Chiefs’ slow start and blunted Herbert

There are no juggernauts in the NFC

Prior to the season, the Bucs, Rams and Packers all profiled as 13-win teams. Ferocious defenses. Smart coaches. Elite quarterback play. All three ticked every box. Surely, they would mop the floor with all before them and compete with one another for the coveted first-round bye, right? Not quite.

All three remain among the best teams in the conference, but over the course of the season, flaws have been exposed. The Packers’ offense hasn’t been as explosive as in years past, while the Rams and Bucs continue to stumble over their own feet. The Cardinals had the look of a both-sides-of-the-ball team to start the season. But with injuries mounting, some of that early-season shine has dissipated. So far, the NFC playoff picture is just as gummy as in the AFC.

The Chiefs are 6-4

Fun fact: The Chiefs are tied for the second-most wins in the AFC. For all the (rightful) consternation about the Chiefs’ early struggles – the issues on offense, the broken defense – the team still rank among the upper-tier of AFC contenders.

The Chiefs offense was back to its best against the Raiders in Week 11, albeit with some help from a Vegas side that appeared to misunderstand exactly how teams had been stifling Mahomes and Co all season long.

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Most importantly: The defense has taken a midseason leap. Most defenses get better as the season runs along. A coordinator figures out what his group can and (most importantly) cannot do. Still, it’s not often that a defense jumps from the are-they-even-trying level all the way up towards sneaky-good territory.

Hidden in the shadows of the Mahomes discourse, the Chiefs defense has been getting it right for the past month. Over the past three weeks, it ranks as the 10th-best defense in Expected Points Added (EPA), ahead of the Cardinals, Rams and Saints, three of the league’s top units…