“And the kick is up and …,” the announcer said on Sunday night in a tense battle between the AFC West Division leading Kansas City Chiefs and their closest division pursuer, the Los Angeles Chargers. It was a one-point game when the kicker sent the ball towards the uprights.
Now, if that had been a Chargers kicker I suggest that if the ball would have hit the upright it would have fallen away no good. But this is the Chiefs kicker, looking to advance Kansas City from a one-point deficit to another close win.
The ball did hit the upright … and, as expected for the Chiefs fortunes, glanced to the right and between the goal posts to give Kansas City another win, this time, 19-17.
The Chiefs team is like a guy who forgot his umbrella on a rainy day and avoided the rain drops running between his car and office.
The Chiefs have the best record in football, 12-1, and one of the worst records against the point spread, 4 and 9. They have had four games end when the last play was a field goal attempt. When the Chiefs needed that kick to win, they got it every time. When they needed the last play of the game field goal to be no good, the Denver Broncos obliged five weeks ago.
No team in NFL history has ever compiled a record as good as the Chiefs, thirteen wins in fourteen games, with as little of a points-for and points-against margin. On the season, Kansas City has outscored their opponents by a combined 56 points. Ten teams this year have a better point differential margin, and only the Detroit Lions match the Chiefs straight-up winning percentage. Even the Chiefs two closest competitors in the AFC West, the Chargers and Broncos, have a wider gap on season points-for and points-against. The Broncos have outscored their opponents this season by 71 points, the Chargers 70.