Should the 0-2 Chiefs be worried about missing the playoffs?

Sunday’s slate of NFL games dropped several teams to 0-2 on the young season, and one more team, the Houston Texans, could join those teams with a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tonight.

While all of those fanbases may be reaching for the panic button right now, in one region in particular, the panic feels different.

Kansas City.

The Chiefs fell to 0-2 on the year with a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the highly anticipated Super Bowl LIX rematch. While the Chiefs defense limited Saquon Barkley to just 88 rushing yards and held Jalen Hurts to only 101 passing yards, as the Eagles quarterback pointed out when told of those numbers before the final snap, they won the game.

Now, the Chiefs are 0-2 for the first time since the 2014 season, when Alex Smith was the quarterback. That team finished the year with a 9-7 record, second in the AFC West behind the Denver Broncos and on the outside looking in when the playoffs began.

Could this team, this dynasty, suffer a similar fate? Statistically speaking, the Chiefs have around an 11% chance of making the playoffs. Since the 2020 NFL season, 42 teams started 0-2, and only five made the playoffs. (The NFL Playoffs expanded to seven teams in each conference in 2020, and added a 17th game in 2021, giving teams better odds.)

If you look at all the data since 1933, when the NFL instituted playoffs, teams that started 0-2 have just an 8.6% chance of making the playoffs.

Recent history is more kind to the Chiefs. After all three teams -- the Broncos, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Los Angeles Rams -- made the playoffs last season after starting 0-2.

Should Chiefs fans panic?

“Remain calm, all is well!”

Kevin Bacon’s line from Animal House might portray how Chiefs fans are feeling this Monday morning: Trying to maintain a sense of calmness as chaos rages around them.

But there are reasons for Chiefs fans to believe in this team, beyond the recent history of 0-2 teams reaching the postseason.

Let’s start with context. The Chiefs opened the 2025 season with a pair of games against playoff teams from the previous season: First, the Los Angeles Chargers, and then Sunday’s Super Bowl rematch against the Eagles.

Opening up against two playoff teams is tough enough, but when you factor in the first game being played in Brazil, and then the atmosphere around the much-ballyhooed Super Bowl rematch, you realize these are not your average NFL games.

As for some more context, the Chiefs are playing without two of their top wide receivers at the moment. Rashee Rice is serving a six-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, and Xavier Worthy is out with a shoulder injury.

Even with that context, the Chiefs were close on Sunday.

How close?

If Travis Kelce secures this catch for a touchdown, the Chiefs likely take a 17-13 lead early in the fourth quarter. Instead, Andrew Mukuba’s interception not only prevented a touchdown, but the long return set the Eagles up for a Hurts touchdown and a 20-10 lead.

That is a massive swing, and that play was not the only missed opportunity for Kansas City. Harrison Butker pushed a field goal wide right, and Patrick Mahomes missed a wide-open Tyquan Thornton in the fourth quarter for what could have been a walk-in touchdown, one that also could have swung the game.

“That’s stuff I gotta continue to get better, hitting those deep shots early,” Mahomes said. “Even though we hit the touchdown later, if you hit that touchdown with maybe two more minutes on the clock, you might have a chance to get the football back. That’s something that I’ll look at, learn from and try to be better the next time.”

On the defensive side of the ball, after giving up 318 passing yards to Justin Herbert in Week 1, the Chiefs largely held the Eagles offense in check. That bounce-back performance bodes well for this unit going forward.

However, if the Chiefs fan in your life is looking a little shaken this morning, there is a reason for that.

Kansas City’s Week 1 loss to the Chargers broke a 17-game winning streak in one-score games, dating back to the 2023 season. Over a lengthy stretch, the Chiefs won five regular-season one-score games in 2023, 11 more in the 2024 regular season, and then last year’s AFC Championship Game against the Buffalo Bills by a final score of 32-29.

Sunday’s loss to the Eagles is now their second-straight loss in a one-score game.

That is an entire regular season’s worth of breaks going your way in a one-score game.

And there were many breaks that went Kansas City’s way over that stretch: Moments like Isaiah Likely stepping out of bounds on a potential touchdown in Week 1 last season, Aidan O’Connell fumbling a snap when the Las Vegas Raiders were in field goal range late in Week 13, or a field goal block against the Broncos on the game’s final play that denied Denver a win.

Kansas City coming back to earth in one-score games this year -- and they have already lost two -- could have a massive impact on the playoff race in a tough conference.

Ultimately, it is not time to panic in Kansas City. It is very early, there is a lot of football left to be played, and the Chiefs’ two losses need the context of both the situation surrounding those games and the injuries on the offensive side of the football.

This is a veteran team with a coaching staff that has seen almost everything there is to see in the NFL.

But if they lose to the 0-2 New York Giants next week?

Then we can talk about panicking.

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