{"id":67284,"date":"2025-06-06T02:02:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T02:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=67284"},"modified":"2025-06-06T02:02:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T02:02:58","slug":"report-chiefs-predicted-to-be-dethroned-by-unexpected-rival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=67284","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: Chiefs Predicted To Be Dethroned by Unexpected Rival&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2194603276-1.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Kansas City Chiefs are perennial favorites to go all the way each year in the NFL, but it\u2019s certainly not a given. It\u2019s the NFL, and anything can happen.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve all seen great teams fall to bottom-feeders, and even the worst teams are often difficult contenders, because by the time players make it tot he NFL, they\u2019re simply the best.<\/p>\n<p>For the Chiefs, while they have some returning favorites in guys like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, that doesn\u2019t mean they won\u2019t have tough work ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Now, one NFL analyst and expert is predicting that the Chiefs will get dethroned in the AFC West by an up-and-coming rival.<\/p>\n<h2>Who May Dethrone the Kansas City Chiefs?<\/h2>\n<p>In a June 2 piece for Bleacher Report,\u00a0Matt Holder discusses who he believes may oust last season\u2019s winners in each NFL division. \u201cHere, we\u2019ll take a stab a predicting one team in each NFL division that could push to take home the crown in 2025,\u201d he states in the piece.<\/p>\n<div id=\"b58a12817f1cd7c1927d3f8abc2613c3\" class=\"embed_container\">\n<div class=\"lazy-embed lazy-embed--ssr embed-instagram-com lazy-embed--loaded\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DKVKnGByfDg\/\"><iframe id=\"instagram-embed-0\" class=\"instagram-media instagram-media-rendered\" src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DKVKnGByfDg\/embed\/captioned\/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=656&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fheavy.com&amp;rp=%2Fsports%2Fnfl%2Fkansas-city-chiefs%2Fchiefs-predicted-to-be-dethroned-by-unexpected-rival%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A500199.5%7D\" height=\"1114\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-instgrm-payload-id=\"instagram-media-payload-0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>He adds, \u201cThe only requirement to qualify is that they didn\u2019t finish in first place a year ago, but each selection will be based on the organization\u2019s offseason changes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the Kansas City Chiefs, he paints, sadly, a grim picture, stating that the team\u2019s \u201crun could be coming to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cKansas City lost more than it gained this offseason, trading away All-Pro guard\u00a0Joe Thuney\u00a0while letting Swiss Army knife safety\u00a0Justin Reid\u00a0and up-and-coming pass-rusher\u00a0Tershawn Wharton walk in free agency,\u201d he explains. Because of that, Holder says that he thinks there are \u201cquestion marks\u201d for the Chiefs\u2019 \u201coffensive line, secondary and pass rush, which could result in some regression this fall.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"92a19c14a60c147681b64ab3c89d0122\" class=\"embed_container\">\n<div class=\"lazy-embed lazy-embed--ssr embed-instagram-com lazy-embed--loaded\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DKSe-1AxGRa\/\"><iframe id=\"instagram-embed-1\" class=\"instagram-media instagram-media-rendered\" src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DKSe-1AxGRa\/embed\/captioned\/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=656&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fheavy.com&amp;rp=%2Fsports%2Fnfl%2Fkansas-city-chiefs%2Fchiefs-predicted-to-be-dethroned-by-unexpected-rival%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A1%2C%22os%22%3A500206%7D\" height=\"950\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-instgrm-payload-id=\"instagram-media-payload-1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>So, who will take the Chiefs\u2019 place as the kings of the AFC West?<\/p>\n<h2>The Chiefs Could Fall to AFC West Rivals<\/h2>\n<p>Holder thinks the\u00a0Los Angeles Chargers, with\u00a0Jim Harbaugh and Joe Hortiz back for year two, could dethrone the Chiefs. He notes that they did a \u201cgood job improving the roster this spring.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWhile the offense\u2019s leading rusher, J.K. Dobbins, still hasn\u2019t re-signed, free-agent addition Najee Harris has been a 1,000-yard rusher every year of his career and out-produced Dobbins last season,\u201d Holder notes in the piece. \u201cAlso, the club used its first-round pick on North Carolina\u2019s Omarion Hampton, who was widely considered the second-best running back in the draft, and plucking guard Mekhi Becton off the open market is a big boost to the interior offensive line.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Holder goes through some offer positive offseason changes for the Chargers and come to the conclusion that Pro Bowl quarterback Justin Herbert and company can pull off some much bigger wins in 2025 than they did last season.<\/p>\n<p>He notes that the Chargers do face some weaknesses \u201cafter letting defensive end Joey Bosa, defensive tackle Morgan Fox and both of last year\u2019s Week 1 starting cornerbacks go in free agency.\u201d But, he believes Tuli Tuipulotu will be able to step it up in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook for Los Angeles to put an end to Kansas City\u2019s run in the AFC West this year,\u201d he concludes. Ouch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Kansas City Chiefs are perennial favorites to go all the way each year in the NFL, but it\u2019s certainly not a given. It\u2019s the NFL, and&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>REPORT: Chiefs Predicted To Be Dethroned by Unexpected Rival... - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=67284\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"REPORT: Chiefs Predicted To Be Dethroned by Unexpected Rival... - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Kansas City Chiefs are perennial favorites to go all the way each year in the NFL, but it\u2019s certainly not a given. 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