Kansas
Longest division title streaks: Kansas City Chiefs on brink of nine in a row
Bills secure AFC East, Ravens continue with self-inflicted wounds
Mackenzie Salmon breaks down the top storylines from Week 13 in the NFL.
Sports Seriously
Each passing season seems to move the Kansas City Chiefs one step closer to matching the legacy of the New England Patriots’ Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era.
Kansas City could clinch a ninth straight divisional title with a win over the Los Angeles Chargers on “Sunday Night Football.” Should they clinch on Sunday night, or at any point down the stretch, they’ll be within arm’s reach of the Patriots’ all-time record.
The Chiefs already have the second-longest streak of consecutive division titles in NFL history after surpassing the 1970s Los Angeles Rams last year. But they still need to win three more in a row – including this year – to match the Patriots’ record of 11 between 2009 and 2019.
With its 11-1 record, Kansas City already holds a three-game lead over the Chargers in the AFC West headed into Sunday’s clash. Even if the Chiefs lose and their lead shrinks to two games, they’ll still have four more weeks to try to clinch the title and extend their streak.
Here’s a full list of the longest division championship streaks in NFL history:
Longest NFL division title streaks
T-4. Cleveland Browns (1950-55); Minnesota Vikings (1973-1978); Pittsburgh Steelers (1974-79)
If there’s one thing to take away from this list, it’s that it’s very hard to accomplish what the Chiefs have in the last seven or eight years, especially in the modern era.
The Browns, Vikings and Steelers all put together six-year runs of division title wins in the middle of the 20th century. Until the mid-2010s, those streaks were tied for the second-longest in NFL history.
When the NFL substantially overhauled its scheduling system and expanded the regular season to 16 games in 1978, those streaks died shortly thereafter. No team was able to win six or more divisional titles in a row again until the Patriots hit that mark in 2014, 35 years later.
Notably, all three of these teams to earn six straight division titles relied heavily on strong defense. The Browns gave up the fewest yards and fewest points in 1953 and 1954, the first time in NFL history a team managed to do it twice in a row. The Vikings had the “Purple People Eaters” on the defensive line. The Steelers had the “Steel Curtain.”
3. Los Angeles Rams (1973-79)
Like the other teams dominating the NFL around this time, the Rams were able to win consistently because of their defense. They finished in the top three in the NFC in points allowed every year besides 1979 during this run.
Unlike some of the other dynastic teams, the Rams also wore opponents down on offense. They consistently scored over 300 points per season in a time where there were only 14 games in a season. The Rams won just one Super Bowl during their excellent run, but they held onto the record for longest divisional win streak for 35 years.
2. Kansas City Chiefs (2016-present)
The Chiefs’ run of dominance dates back to before Patrick Mahomes came to town. Head coach Andy Reid and then-Chiefs starter Alex Smith brought Kansas City back to prominence in the mid-2010s. Then Mahomes took over in 2018, and the rest is history.
The Chiefs have found many ways to win over the last few years. They’ve had super-powered offenses help bring them championships, and when their offense took a step back, their defense stepped up and showed off how dominant it can be.
This year has been one of the strangest Chiefs seasons during this run as Kansas City continues to find the most bizarre ways to win: blocked field goals, botched snaps and game-winning drives against the Carolina Panthers, to name a few.
If the Chiefs are able to win the AFC West looking like they have this year, there really might be nothing stopping them from reaching the levels of dominance the Patriots had over their division in the 2000s and 2010s.
1. New England Patriots (2009-2019)
Every NFL fan older than 10 years old remembers how dominant the Brady-Belichick Patriots were.
Every year, they had a defense among the best in the league. They had Brady’s consistency under center. They had a plethora of excellent pass-catching weapons from Wes Welker to Aaron Hernandez to Rob Gronkowski to Julian Edelman.
The Patriots’ streak was almost even more (seemingly) unbreakable. New England won five straight division titles from 2003-2007, but in 2008, they lost the division to the Miami Dolphins thanks to a conference record tiebreaker. If they had won the AFC East that year, they’d have won 17 in a row.
Kansas
Salvador Perez attended the Ecaudor-Curaçao match at Arrowhead. So did other royals — from the Netherlands
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Royals captain Salvador Perez, along with teammates Starling Marte and Carter Jensen, attended Saturday evening’s World Cup match at Arrowhead Stadium.
So did some other royals!
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands began Saturday by cheering the Dutch past Sweden in Houston.
The monarchs ended the day by watching Curacao make some history against Ecuador in Kansas City.
The small island nation of Curacao is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and that makes King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima the heads of state. So, after a quick flight north Saturday, the royal couple dutifully swapped out their bright orange scarves of Het Oranje Legioen they wore to their earlier match with bright blue ones for The Blue Wave.
Curacao, the smallest World Cup team in population and size, made its tournament debut last Sunday in a 7-1 loss to Germany. But it bounced back from that defeat to earn a 0-0 draw with La Tri and earn its first-ever point in the tournament.
“It is an extra-special World Cup because we have both the Netherlands and Curacao,” Willem-Alexander told RTL-TV. “So we have twice as many teams to cheer for. A great opportunity to cheer on both the Blues and the Oranges. All in all, it will be a special World Cup for me with two teams, and I naturally hope they go extremely far.”
The Netherlands moved one step closer to the World Cup knockout round after a 5-1 win over Sweden.
Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo scored two goals apiece to help coach Ronald Koeman’s team bounce back from a disappointing draw in its opener and move atop Group F. The Netherlands concludes group play against Tunisia on Thursday in Kansas City.
Curacao is still alive, too, after Eloy Room made 15 saves — one off the World Cup record — to earn a draw with Ecuador. It concludes Group E play on Thursday against the Ivory Coast in Philadelphia at the same time Ecuador is playing Germany in New York.
It is quite rare for sitting monarchs to come through the area. Queen Ann of Romania attended the dedication of the Liberty Memorial, which is where Kansas City is holding its World Cup FanFest, in the 1920s, while King Gustav XVI of Sweden made a stop in the small Kansas town of Lindsborg when he was passing through the Midwest in the 1970s.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Kansas
1 man dies after being shot June 9 in Kansas City, Missouri; police working to identify person of interest
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department is working to identify a person(s) of interest in a June 9 shooting that led to the death of one victim.
Police were called around 6 a.m. on June 9 to the area of Independence and Monroe avenues in Kansas City, Missouri.
Responding officers found an unresponsive man behind a residence in that area. He was transported to the hospital for life-threatening injuries, per KCPD.
Police were notified Friday night that the shooting victim died.
KCPD said Saturday “detectives have made headway identifying subject(s) of interest.”
Anyone with information on the incident is encouraged to call KCPD Homicide detectives directly at 816-234-5043 or the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline at 816-474-8477.
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If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
Kansas
1 man killed, 5 others wounded in mass shooting Friday night near East 19th and Vine streets in KCMO
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One person was shot to death and five others were wounded by gunfire Friday night in the 18th and Vine Historic District in Kansas City, Missouri.
Police said officers were in the area of East 18th Street and Paseo about 10:30 p.m. when they heard gunshots.
The officers moved to East 19th Street between the Paseo and Vine Street to check for shooting victims, according to a police department news release.
They found one man who had been shot and was unresponsive, along with two women who had been shot.
The man was declared dead at the scene.
One of the women suffered serious gunshot wounds and the other woman suffered non life-threatening wounds, according to the police department news release.
Officers at the shooting scene were notified three more shooting victims from the same area had been taken to a hospital by a private vehicle.
An adult male and female were reported in stable condition late Friday, while a second adult male suffered critical gunshot wounds, according to police.
Police said their preliminary investigation revealed the victims were standing on 19th Street between Vine and Paseo when people began shooting in several directions.
All the shooting victims were hit by gunfire in that area, according to police.
No word on what led to the mass shooting and at least one murder.
This is a developing story and will be updated when new information is available.
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If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
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