The Kansas City Chiefs certainly have aspirations far beyond a return to the NFL playoffs, but the reigning back-to-back champions have completed the first step of postseason success: punching their ticket to a playoff spot.

The Chiefs can’t clinch the AFC West in Week 13, but following a Thanksgiving loss from the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City’s win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday, Kansas City is officially playoff-bound for the 10th consecutive year in head coach Andy Reid’s 12th year at the helm in KC.

When Reid arrived in 2013, the Chiefs had just completed an NFL-worst 2-14 season in 2012 that left them with the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Under Reid and quarterback Alex Smith, the 2013 Chiefs returned to the playoffs before narrowly missing the postseason with a 9-7 record in 2014. In 2015, KC returned with a wild card spot. From 2016-23, the Chiefs have been AFC West division champions.

With solid 2024 campaigns from the 7-4 Los Angeles Chargers and the 7-5 Denver Broncos, KC’s ninth consecutive division title will have to wait.

Of course, Kansas City’s true quest for the record books can’t be completed until February 2025. The Chiefs’ ultimate goal is to become the first team in NFL history to win three consecutive Super Bowls.

Shortly after the team’s Super Bowl LVIII victory in February, Mahomes discussed the team’s quest for the three-peat.

“It’s legendary,” Mahomes said. “No one’s ever done it. We knew it’s legendary to win back-to-back. I think eight other teams had done it. We heard it all week, we’d talked to the guys about it, and we felt like we had the best opportunity we’d ever had to go out there and do that. All you can do is come back next year with a fresh mindset knowing it’s going to be even harder. We’ve got to continue to play our best football. We’ll celebrate these next few weeks, and then we’ll get right back at it.” 

Read More: D.J. Humphries Outlines Recovery from Injury, ‘Interesting’ Journey to Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs are back at home this week, and it’s an AFC West rivalry game for the back-to-back Super Bowl champions. The Las Vegas Raiders are in town for an intriguing Black Friday contest, marking consecutive years that Andy Reid and Antonio Pierce’s squads will square off right in the thick of the holiday season.

How will the game unfold? The Kansas City Chiefs On SI crew makes its predictions for Week 13 of the 2024-25 campaign.

Joshua Brisco: In light of a performance the Chiefs didn’t seem particularly proud of in a narrow win over the Panthers, this game is a perfect opportunity for the Chiefs’ spiraling defense to stabilize. In quarterback Aidan O’Connell’s first game back from a broken thumb on his passing hand, Steve Spagnuolo’s defense has plenty to prove. KC’s underperforming pass rush and struggling coverage unit simply cannot allow for the Chiefs’ defense to be the lesser unit when O’Connell and the Raiders offense is on the field. On offense, Kansas City can afford to remain a slow-and-steady unit against Las Vegas, but a couple of deep shots to Xavier Worthy and a bit more playing time for DeAndre Hopkins would be encouraging developments.

Prediction: Chiefs 24, Raiders 13

Jordan Foote: While I don’t expect the Chiefs to cover in this one, I certainly don’t think they’re on upset watch. Barring a complete and utter collapse a la Christmas Day of last year, Kansas City should take care of a clearly inferior opponent that’s on a skid right now. Expect plenty of the ground game in this one – including Isiah Pacheco getting a bit of work in his return – and a more inspiring performance from Steve Spagnuolo’s defense. It won’t lead to any more style points for the reigning champs, yet it’ll be a win nonetheless that punches the Chiefs’ ticket to the playoffs.

Prediction: Chiefs 24, Raiders 17

Zack Eisen: A Friday game this week for the Chiefs begins their wacky scheduling run of playing on some non-traditional NFL days. Heading into the game, the Chiefs will know if they can clinch a playoff spot with a win. Considering that factor, plus what happened last year on Christmas against this same Raiders team, the Chiefs should come out focused and ready to play. The offense has improved over the previous few weeks, and I expect that to continue to the tune of 30-plus points. It would be encouraging to see the defense stop the skid and really have a strong performance against a weak offense.

Prediction: Chiefs 35, Raiders 23

Mark Van Sickle: The last time these two went head-to-head in Arrowhead was on Christmas last year, and things didn’t go well for the Chiefs. I expect things to be cleaned up and as long as the Chiefs don’t lose the turnover battle by multiple turnovers, they should win this one fairly easily. We all know that’s not how these things generally work out, though, especially with the Chiefs as a heavy favorite. It’s been almost two months since the Chiefs covered the spread. With that said, they’ll remember last year’s Christmas debacle and put it to the Raiders this week and turn Black Friday into Red Friday for Chiefs Kingdom.

Prediction: Chiefs 27, Raiders 10

Read More: D.J. Humphries Outlines Recovery from Injury, ‘Interesting’ Journey to Chiefs

TOPEKA (KSNT) – Federal health officials say cucumbers distributed to more than 25 states and several provinces in Canada may be contaminated with salmonella.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported the recall on Nov. 28 in a press release on its website for SunFed Produce, LLC based out of Arizona. The company announced the recall for all sizes of its whole fresh American cucumbers packaged in bulk cardboard boxes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that salmonella can cause diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps. In rare instances, salmonella can cause more serious health complications such as infections in the blood, bones and membranes of the brain and/or spinal cord.

The FDA said the recall impacts all SunFed labeled boxes of cucumbers sold between Oct. 12 and Nov. 26. These were shipped to 26 states and areas in Canada:

• United States
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Florida
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Kansas
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Minnesota
  • Missouri
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • Oklahoma
  • Pennsylvania
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • Wisconsin
• Canadian provinces
  • Alberta
  • British Columbia
  • Calgary
  • Saskatchewan
  • Ontario

SunFed started the recall after the FDA notified the company its cucumbers were found to be connected to reports of salmonellosis between Oct. 12 and Nov. 15. People who purchased the recalled cucumbers are encouraged to avoid contact with them and clean all surfaces they came into contact with. The cucumbers should be thrown away or returned to where they were purchased from.

“As soon as we learned of this issue, we immediately acted to protect consumers,” said Craig Slate, president at SunFed. “We are working closely with authorities and the implicated ranch to determine the possible cause. Here at SunFed, food safety and consumer health and wellness have been our priorities for more than 30 years. We require all of our growers to strictly comply with the FDA food safety requirements.”

People who have questions about this recall can contact SunFed by calling 888-542-5849 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. MST.

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