Kansas City Chiefs ego is their worst enemy as they chase a three-peat

The Kansas City Chiefs are in the midst of a dynasty most NFL fan bases can only dream of. They’ve made the playoffs in nine straight years, have eight straight division titles, four Super Bowl appearances, and three Super Bowl wins in the last decade alone. Patrick Mahomes has played in the AFC Championship Game in each of his six seasons as a starter.

The Chiefs have been as dominant as any team over the last ten years, but they appear even more dominant if you look at a smaller sample size. The Chiefs have won back-to-back Super Bowls and three of the last five overall. They are looking to three-peat in 2024, and seemingly have as good of a chance as any team to win it.

Chiefs fans are as confident as ever, especially after their team won a nail-biting Week 1 game against the Baltimore Ravens in a 2023 AFC Championship Game rematch. The same can be said about Chiefs safety Justin Reid, who disclosed the only possible thing he believes can stop the Chiefs from three-peating on a recent episode of the Up & Adams Show.

“Honestly, I don’t think that anyone has a shot with us as long as we’re playing our form of ball, really,” Reid said. “I think our biggest enemies will be ourselves and staying true to the process, never relaxing, never taking our foot off the pedal and just keeping everyone as healthy as possible so we can go into the postseason ready to go. I think as long as we keep ourselves into the game [and] don’t think that anything will be given to us, I don’t think anyone can really challenge us.”

Reid believes that the only thing standing in the way of the Chiefs is the Chiefs themselves. As long as they’re playing what Reid describes as their form of ball, nobody can challenge them.

If we’re being honest, Reid could easily be right. The Chiefs have won back-to-back Super Bowls and just gave Patrick Mahomes arguably the best supporting cast he’s had since the days of Tyreek Hill and Kareem Hunt. The problem is he appears to be counting the opposition out.

The AFC is incredibly stacked. The Chiefs did just defeat the Ravens, but the game was awfully close and Baltimore might’ve won it if Isaiah Likely’s foot remained in bounds. Teams like the Houston Texans, Buffalo Bills, and Cincinnati Bengals (if not more) loom as at least somewhat realistic threats in their own conference.

Even if the Chiefs do win the AFC, there are still the elite teams in the NFC to deal with in a potential Super Bowl like the Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, and Philadelphia Eagles.

The Chiefs should be considered the clear favorites to win another Super Bowl. They have the best quarterback in the world, a really good defense, and as strong of a supporting cast as Mahomes has had in a while. Still, if they’re going to just gloss over how talented the competition is, they might ruin their chances of pulling off the three-peat. Confidence is important, but having too big of an ego can prove to be costly.