KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Including its three preseason games, the Kansas City Chiefs’ bye comes at the exact midpoint of the 2022 season.
The timing, in other words, is fairly ideal for a Chiefs team coming off its most-complete performance of the season against a San Francisco squad that boasted the NFL’s top defense entering Sunday’s Super Bowl LIV rematch.
Kansas City crushed the 49ers, providing some positive vibes for the off-week.
“Bye week — I get to go home, see my family,” said wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who had his second straight 100-yard game after catching seven passes for 124 yards and a touchdown. “It’s nice, man. Happy Halloween.”
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Kansas City has won a record six straight AFC West championships and hosted a record fourth straight AFC Championship Game last season.
So far, they’re pretty much right where they want to be in 2022.
“Obviously, we lost a couple games that we wanted to win,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “But when you look back on it and you’re 5-2 and you’re first in the AFC West, you can’t ask to be in a better position.”
Kansas City’s goals for the season aren’t difficult to discern — win another division title, which ensures a postseason spot, then make and win another Super Bowl. That’s the franchise’s standard now under coach Andy Reid with Mahomes at QB.
“We had a tough schedule going into the bye week,” Mahomes said. “We knew that going into the season. ... When we come back for this next stretch, we’re going to be ready to go and try to make a push to get to the playoffs and then try to get to the Super Bowl.”
Toward that end, the Chiefs added Kadarius Toney via trade Thursday with the New York Giants, giving Mahomes another weapon in the passing game and adding potential special-teams help.
Factoring out the games against the Chiefs, Kansas City’s opponents through Week 7 are 21-18-1 this season.
The Chiefs’ first opponent after the bye — Tennessee, which has won four straight after an 0-2 start — has the best record among all remaining opponents.
Only three of Kansas City’s final nine opponents — the Los Angeles Chargers (Nov. 20), Cincinnati Bengals (Dec. 4) and Seattle (Dec. 24) — currently boast a winning record.
After battling the Titans on Nov. 6, a game that can be seen on KSHB 41, those final nine opponents have a combined 24-35-1 record.
“I think it’s a good time (for the bye) — 5-2 looks a lot better than 4-3, so I think it comes where we can afford to get a little bit healthier in some spots, particularly the corner spot,” Reid said.
His teams are 20-3 in the regular season coming out of a bye week, including a 12-1 record at home, so expect the Chiefs to be firing on all cylinders against the Titans — especially given how last year’s game in Nashville went.
The bye offers a chance for Kansas City to get healthy and rest up, especially on defense.
Key Chiefs defending have missed a total of 19 games already this season.
Cornerback Trent McDuffie (hamstring, six games), defensive end Michael Danna (calf, four games), cornerback Rashad Fenton (hamstring, two games) and safety Bryan Cook (concussion, one game) all have missed time with injuries.
Kansas City also lost defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton for the season in Week 5 and were without linebacker Willie Gay Jr., who served a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.
“We’re 5-2 right now; we’re in a good spot,” Jones said. “Most importantly, we’re missing a lot of key pieces in this team. A lot of guys are still hurt, banged up.”
The Chiefs learned Tuesday that defensive end Frank Clark would be suspended for the first two games after the bye — versus the Titans then at Jacksonville — for violating the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.
