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Results speak for themselves.
Or, as Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells famously said: “You are what your record says you are.”
For the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions, that’s a good thing. Not so much for the New York Jets or Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs improved to 9-0 on Sunday with a hard-fought 16-14 comeback win over the Denver Broncos. They needed a blocked field goal at the end of regulation to remain undefeated. But that’s what championship teams do. They make the plays when they matter most.
This time, a little-known linebacker teammates call John Cena stepped up to save the game. Leo Chenal came flying across the line to knock down Wil Lutz’s 35-yard attempt as time expired to preserve Kansas City’s 15-game winning streak, dating to last season.
“It was a good push by everybody, and I got through,” Chenal said. “We’ve been talking about it for a while — winning one of those — and we did it in a big moment.”
Chenal blocked an extra point early in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl last season that turned out to be the difference in Kansas City’s 25-22 overtime victory over San Francisco.
“He’s extremely strong,” Patrick Mahomes said of Chenal. “He’s like the strength of a D-lineman but he plays the linebacker position. You don’t want to be that guy on the end when he’s working out. We call him John Cena. He’s a guy who gets after it and we’ve used him on offense because of the way he’s able to use his speed and athleticism with that power. He did it in the Super Bowl and he did it again today.”
The Chiefs keep finding ways to win. Often, it takes some of Mahomes’ magic. Other times, it’s been a defensive stand, a game-winning kick by Harrison Butker and more.
They benefited from an out-of-bounds toe that negated a potential game-tying touchdown catch vs. Baltimore in Week 1. A questionable pass interference penalty helped set up Butker’s 51-yard field goal as time expired in a 26-25 win over Cincinnati in Week 2. An overtime coin flip went their way last Monday night in a 30-24 victory over Tampa Bay after Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles didn’t go for the 2-point conversion and the win at the end of regulation.
The Chiefs face their toughest test of the season next week when they visit Buffalo (8-2). Josh Allen and the Bills will be aiming to avenge a playoff loss at home to Kansas City last January.
“It’s week-to-week in this league,” Mahomes said. “I just continue to work and get better throughout the entire season. We know it’s going to be a great challenge this next week — Buffalo’s playing great football. They’ve played great football for a while now and we understand what it takes to go into an environment like that and have to give it everything you have in order to get a win.”