Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes seemed as motivated as ever when he addressed the media during mandatory minicamp, and the latest bulletin board material should continue to fuel KC’s fire as three recent “bold” NFL predictions directly overlook the reigning 3-time AFC champions.

NFL.com writer Jeffri Chadiha published a June 19 article suggesting 10 “way-too-early bold predictions for 2025 NFL season,” three of which involved Chiefs rivals finally upsetting Kansas City. They were:

• The Buffalo Bills overcoming KC and winning the Super Bowl.
• Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow taking home his first regular-season MVP award.
• And the Denver Broncos ending the Chiefs’ streak of nine straight AFC West titles.

Let’s tackle each of these 2025 NFL predictions one by one, shall we?

These predictions are supposed to be “bold,” but the Broncos swiping a division crown away from an improved Kansas City roster is perhaps the most audacious of Chadiha’s theories.

“The Chiefs have reigned over the division since 2016, and they’ve barely been challenged during most of the years that quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been under center,” the NFL.com columnist wrote. “Most of that success comes down to the Chiefs’ greatness, but they’ve also been helped plenty by the ineptitude of the teams sharing the AFC West with them.”

“Kansas City has been led by future Hall of Fame coach Andy Reid during that entire run of dominance,” he continued. “Every other team in the division has had at least four different head coaches within that same stretch. That churn appears to have slowed, though, with Pete Carroll ([Las Vegas] Raiders), Jim Harbaugh ([Los Angeles] Chargers) and Sean Payton (Broncos) now working in the AFC West.”

Chadiha went on to argue that Payton has the best roster of the three challengers, boasting an “elite defense” and a new franchise quarterback in Bo Nix. He added that “we know Payton can coach up the offense, especially as the Broncos add more playmakers.”

Chadiha concluded that with the Chargers and Raiders providing more resistance than in years past, Denver is now “good enough” to steal a division title away from the Chiefs.

But this one falls under the “prove it” category. KC has dominated each of their division rivals under Reid and Mahomes, and they always put extra preparation into those games.

Yes, the Broncos went 1-1 against the Chiefs last year, and they were a blocked field goal away from potentially going 2-0, but Kansas City didn’t play any of their starters in Week 18, and the Chiefs are 17-3 against Denver since 2015.