Do We Overtake KC In 2025?!

[BFritz21]

KC looked horrible last night.

Mahomes looked awful.

Kelce will be 36 a month into next season.

Hunt's a free agent, as-is Hopkins at receiver, as well as both starting guards and various other players.

They don't have much cap space to spend.

The Chiefs looked sloppy last night and they didn't look as confident as they have in years past.

I realize that we need to add some players on the offensive line and defense via free agency and the draft, but we have Burrow.

The Bills will still be good and the Ravens should be good but I don't trust Lamar to come through in big games, but, like I said, we have Burrow and I think he has an MVP next season with protection.

Does next season begin our takeover as the best team in the AFC?

[Essex Johnson]

Well they looked horrible vs NFC and but they continue to win in AFC, we have not made it to playoffs for two years and look horrible ourselves in games, also we know Mahomes is an elite QB and even elite QBS can have bad games.. we just need to worry about our team and to get back to the playoffs

[Soonerpeace]

(02-10-2025, 03:33 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: KC looked horrible last night.

Mahomes looked awful.

Kelce will be 36 a month into next season.

Hunt's a free agent, as-is Hopkins at receiver, as well as both starting guards and various other players.

They don't have much cap space to spend.

The Chiefs looked sloppy last night and they didn't look as confident as they have in years past.

I realize that we need to add some players on the offensive line and defense via free agency and the draft, but we have Burrow.

The Bills will still be good and the Ravens should be good but I don't trust Lamar to come through in big games, but, like I said, we have Burrow and I think he has an MVP next season with protection.

Does next season begin our takeover as the best team in the AFC?

The Bengals aren’t getting back to the SB much less AFC championship until they improve the trenches. They also need to get solid starters out of their top picks. Dax Hill, Myles Murphy, Carman,Ossiai, CTB, Zach Carter,D J Turner, Jordan Battle. That’s a lot of misses the last 3 years. Yes some have started but can you say just one ever got 1 pro bowl vote or any recognition? In ‘24 Mims and maybe Jenkins but Burton? That’s a lot of misses for 4 years. 

[Whacked]

Mehhh. We have a lot to fix.

Ps. If Zay Flowers doesn’t get hurt a few games ago - the Rat Turds are probably SB Champs IMO.

(02-10-2025, 03:33 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: KC looked horrible last night.

Mahomes looked awful.

Kelce will be 36 a month into next season.

Hunt's a free agent, as-is Hopkins at receiver, as well as both starting guards and various other players.

They don't have much cap space to spend.

The Chiefs looked sloppy last night and they didn't look as confident as they have in years past.

I realize that we need to add some players on the offensive line and defense via free agency and the draft, but we have Burrow.

The Bills will still be good and the Ravens should be good but I don't trust Lamar to come through in big games, but, like I said, we have Burrow and I think he has an MVP next season with protection.

Does next season begin our takeover as the best team in the AFC?

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

Get our interior OL upgraded and our DL playing well and we should be the favorite IMO.

Have to do a lot of good moves in the Offseason though. Starts with paying Ja'Marr and such, but we have to have enough dough to
upgrade the trenches. Hoping the additions of Peters the new OL Coach and Golden and others will be the key. Have to have a plan
and stick to it, too much trying to stick square pegs into round holes with this team over the years.

As long as we have Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Trey Hendrickson we have a start to take over the AFC and compete with the Eagles.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(02-10-2025, 03:55 PM)Whacked Wrote: Mehhh. We have a lot to fix.

Ps. If Zay Flowers doesn’t get hurt a few games ago - the Rat Turds are probably SB Champs IMO.

No way the Rats beat the Eagles, no frickin' way.

[Soonerpeace]

(02-10-2025, 03:55 PM)Whacked Wrote: Mehhh. We have a lot to fix.

Ps. If Zay Flowers doesn’t get hurt a few games ago - the Rat Turds are probably SB Champs IMO.

(02-10-2025, 04:00 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: No way the Rats beat the Eagles, no frickin' way.

The dominating in the trenches by Philly exposed KC and was not scheme. KC . Mahomes looked just like he did at Texas Tech. Now I’m not demeaning Mahomes. But there’s a reason why he didn’t do squat at Tech with Kingsbury as the HC/OC. Give Fangino credit he’s the top DC but the trenches KC lost. Flowers had little bearing.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(02-10-2025, 04:17 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: The dominating in the trenches by Philly exposed KC and was not scheme. KC . Mahomes looked just like he did at Texas Tech. Now I’m not demeaning Mahomes. But there’s a reason why he didn’t do squat at Tech with Kingsbury as the HC/OC. Give Fangino credit he’s the top DC but the trenches KC lost. Flowers had little bearing.

Fangio is a damn good DC that is for sure. Was kind of hoping to get his Secondary coach over here, too bad.

But we all saw it was the DL of the Eagles that was far superior. 

True on Zay Flowers, he was hardly the player to put the Ravens over the Quiefs let alone over the Eagles.

[BFritz21]

(02-10-2025, 04:00 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Get our interior OL upgraded and our DL playing well and we should be the favorite IMO.

Have to do a lot of good moves in the Offseason though. Starts with paying Ja'Marr and such, but we have to have enough dough to
upgrade the trenches. Hoping the additions of Peters the new OL Coach and Golden and others will be the key. Have to have a plan
and stick to it, too much trying to stick square pegs into round holes with this team over the years.

As long as we have Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Trey Hendrickson we have a start to take over the AFC and compete with the Eagles.

Those are my thoughts exactly, but seems like not many agree.

Improving in the trenches is key and we need to be able to stop the run, and then we also need to upgrade the secondary, but then I don't see how we're not the favorite in the AFC. 

I pray that they're not just expecting Peters to fix it without any upgrades, especially since we'll have money to spend.

Burrow can be the best QB in the league with even average protection.

I think Higgins will get overpaid by a team and it will be stupid of us to match because there are a number of free agent receivers that will be able to produce with Chase drawing all the coverage (even more so with a good line giving Burrow time) and then there's always a few surprise cuts that we'll be able to sign for less than we'd have to spend on Higgins.

I think the Chiefs will be very beatable next season and, like you kind of implied, I think we could be the favorite in the AFC.

[George Cantstandya]

As of right now no. Maybe better to revisit the question after free agency and the draft. The Bengals have not beat the Chiefs since December 2022. I think we should be more concerned about how the team performs in the division instead of worrying about the Chiefs.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(02-10-2025, 04:33 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: Those are my thoughts exactly, but seems like not many agree.

Improving in the trenches is key and we need to be able to stop the run, and then we also need to upgrade the secondary, but then I don't see how we're not the favorite in the AFC. 

I pray that they're not just expecting Peters to fix it without any upgrades, especially since we'll have money to spend.

Burrow can be the best QB in the league with even average protection.

I think Higgins will get overpaid by a team and it will be stupid of us to match because there are a number of free agent receivers that will be able to produce with Chase drawing all the coverage (even more so with a good line giving Burrow time) and then there's always a few surprise cuts that we'll be able to sign for less than we'd have to spend on Higgins.

I think the Chiefs will be very beatable next season and, like you kind of implied, I think we could be the favorite in the AFC.

Well said Brad. We aren't that far off in my opinion. Coaching was our biggest problem last season and we fired the bad and hired some good
coaches to freshen things up around here. Joe Burrow is the best QB in the NFL, keep this guy upright, get him a running game and get our 
Defense decent and we can beat anybody, even the Eagles.

[KillerGoose]

The Bengals may not even be the best team in the division next season, let alone AFC. Kansas City will still be formidable but the Ravens and Bills will be top notch again. I expect Cincinnati to be competitive but it is hard to say without seeing how FA goes.

[Soonerpeace]

(02-10-2025, 04:22 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Fangio is a damn good DC that is for sure. Was kind of hoping to get his Secondary coach over here, too bad.

But we all saw it was the DL of the Eagles that was far superior. 

True on Zay Flowers, he was hardly the player to put the Ravens over the Quiefs let alone over the Eagles.

From The Athletic…


This Philly defense is in that conversation. Last night, despite never blitzing (!), DC Vic Fangio had a 38 percent pressure rate with four rushers. With Jalen Carter frequently double-teamed, linemates Josh Sweat and Milton Williams combined for 5.5 sacks. Dropping seven into coverage, the Eagles also played zone on 40 of 42 Chiefs dropbacks.


Again, despite never blitzing, Fangio's unit sacked Mahomes a career-high six times, intercepted him twice (once for a TD) and recovered the fumble in that GIF. When sorted by EPA per play, this ranked 129th of Mahomes' 132 career games (-0.26), nearly as bad as that 2020 Super Bowl loss (-0.29). Read how Fangio prepared his unit for last night. 

[WeezyBengal]

Honestly, I think the AFC is a bit down as a whole right now.

Ravens, Bills, and Chiefs are at the top, and I'd say each of those teams are flawed. Ravens and Bills have a suspect defense while the Chiefs offense is becoming suspect, especially with Kelce aging and not being as productive. I really think Mahomes will continue to struggle with his security blanket (Kelce) declining.

The Chiefs won SO MANY one score games and BARELY edged out so many games this year. 5-6 of their games could have been flipped. People forget that. They were not a dominant team. 

That being said, the AFC is kind of wide open. If the Bengals were EVER going to kind of go "all in", now is the time.

[QueenCity]

An average Bengals defense likely gets them to the AFC Championship this year.... and our current team held their own vs. the Eagles for 3 quarters. Plus a pass interference away from beating the Chiefs.

AFC right now is a crap shoot they just need to sign the right players and draft well.. sounds easy right?

[J24]

Come back to me in a month after free Agency!

[125250]

Doesn’t look like overcoming KC will be the issue, it’s Philadelphia.

[Luvnit2]

(02-10-2025, 04:43 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: The Bengals may not even be the best team in the division next season, let alone AFC. Kansas City will still be formidable but the Ravens and Bills will be top notch again. I expect Cincinnati to be competitive but it is hard to say without seeing how FA goes.

These are my thoughts as well. I think Ravens will leap ahead of Chiefs. We have not been able to beat Ravens last 2 years. I believe we are 0-4.

But I will be watching our off season. Do we cut players to create cap room? Are we aggressive going after one stud DT/DE, one OG and one safety? What do with Tee, Jamar and Trey?

We need to improve the trenches prior to the draft, if we don't I have. no faith in 20- and 21-year-old draft picks dominating 25- to 30-year-old men in the trenches.

I am an optimist, but if our FO refuses to cut players and refuses to structure contracts kicking a lot of cap down the road, I feel we are just spinning our wheels.

As for others in off season Chiefs have a lot of tough decisions in FA and not a lot of cap. Reid, Bolton, Wharton, starting DE, all FA's. Our offense 5 WR's, 2 running backs, all pro OG, kicker and long snapper needed with only 15 million in cap space. I think KC declines and possibly Chargers or Broncos end their dominance in the AFCW.

[*bengalfan74*]

(02-10-2025, 04:43 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: The Bengals may not even be the best team in the division next season, let alone AFC. Kansas City will still be formidable but the Ravens and Bills will be top notch again. I expect Cincinnati to be competitive but it is hard to say without seeing how FA goes.

Agree

I think the Bengals will improve. The question is how much will they improve? I believe with some key additions in free agency and a good draft (for a change) we could be quite competitive. Also cutting the right people and making some moves.

Lets see how that plays out then we'll start thinking about who we can overtake.

[samhain]

(02-10-2025, 04:17 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: The dominating in the trenches by Philly exposed KC and was not scheme. KC . Mahomes looked just like he did at Texas Tech. Now I’m not demeaning Mahomes. But there’s a reason why he didn’t do squat at Tech with Kingsbury as the HC/OC. Give Fangino credit he’s the top DC but the trenches KC lost. Flowers had little bearing.

If you have a front 4 that gets pressure you can drop everyone else.  Mahomes is an all time great, but the Chiefs dealt with some horrific play from their OTs.  Constant pressure from fewer guys and everyone else in coverage has always been his kryptonite.  It's every QB's kryptonite.  It's just relatively rare to have a front 4 (plus more in the chamber with their rotation) as good a Philly's.  He's also enjoyed better OL play in years past.  

Hell, Anarumo rushed 3 and dropped 8 when they were having success vs KC.  Attrition and decline on the DL made that strategy a tougher ask this year.