Chiefs News 10/29: Chiefs remain Super Bowl favorites

The team were +1400 just a few weeks ago

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Super Bowl odds: Chiefs remain on top after all contenders win | The Athletic

The Kansas City Chiefs remain the favorites to win the Super Bowl with +450 odds after a convincing Monday night win over the Washington Commanders. There are still plenty of talented teams in the mix behind them with still over half the season left to go.

Kansas City stays on top ahead of showdown with Buffalo

The Chiefs are still in the driver’s seat after winning for the fourth time in five games. Kansas City pulled away

thanks to its balanced offensive attack and dominated after a strange start to Monday’s game. By putting away the Jayden Daniels-less Commanders, Kansas City raised its odds slightly from +500.

The schedule picks up significantly for the Chiefs the next few weeks. This week finally brings the highly-anticipated showdown against the rival Buffalo Bills (+750).

After Buffalo, Kansas City gets a bye week before returning to face two division leaders in Denver and Indianapolis. Getting through that three-game stretch unscathed would clearly put the Chiefs as the team to beat entering the final stretch of the regular season.

NFL All-Pro 2025 Midseason Picks and Predictions | SI

Quarterback

First team (1): Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs

Second team (1): Matthew Stafford, Rams

Mahomes is the betting favorite on every book in America, and rightfully so. After watching Kansas City morph into a defense-first team the past two seasons, Mahomes and his offense are back. The two-time MVP has thrown for 2,099 yards and accounted for 21 touchdowns with four interceptions.

Meanwhile, Stafford entered his Week 8 bye with 1,866 passing yards and 17 touchdowns. The Rams have one of the league’s most explosive pass-catching duos, with Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, and Stafford has taken full advantage.

Chiefs continue to consider Arrowhead renovation vs. new stadium | NBC Sports

On Monday, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt addressed the status of the team’s effort to achieve a long-term solution.

The comments came in the context of the recent ouster of Jackson County, Missouri, executive Frank White via a recall election. White was replaced by Phil LeVota.

“We have had some preliminary conversations with [LeVota],” Hunt said, via KMBC.com. “He obviously has a lot of things on his plate, but he expressed eagerness to work with us, and we expect to expand those conversations in the coming weeks.”

The threshold question continues to be renovation vs. new construction, with the likely destination being the other side of the Missouri-Kansas border.

NFL Week 9 picks, score predictions: Colts destroy Steelers, Chiefs beat Bills in AFC thriller | CBS Sports

Josh Allen is so good that he can usually mask any problems that the Bills have, but not this year. On offense, their receivers can’t get open, and on defense, they can’t stop the run (They’ve given up the second-most rushing yards per game in the NFL this year). That second issue is probably the bigger one because Andy Reid is one of the smartest offensive coaches in the NFL and if he sees that you can’t stop the run, then he’s going to run the ball. And if you decided to go all-in on stopping the run, then Patrick Mahomes is going to throw for 700 yards. And he might do that anyway, because the Bills will be missing one of their top pass-rushers in Ed Oliver, who’s tied for the team lead in sacks (Oliver suffered a biceps injury in Week 8 and will miss several games).

Heading into Week 9, it feels like Mahomes is playing at a higher level than Allen. The Bills QB has one game this year where he’s thrown three touchdown passes, Mahomes has hit that number four times in the past five weeks. With Rashee Rice back from suspension, the Chiefs’ offense is at full strength. Basically, the Death Star is now fully operational and the Bills are Alderaan.

PICK: Chiefs 34-27 over Bills | Chiefs -1.5

2025 NFL trade needs tracker: Every team’s top priority ahead of Nov. 4 deadline | NFL.com

BIGGEST NEED: Pass rush

The K.C. defense is surging but could still use some help on the edge. The Chiefs generated 14 QB pressures against the Commanders in Week 8, with George Karlaftis accounting for six (43%). Chris Jones’ abnormally quiet night (he logged zero QB pressures in a game for the first time since the 2021 Wild Card Round) highlighted the pass-rush question. If Trey Smith’s back injury lingers, O-line depth could become a need.

Around the NFL

Saints to start QB Tyler Shough over Spencer Rattler vs. Rams | ESPN

The Saints will start rookie quarterback Tyler Shough against the Los Angeles Rams with Spencer Rattler remaining on the bench, the team announced Tuesday.

Coach Kellen Moore benched Rattler in favor of Shough midway through Sunday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and said after the game that he’d take 48 hours to decide on a starting quarterback.

Sunday’s game against the Rams will be Shough’s first NFL start and his first start overall since he played for Louisville on Nov. 30, 2024.

In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride

5 things we learned from the Chiefs’ statement win over the Commanders

1. The Chiefs like to make it hard on themselves

Kansas City is a passing team. Full stop.

It is also one of the few NFL teams with enough offensive firepower to choose to be one-dimensional — and still be successful. Despite quarterback Patrick Mahomes throwing two interceptions in the first half, Kansas City was still moving the ball relatively well against a very aggressive Washington defense.

Heading into halftime, head coach Andy Reid told reporters that Kansas City needed to run the ball a little bit more — and in the second half, that’s exactly what the Chiefs did. While they were still running a pass-first offense, running the football took some of the juice out of the Commanders’ pass rushers; they couldn’t just pin their ears back and tee off.

This fully unlocked the passing game — and the Chiefs scored 21 unanswered points.

2. The Chiefs’ offensive line needs to get healthy

Fans got a glimpse of what this offensive line might have looked like if Kansas City had decided not to pay guard Trey Smith this offseason — and after see what that looked like, it’s an alternate universe in which I do not want to live. God bless Mike Caliendo for his effort while filling in for Smith at right guard — but it was a Halloween nightmare. I’m okay with skipping it in the future.

We also caught our first glimpses of backup left tackle Jaylon Moore struggling — especially against the bull rushes of Washington’s edge players. To their credit, both players cleaned things up in the second half. But the sooner the Chiefs get Smith — and rookie left tackle Josh Simmons — back on the field, the better.