There has only been one team to win 16 regular-season games. That was the 2007 New England Patriots.
If the Kansas City Chiefs match the 2007 Patriots, it won’t carry the same weight. They are playing 17 games, not the 16 that was the NFL norm for years. But they might be on their way to a 16-1 record.
So much attention has been paid to how the Chiefs win that them winning almost every week has been overshadowed a bit. The Chiefs improved to 14-1 this season and are closing in on getting the AFC’s No. 1 seed after a 27-19 win over the Houston Texans on Saturday. It was the 16th straight win for the Chiefs in one-score games, extending their NFL record. It wasn’t a particularly dominant performance but it had a familiar result.
The Chiefs have won in strange and sometimes unbelievable ways. They’ve rarely blown anyone out this season. But they keep winning, and might end up with as many regular-season wins as any team in NFL history.
Chiefs play another tight game
Since the Chiefs were playing, it wasn’t a surprise that it was a close game.
Kansas City struck first. Patrick Mahomes suffered what was described as a mild high ankle sprain last week, and there was a brief concern over his availability for this week’s game, but Mahomes played and had some nice runs early on. His 15-yard touchdown run opened up the scoring.
The Texans battled back. Stroud had a nice touchdown pass across his body to tight end Dalton Schultz. He also had a 30-yard touchdown pass to Tank Dell but it was costly. Houston receiver Jared Wayne dove for the deep pass and inadvertently dove into Dell’s knee. It was immediately clear Dell had suffered a serious injury. He was carted off while his teammates were obviously emotional. Stroud was in tears and had to be consoled by teammates.
That injury seemed to understandably affect the Texans. They missed the extra point right after the Dell touchdown. The Chiefs drove on their defense with Xavier Worthy catching a touchdown pass to extend Kansas City’s lead to 24-16.
The Chiefs are hard enough to beat in ideal conditions. The Texans missing one of their best receivers, and worried about him as he left the field on a cart, didn’t help them. Houston didn’t score a touchdown after Dell’s injury.
Chiefs pull out another win
Clearly, the Chiefs have an edge in close games. The second half on Saturday looked like a lot of other Kansas City games.
In the fourth quarter, the Chiefs had a 14-play drive that took 6:33 off the clock. It ended with just a field goal, but that kept the pressure on the Texans to be perfect.
Houston couldn’t come up with their own long drive after that. Trailing 27-19, Stroud was sacked on third down and the Texans punted. Mahomes hit Samaje Perine on a big conversion on third-and-4 to chew up some more clock. Kareem Hunt had a first-down run after the two-minute warning to seal it.
The Chiefs have an 89% chance of getting the No. 1 seed after the win, NBC said on its broadcast. They’ll clinch the top seed with a win at the Steelers on Christmas Day next week. A 15-1 Chiefs team wouldn’t have anything to play for in Week 18 and could sit some players. But a 15-2 regular season, coming off back-to-back Super Bowls, would be remarkable.
As time goes on, how the Chiefs piled up all those wins will be forgotten. It will just be viewed as another dominant Chiefs team, which is perhaps on its way to a historic championship.
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