and legally you're right. But if you want to be seen as credible, then c'mon now. Anchor yourselves.

I volunteer as tribute as the Chiefs fan on this board who thinks the Chiefs are going to be very, very good this year but on the outside looking in when it comes to the Super Bowl. Pat Kirwan is one of my favorite analysts and he famously (to me) said on Moving the Chains that "you get two ifs, and that's it." And I think this team exceeds two ifs before we're just pie-in-the-sky dreaming.

Mahomes and Reid are Mahomes and Reid. They are incredible, and when they're clicking, unstoppable. Kelce is a top 3 TE all time. JuJu, Watson, McKinnon, Fortson all have a good rapport with him right now. But it is not yet clear to me that this receiving corps can improve or even match the incredible work Tyreek put in last year. Coming as a guy who hates Tyreek's guts as a human being, there's no question he is just a cheat code who can do things nobody else can do and that there are few answers for. I think the logic of having a team with a ton of options for Mahomes makes sense. But this team is going to have to give MVS a lot of snaps to justify his contract, and I'm not high on him. Skyy and Mecole are a rookie and Mecole. JuJu looks like a damn steal, but all these things in the aggregate... I'm not sure they match what Hill did.

It's possible though, because Mahomes and Reid.

The secondary has a lot of promise, but we're completely lying to ourselves about them. This is a roster corps that we know is built with rookies, and we consistently, collectively know will have "growing pains" -- which is the same thing these podcasters recognize while predicting 13-win seasons. If you're winning 13 games, you're not having growing pains!

Spags is a god at taking a pretty talented secondary and making it look great, so that's an area I know we'll be set at long-term. But growing pains means this secondary is going to have embarrassing blown coverages and bad games that will rack up a couple more losses than they should. I think that Trent McDuffie's camp and preseason has shown a lot of promise that I was skeptical of. It's still undeniable that he's had some bumps along the way and that's going to continue as he develops in live games. Watson and Williams look really good as rookies -- they're going to still get roasted by the AFCW's gamut of excellent receivers. The learning curve can only curve up so fast.

It's possible they're fine, though, because Spags.

But those aren't the two things I think will be really problematic for the team.

First, I don't see solutions for this DL, unless Karlaftis is a truly game-changing talent, which is somebody else than he's shown so far, immediately out of the gate. Aside from Karlaftis (who I think is going to be a really great rookie but is already earning predictions to beat Derrick Thomas' record), the DE position is just not very good. Even Karlaftis, who put some great snaps on tape, is still miles away from the ceiling he's going to reach (that's not a criticism, I don't think: he's a rookie). I have no faith in Clark, I am extremely reticent about the Achilles that Dunlap has, as are the Chiefs who kept 6 DEs just to make sure we'll have bodies. Danna is a rotational guy who's fine. We should have found a way to land Robert Quinn.

The DT position has taken a step backward, I think. We all dumped on Jarran Reed, who didn't justify his contract last year, but he offered some passrushing with good run defense, a combo none of our other DTs have, other than Chris Jones, who is amazing. Nnadi got pushed around a bit in the preseason and offers no passrush, Wharton is always going to be who he is, and Saunders remains a frustrating question mark. Saunders did play well in the preseason, which... I'll just say if Saunders reaches his potential, our DL is going to wreck people. But I've been saying that for a year now.

Thank god our linebackers are amazing, because that will make up for some of the deficiencies of the DTs in front of them. We will not be a bottom 5 rush defense, but we could very realistically be a bottom third unit who Buffalo, Ravens, and Broncos run right over. And our passrush is going to be right where it was last year.

The other big problem I have is out of the Chiefs control: the schedule is just brutal. We face a Chargers team that may very well be better than us, plus Tom Brady in the first four weeks. We play both of the Super Bowl contenders. We play everybody who was in the conference championship games. I would personally argue that the 2022 AFC West is the best division we've ever seen (even better than the 2021 NFC West initially looked and mostly was). And there's a stretch we play three road games consecutively -- which I don't think is very common. I personally struggle to recall the last time we did that? My memory fails me sometimes.

The Chargers loaded up their DL and secondary, finally have an OL and a ton of weapons. The Raiders I'm never super worried about but Adams vs. a rookie secondary will be interesting. The Bills have the best roster in the league right now and I would argue the Bengals got better. I'm not super worried about Russell Wilson but that Broncos team may click. We're going to have to beat some combo of the Chargers, Bills, and Bengals to get to the Super Bowl. Any two of them is a murderer's row.

TLR:

Chiefs podcasters are high on their own supply, overlooking problems both manageable and less manageable, to predict the Chiefs are Super Bowl shoo-ins. The Chiefs have a major problem at DL which I fear is going to be their Achilles all season, and a brutal schedule that will take more losses from the team than perhaps this roster deserves. I also have some comparably minor concerns: the rookie secondary, which I think will cost us games, and apparently all of these podcasts think we can replace Hill in the aggregate, whereas I'm not so sure.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Let's argue.

[staylor26]

This thread brought to you by the guy that told us McDuffie wasn't ready because he went to 1 practice and didn't like what he saw in 1 on 1s.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

Brandon Staley attempting to hatch another cunning plan to win the AFC West this year:

Just because it didnt work as much as they wanted didnt mean it was wrong. The expected value etween going for it and not can be very close. I will really admire him if he continues to do it this year.

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi

All I see is 17-0

PM2 with 69 TDs LOL

[raybec 4]

How shocking to see a Direckshun thread where he proclaims that nearl everyone is wrong but him.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Least popular opinion on this board: I think the Chargers are built for us and have a damn good shot at sweeping us this year. Meeting Mahomes in the playoffs is a different beast, but in the regular season they may get us. I'm very high on that team.

The Broncos are going to be what most every Russell Wilson team is: dynamic and intimidating for the first half of the season before collapsing the last month and a half.

C Dott of Chiefs Planet.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by mnchiefsguy

So you have more faith in an unproven Chargers and Donkeys team than you do in the team that has hosted 4 straight AFC title games. Got it.

I have a ton of faith in the Chargers, yes. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about with what I said about the Broncos. Are you lying, seriously? It's a football message board. Get your act together.

As for the Chargers, where are we vastly superior to them, exactly? Herbert is fantastic, though he's not Mahomes he gets you most of the way there. Their run game and weapons are superior to ours. Their DL and secondary are superior.

We've got them at QB, we crush them at LB, and we've got a solid advantage at OL. This is a team that played us straight up last year and got better, albeit entirely on a short-term basis.

I think if you're going to build a team that has to beat the Chiefs, it looks an awful lot like this Chargers team.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

A Chargers team that, without fail, underperforms every year. Let's not forget that.

True story.

Maybe this is Lucy holding the football, and like y'all, I've held off year after year after year from running up to kick it. Every year I know the ball is getting yanked.

This year it feels different. They're too strong everywhere, I just can't see it happening.

But, hey, see Necessary Disclaimer #2 in the OP.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

Lol wut

Russell Wilson is a really good QB. And when he's got really good weapons, he lights it up.

....for 2/3rds of the season until he fades.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by staylor26

This thread brought to you by the guy that told us McDuffie wasn't ready because he went to 1 practice and didn't like what he saw in 1 on 1s.

Necessary Disclaimer #2 in the OP.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by raybec 4

How shocking to see a Direckshun thread where he proclaims that nearl everyone is wrong but him.

Necessary Disclaimers #2 and #3 in the OP.

[Willie Lanier]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Necessary Disclaimers #2 and #3 in the OP.

Do you know who posts multiple disclaimers on public message boards?

People absolutely no better than the media hypocrites they're describing...

[LoneWolf]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

I have a ton of faith in the Chargers, yes. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about with what I said about the Broncos. Are you lying, seriously? It's a football message board. Get your act together.

As for the Chargers, where are we vastly superior to them, exactly? Herbert is fantastic, though he's not Mahomes he gets you most of the way there. Their run game and weapons are superior to ours. Their DL and secondary are superior.

We've got them at QB, we crush them at LB, and we've got a solid advantage at OL. This is a team that played us straight up last year and got better, albeit entirely on a short-term basis.

I think if you're going to build a team that has to beat the Chiefs, it looks an awful lot like this Chargers team.

Why are their weapons better than the Chiefs? KC has the best TE to ever put on a pair of cleats and a stable of capable WRs. KC also has the best offensive mind in the game in coach Reid.

You really are a soft bitch almost all the time. Sack up, dipshit, Mahomes and Co. are on a mission.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by Willie Lanier

Do you know who posts multiple disclaimers on public message boards?

People absolutely no better than the media hypocrites they're describing...

Necessary Disclaimer #3 in the OP.

[Direckshun]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf

Why are their weapons better than the Chiefs? KC has the best TE to ever put on a pair of cleats and a stable of capable WRs. KC also has the best offensive mind in the game in coach Reid.

You really are a soft bitch almost all the time. Sack up, dipshit, Mahomes and Co. are on a mission.

The coach Reid factor I overlooked. That's a very good point.

And I'm not up here saying the Chiefs are doomed to be routed. Mahomes and Reid are going to do their damage. I do think the Chargers are built to gum up the works enough for Herbert and company to mess with us on the other side of the ball.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

I have a ton of faith in the Chargers, yes. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about with what I said about the Broncos. Are you lying, seriously? It's a football message board. Get your act together.

As for the Chargers, where are we vastly superior to them, exactly? Herbert is fantastic, though he's not Mahomes he gets you most of the way there. Their run game and weapons are superior to ours. Their DL and secondary are superior.

We've got them at QB, we crush them at LB, and we've got a solid advantage at OL. This is a team that played us straight up last year and got better, albeit entirely on a short-term basis.

I think if you're going to build a team that has to beat the Chiefs, it looks an awful lot like this Chargers team.

Experience, consistency, and as already mentioned, coaching, and probably leadership.

FFS, Herbert's never even won more than 9 games in a season, much less played in a playoff game or won a playoff game, or won a really tough playoff game.

I'm sure you remember the Chiefs being shutout at home in their first AFCCG in decades, or being down 24-0 the following postseason... the Chargers haven't even gotten to the point of shitting down their leg in the first quarter of postseason game (besides losing to the Raiders last season).... not sure why anyone would have a ton of faith in them until they actually prove they aren't just the Ravens or Titans or another one of these pretenders (and I know you didn't specifically mention the playoffs, but I'm just assuming you don't have a "ton of faith" that they would win 13 games and then immediately flame out).